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I have been asked to speak at my YSA Ward this coming Sunday about ” taking the Saviors Name upon us as we partake of the sacrament and what this means”. I was hoping for more of a Christmas focused topic and as such as a bit disappointed (especially after my dad gave his disappointments about how this happens at Christmas time). I want to follow what I was given, but I also want to sneak in Christmas themed material into my talk. I haven’t started my talk at all (plan on doing closer to the end of the week), but I plan on just studying in detail what it means and hoping to tie it into Christmas as much as possible. If anyone has any ideas that would be great, thanks!
I’d probably focus on the birth and life of Christ and tie the sacrament thing in at the end – something along the lines of celebrating Christ’s birth because of the later atonement/resurrection that made eternal life possible. We remember Christ at Christmas because of what he did, we remember him every week (the sacrament) for the same reason. I have also become less shy about doing my own thing with talks and lessons – what are they going to do besides ask you not to speak again? (Oh please don’t throw me in that brier patch!)
What DJ said Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That is an easy topic to focus on Christmas – and at least it is Christ-focused. grobert93, Actually, I can’t think of a better topic for Christmas. In Christian/LDS theology, Jesus’ life was our means of approaching God; which we could not truly do without him. Taking his name is how we join ourselves with him. In this theology, Jesus’ life isn’t a matter of past history, but a present power that we can take on as our own.
We often get too literal about a topic. It would be easy given that topic, to talk about the mechanics of the sacrament. But the sacrament is simply the manner in which we step up and say, “Yes, count me in” in response to Jesus’ life. It was the first celebration of Jesus, long before there was a Christmas.
Christmas is the Christian celebration of Jesus’ life. What can be more Christmasy than aligning ourselves with him? Unless you are giving a two-and-a-half-minute talk, you can have plenty to say about Luke 2, the wise men, Santa Claus, the season, and still have the power of the meaning of it all (in a Christian sense).
In another vein, if you watch this forum enough, you’ll learn that when anyone asks for advice on an upcoming talk, I will always try to appear on scene and offer a plea not to read your talk from the pulpit. They call it a ‘talk’ not a ‘read’. It has become so common-place for people to read ‘talks’ that it almost seems expected now, but few techniques can suck the air out of the message like reading a ‘talk’, as if entering it into the official record.
There was an interesting thread here almost three years ago that offers great context on avoiding staleness in Sacrament Meetings and it’d probably be useful reading leading up to giving a talk:
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3948 Quote:And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And then talk about how the sacrament reminds us of exactly what the good tidings of great joy were that the angel mentioned long ago when announcing the savior’s birth?
Thank you all for your suggestions! I appreciate them all! This is the result of my talk
http://introvertedrm.blogspot.com/2015/12/taking-saviors-name-upon-us-as-we.html Please note that part of the talk dealing with General Conference talks was actually removed due to not feeling comfortable being that blunt and potentially opinionated. However, I did mentioned my concern with callings.
I really try to not rant when I give talks, but I always find something to complain about in the culture (I’ll call it that until I find a better phrase to use) when giving talks. People seem to be very receptive afterward, some saying it was spot on etc. So it makes me wonder why those people don’t give talks that are so blunt? Maybe my ward just isn’t filled with as many blunt people.
Anyway, hope you enjoy and thanks again!
This is an interesting topic, relaxed discussions of Christ the Savior.
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