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My Bishop Changed One Tiny Thing And It Totally Changed Sacrament Meeting.
I very much agree that the best talks are the ones where we learn something about the speaker. Where did they come from? why are they here? How do they feel about XYZ and how did they reach that position? It surprised me to learn that these types of conversion stories and called “giving testimony” in some other religions. Upon reflection, it makes sense to me that “testimony” is what I have personally witnessed or experienced. I therefore find it a little amusing that for our “testimony” meeting we instead emphasize a recitation of (and a recommitment to) the core truth claims of the church.
I would love this change in our sacrament meetings! Our ward does exactly what the writer described, giving talks on general conference talks. It’s rare to hear a talk that quotes from the scriptures (unless the scripture was mentioned in the assigned conference talk) and the majority make no mention of Christ in any way at all. I can’t even remember the last time I came out of a sacrament meeting feeling genuinely uplifted. Quote:I would love this change in our sacrament meetings! Our ward does exactly what the writer described, giving talks on general conference talks. It’s rare to hear a talk that quotes from the scriptures (unless the scripture was mentioned in the assigned conference talk) and the majority make no mention of Christ in any way at all. I can’t even remember the last time I came out of a sacrament meeting feeling genuinely uplifted.
This ^^^ is why I love to be asked to speak. Have done so all my life. When I was a youth speaker I was taught this method. You were usually given a word or phrase (maybe a scripture) and your job was to create a meaningful talk. My mom and I worked hard to bring together talks that were not repeats. I still remember my very first talk. I used the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called “The Great Stone Face”.
Today I keep the same method for lessons and talks. Time and again people thank me. Last month, a woman from the neighboring Stake borrowed my talk for her Stake Conference talk.
If we want to see this change, we need to be this change. Next time you are sitting in Sacrament Meeting or a totally boring lesson rehash, start practicing. Rewrite the lesson. Even if they are rehashing, grab a golden word or phrase and jettison it. Write them down. Practice them. Maybe even volunteer to speak.
I can give entire talks and never reference a GC talk, even if it’s assigned to me.
Although I’ve been given conference talks as the subject to speak on, I never used it as they said in the article, just reading it or making it any different than how the new bishop suggested speakers approach talks. I always took the idea from conference talks, and then ran with it on my own with my own stories and my own spin on it.
I’ve never had anyone say I should do it differently.
Heber13 wrote:
Although I’ve been given conference talks as the subject to speak on, I never used it as they said in the article, just reading it or making it any different than how the new bishop suggested speakers approach talks.I always took the idea from conference talks, and then ran with it on my own with my own stories and my own spin on it.
I’ve never had anyone say I should do it differently.
Same here. I try not to stray too far away though.
When I first became active again we had a string of speakers who would barely bother rewording the talks and read them out badly. It’s really a pre-broadcast throwback. I would prefer to watch the original talk.
I have been fortunate to have lived in multiple wards where the Bishop actively asked people to focus on Christ somehow in their talks and also assigned spiritual topics. It helped that I suggested that approach when I had the chance.
Yesterday at church, I was reminded of this thread. Our bishop made an announcement that the Sunday before Christmas, all of the talks would be on Christ and to be sure to invite someone. I was glad to hear it, but I couldn’t help but think, “Shouldn’t it always be like that?” I know there times I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing someone to church because I don’t trust that the talks/lessons are going to be a good first experience. One example, back in my YSA ward almost every talk and lesson was about missionary work. Had I invited someone, they would have come only to hear about inviting more people to church. Old Timer wrote:
I have been fortunate to have lived in multiple wards where the Bishop actively asked people to focus on Christ somehow in their talks and also assigned spiritual topics.I love this ^^. In my current ward, as I mentioned in a post earlier, Christ is seldom mentioned. If I brought someone on a regular Sunday, all they would hear is talks and quotes from GAs. Those are all well and good, but if I bring someone to a church that claims to be Christ’s church, then I would hope they could see Christ at least talked about in some way.
PazamaManX wrote:
Yesterday at church, I was reminded of this thread. Our bishop made an announcement that the Sunday before Christmas, all of the talks would be on Christ and to be sure to invite someone. I was glad to hear it, but I couldn’t help but think, “Shouldn’t it always be like that?” I know there times I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing someone to church because I don’t trust that the talks/lessons are going to be a good first experience. One example, back in my YSA ward almost every talk and lesson was about missionary work. Had I invited someone, they would have come only to hear about inviting more people to church.Old Timer wrote:
I have been fortunate to have lived in multiple wards where the Bishop actively asked people to focus on Christ somehow in their talks and also assigned spiritual topics.I love this ^^. In my current ward, as I mentioned in a post earlier, Christ is seldom mentioned. If I brought someone on a regular Sunday, all they would hear is talks and quotes from GAs. Those are all well and good, but if I bring someone to a church that claims to be Christ’s church, then I would hope they could see Christ at least talked about in some way.
The “special meeting” was announced by our visiting Area Authority at stake conference last month. When he initially said there would be a special sacrament meeting focused on Christ Dec. 23 I had the same thought you did Paz – shouldn’t they all be like that? Then I realized the AA was quoting:
Quote:As part of the culmination of “Light the World,” members are encouraged to invite friends and neighbors who aren’t members or who attend infrequently to join them in worshipping the Savior during a special sacrament meeting on December 23, 2018. Ward and branch leaders have been asked to plan a Christ-centered meeting and help guests feel welcome and comfortable.
(December 2018 Ensign)
I’ve come to recognize that my ward, and to some extent my stake, is actually very good at the Christ centered SM and I do give credit to our SP and bishop for this because it was not like that before.
Quote:As part of the culmination of “Light the World,” members are encouraged to invite friends and neighbors who aren’t members or who attend infrequently to join them in worshipping the Savior during a special sacrament meeting on December 23, 2018. Ward and branch leaders have been asked to plan a Christ-centered meeting and help guests feel welcome and comfortable.
I think all the Christmas SMs I’ve attended have been of the variety where someone reads snippets from Luke 2 followed by either the choir or congregation singing the Christmas hymn that relates to the passage that was read. We work our way down Christ’s birth narrative and at the very end the bishop gives a talk on Christ. I prefer this over three assigned talks on Christmas.
If we end up doing the same program we usually do we’d already be in compliance.
The real question… is the 23rd close enough to Christmas to trigger a SM only Sunday? Probably not.
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I know that our SP has instructed the leaders of each ward in our stake to remind people giving a talk to focus on Christ. They even received instruction to make sure people hear about Christ at some point during SM, meaning if the speakers don’t do it the person conducting should give a short testimony of Christ. It may not always happen but it’s on the radar.
nibbler wrote:
The real question… is the 23rd close enough to Christmas to trigger a SM only Sunday? Probably not.
I LOVE it when they do this… but also think it’s kind of funny. What’s it say about the other two hours, when the local leadership recognizes people more important things to be doing around Christmas? Glad we’re switching to the 2 hour block.
nibbler wrote:The real question… is the 23rd close enough to Christmas to trigger a SM only Sunday? Probably not.
Actually, yes. I thought that was well known/publicized. The Q15 has directed that 12/23 will be SM only.
Quote:I know that our SP has instructed the leaders of each ward in our stake to remind people giving a talk to focus on Christ. They even received instruction to make sure people hear about Christ at some point during SM, meaning if the speakers don’t do it the person conducting should give a short testimony of Christ. It may not always happen but it’s on the radar.
I do think the SPs are getting this from above. I think my own SP and bishop are more oriented that way anyway but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be getting it from their communication lines with the top leadership. In my prior comment I used the phrase “to some extent” in referring to other units in the stake. It’s really mostly, but for some wards it has taken longer to sort of “trickle down” and quite frankly overcome tradition (of not talking about Christ
🙄 ). I was actually pretty pleasantly surprised recently when I visited one of the wards I consider to be one of the worst offenders and all three talks were Christ centered. I don’t know if it’s that way every Sunday but it was a step in the right direction for them.The wards in our stake are only having SM on the 23rd.
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