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Hi Everyone, We had three speakers from our ward over here – in the upheaval of excommunications, the updates of how each speaker was doing got lost. How did everyone do? What did you decide to speak on? How did you feel about it?
As I listened to the speakers in my home ward I wondered about each you. I’d love an update from each of you.
Thanks for asking Mom3. With Primary songs, a special musical number by RS/YW, and two other speakers I was left with about 10 minutes. I’m not one who gets bent out of shape over that. I ended up talking about “father” is an honored title (we call God Father following Christ’s example, I read a section of a letter I got from my missionary son, and testified of God’s love and mercy) and closed with quotes from Elder Christofferson’s Doctrine of Christ talk mixed in with the analogy of the gospel being like an onion (layers) and remembering to stay focused on the doctrine of Christ and loving our neighbors. I left out all of the Uchtdorf/lost sheep/prodigal son stuff/Monson stuff. In a way I think I didn’t really accomplish my mission, but on the other hand I felt like what I did do was right at the time.
The other two speakers were good, BTW. The youth was a young man about to graduate high school who thanked his dad for coming to his games and other school activities even though he is very busy and sometimes let other things suffer and that he really appreciated it. (I think that’s really important, too.) The other guy was an old stalwart in his late 70s but very spry who talked about the joys of being a father and grandfather – he’s one of those guys who it’s easy to listen to.
I didn’t speak on Father’s Day, so just updating in general. We had three speakers in SM, and none of them said the word ‘father’ or ‘dad’. They were all just talks along the lines of commit, obey, and work harder. I skipped SS, but judging from the OT references written on the board, I doubt there was any Father’s Day discussion there. The HPG lesson was just a stock one, but devolved into a discussion about ‘mysteries’. Heavenly Mother was mentioned, but in a bizarre way; the guy talking about Heavenly Mothers and how he met another person that had a similar personality to his own, so he assumes they have the same Heavenly Mother. So, basically, we don’t acknowledge Father’s Day here.
While we’re there… I “broke” many years ago with respect to what are commonly referred to as Hallmark Holidays, in fact I’m not very traditionalist when it comes to any calendar event. I get that I’m the odd man out in that regard, that not acknowledging a tradition bums people out. Just based off that if I were in charge of the SM themes I’d make sure to acknowledge the day.
I think Joni would have a better time in my ward. The last speaker was a woman, and we have about a 50/50 chance of having a woman being the concluding speaker. Every hymn had “father” in the title.
My own ward, according to DW, had a male youth speaker and two sisters (all on father’s day topics). The week before all three speakers were sisters. We have a pretty good record in our ward of women giving all the talks and concluding talk. So c’mon over – we can use the headcount so we can have more money for activities! In my home ward we had a youth speak on self reliance, a recent single college grad speak on persistence. He at least wished everyone a happy father’s day before he started. I spoke last (and I’m a woman 
Several people told me afterward how relieved they were that I spoke on fatherhood because they were afraid no one would. They, including the bishopric counselor, said they enjoyed my unique perspective and appreciated my being sensitive to differing situations. He also said my talk was very engaging (read: not boring
writer63 wrote:In my home ward we had a youth speak on self reliance, a recent single college grad speak on persistence. He at least wished everyone a happy father’s day before he started. I spoke last (and I’m a woman
Several people told me afterward how relieved they were that I spoke on fatherhood because they were afraid no one would. They, including the bishopric counselor, said they enjoyed my unique perspective and appreciated my being sensitive to differing situations. He also said my talk was very engaging (read: not boring
:clap: :thumbup: 
A recap of a Father’s Day talk from my ward yesterday. Topic was “How fathers preside righteously over their families” or something like that. The speaker (a man) quickly said he wanted to only talk about three words: “preside righteously over.” He then said the word “over” had to go. He said his wife would never stand for that word and a better word would be “within.” Then he said the word “preside” was also very problematic unless narrowly defined. He proposed “lead by example” and “be a source of strength and support”. Then he pointed out three types of father leadership that don’t work: messianic complex (think their will is God’s and don’t listen more than superficially to others creating apathy and resentment), patriarchal dictators (don’t even listen to others and bully people), and patriarchal wimps (abdicate their responsibility and don’t participate in decision making). Anyway a pretty decent talk without crossing any lines really. His wife is a huge Republican and very outspoken, but you bet your a$$ she’s a feminist. I don’t know if she uses the term or not but she is her own person and she’s 1C in RSPcy. She’s unapologetically strong.
I gave my talk as concluding speaker in Sacrament meeting yesterday. The Topic assigned my was “Priesthood Power”, which I blew off. I began by wishing all the fathers in the audience a happy father’s day, but then said I also wanted to wish all the single mothers a happy father’s day, as they were filling the roles of both mother and father, which is very difficult. The body of my talk was using the ideas I got from this board, on how fathers or surrogate fathers lead their families in the Scriptures. I covered Joseph and Jesus, Jethro and Moses, The father in the parable of the prodigal son, Lehi vs Alma’s way of dealing with wayward children, and which worked best.
I also told fathers not to fret too much of children that go astray, as our Feather in Heaven had 1/3 of his kids go inactive. I then finished with the life lessons I received from my own father. Not a word on priesthood power!
Everybody I met after church thanked me for the talk, and I got hugs from several of the single mothers!
Quote:I began by wishing all the fathers in the audience a happy father’s day, but then said I also wanted to wish all the single mothers a happy father’s day, as they were filling the roles of both mother and father, which is very difficult.
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Hawkgrrrl, I really like that someone dissected those words that way.
We had an exceptional youth speaker – one of my favorite kids. Funny, articulate, from the heart . . .
The last two speakers were a new, young couple in the ward who spoke about the Priesthood. They did a good job, and the husband wove lessons from his father into the talk.
We had two decent youth talks and one awful youth talk which was our closing talk. This young man unfortunately chose to spend the majority of his talk merely repeating a long string of annoying gender cliches. You know, men are single minded, direct, and emotionless while women are flighty, talkative, and emotional. Gah. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We had the most moving sacrament meeting I had been to in a long while. The kids were awesome, with a non-offensive primary song for the dads. For once, we could actually see all three of our little ones without anyone being covered up by someone. What was the most moving was a friend of mine talked about her father, who had passed away within the last year. She talked about his faith, and his favorite Hymn, How Great Thou Art, and how she could still hear his voice when she heard this song. Then she and her husband played How Great Thou Art together. He played the piano, and she was on the violin. You could just feel heaven open as a daughter reconnected in a small way with her loving father. And of course, through such a powerful hymn. ( I can’t say that about many of them) It was beautiful. I really needed that, and will never look at that song the same. Sheldon wrote:I gave my talk as concluding speaker in Sacrament meeting yesterday. The Topic assigned my was “Priesthood Power”, which I blew off. I began by wishing all the fathers in the audience a happy father’s day, but then said I also wanted to wish all the single mothers a happy father’s day, as they were filling the roles of both mother and father, which is very difficult.
The body of my talk was using the ideas I got from this board, on how fathers or surrogate fathers lead their families in the Scriptures. I covered Joseph and Jesus, Jethro and Moses, The father in the parable of the prodigal son, Lehi vs Alma’s way of dealing with wayward children, and which worked best.
I also told fathers not to fret too much of children that go astray, as our Feather in Heaven had 1/3 of his kids go inactive. I then finished with the life lessons I received from my own father. Not a word on priesthood power!
Everybody I met after church thanked me for the talk, and I got hugs from several of the single mothers!
That’s great Sheldon. There are a lot of single fathers as well but it’s a tough job no matter the sex to do 2 jobs in one.
The hugs seem to reference that you acknowledge that and I’m happy for the mothers they felt to be acknowledged. As well as the fathers for the contributions they do. That so often get taken for granted because of “responsibility” seeming a reason to not acknowledge or appreciate someone’s effort. Anyways it’s great to hear.
Hippo-That is beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes when I read it. I could also feel your emotional joy. Sheldon – Thank you for giving the talk I wanted to give or to hear. I don’t know if you took the ideas from here or somewhere else, but they were exactly how my vision of religious Father’s Day can be. Thank you.
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