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I’m bummed that we’re having a regular fast Sunday on the 27th, and singing just one Easter hymn. 
We’re having a real Easter Sunday in my ward – I love Easter Sundays. I believe that most stake presidencies decide when there are Easter / General Conference complications. You can always give your ward’s high councilor some feedback to pass on to the SP. Fast Sunday is the week after GC for us. Our ward does a good job with Easter. I don’t know. I hope ours is. They did a fantastic Christmas one. I know we haven’t always done it in the past, so I hear you Ann. That sounds like a bummer. I’ve grown to really dislike fast Sunday. We’re having fast Sunday today. An older man is mumbling something about rebels and missionaries. I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up for next week though. FWIW, I’d rather have a Fast Sunday Easter than a GC Easter (as was the case last year and will be again in two years). Not saying I love the idea, but at least there is the possibility of expressions of gratitude during the F&T specifically for the atonement/resurrection. Ann, perhaps you should prepare to rise during F&T and announce, “I will now provide my testimony in the form of a favorite hymn”, ask the organist to give you a note, clear your throat, then start singing your solo version of “He Is Risen”. Maybe people will join in. If not, it could be an awkward few minutes, but it’d make for a great story to tell years from now either way.
On Own Now wrote:Ann, perhaps you should prepare to rise during F&T and announce, “I will now provide my testimony in the form of a favorite hymn”, ask the organist to give you a note, clear your throat, then start singing your solo version of “He Is Risen”. Maybe people will join in. If not, it could be an awkward few minutes, but it’d make for a great story to tell years from now either way.
I love it!
:thumbup: Now if only my wife wouldn’t be so mortified.:sick: I think those shenanigans are only tolerated in “crazy” investigators the missionaries bring. But I like it….
I just don’t understand it. The minutiae we will pay attention to during ward and stake calendaring, and no one can check about Easter?
Ann wrote:I just don’t understand it. The minutiae we will pay attention to during ward and stake calendaring, and no one can check about Easter?
I agree. To those of us who have found Jesus (in one way or another) beyond the scope of Mormonism, Easter has an invogorated meaning. I’m afraid that to most in the Church, Easter is an event that falls on a Sunday in the Spring, but not a major religious holiday. On the Mormon importance scale, it is less important than General/Stake Conferences, Christmas, and Sundays featuring outgoing and homecoming missionaries. It seems to be slightly more important than the Sunday of Thanksgiving and the Sunday prior to Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Pioneer Day. “Oh yeah, tomorrow is Easter” is probably the refrain of far too many in the Church. One GC year, my wife and I went to a wonderful Unitarian service.I think the Church could EASILY solve this by moving GC off of Easter Weekend, when it occurs, just to signal that Easter is not just another “Sabbath Day”.
Yes, and I’m so angry I forgot the crowning irony of it all: we’re skipping Easter Sunday in a year supposedly devoted to the Sabbath. Ann wrote:Yes, and I am so angry I forgot the crowning irony of it all: we’re skipping Easter Sunday in a year supposedly devoted to the Sabbath.
Wow.Also, I would have heard exactly zero mention of Palm Sunday, if I hadn’t brought it up myself.
We’re doing a talks Sunday, the theme is the resurrection. Our ward scores two points. I believe one of the reasons Easter is extra special in other churches is because many people fall into the camp of only attending church twice a year, Christmas and Easter. You’ve got to pull out all the stops on those two days. As a side note my extended family is still shocked that we don’t have a special Christmas day service. We do have service when Christmas falls on a Sunday but it’s only special because we dismiss after SM.
I believe we do suffer from “just another average day at church” syndrome when it comes to Easter. No one wears fancy hats. The church formula remains unchanged: talk, talk, hymn, talk; testimonies; or general conference.
The Sunday before Christmas our ward has always done a SM where someone reads the story of the birth of Jesus interspersed with Christmas hymns about what is going on at that point in the story. I believe there are enough Easter and sacrament hymns to do something similar for Easter Sunday. Rather than recount the details of his suffering we could focus on the story of the resurrection. We could even dive into what Jesus did for people in the Americas from the BoM. Win, win.
I don’t think they would ever move general conference off the first Sunday in April. It’s a tradition. Plus I think some people love it when GC coincides with Easter.
As far as calendaring is concerned. Easter is a moving target. It could be anywhere between March 22(coming up in 2285) and April 25 (coming up in 2038). That said, it’s usually written on every calendar. Someone could take a little more care with planning themes starting with Easter and Christmas and work out from there. Like SM themes that gradually build up to Easter. Starting sometime in February each Sunday has a theme of events in the last week of Jesus’ life until you get to the crowning moment on Easter.
nibbler wrote:Someone could take a little more care with planning themes starting with Easter and Christmas and work out from there. Like SM themes that gradually build up to Easter. Starting sometime in February each Sunday has a theme of events in the last week of Jesus’ life until you get to the crowning moment on Easter.
That’s a great idea. I would LOVE that.I have long hoped for a time when Sacrament Meeting Planner (Coordiator, Officiator, Leader) would be a new calling in which someone outside the bishopric determines who is going to speak about what, when to have musical numbers, and who will pray. Outside of worthiness issues, there is no reason to bother the already-strapped bishopric with that detail. A person who had that calling would be much more likely to adopt the Nibbler Theme Principle rather than the super-efficient Bishopric approach. Worthiness issue is resolved by having the SMP turn in the proposed plan for redlining, before making assignments. If the SMP also conducts the meeting, then it would open the door for women to have a much more visible position. It is a myth that the person conducting SM has to be a member of the bishopric. That is the program the Church has set up in CH2, but last time I checked the D&C, I couldn’t find any mention of the priesthood being a requirement to conduct a meeting. The authority of SM resides with the presiding officer, whether he goes to the pulpit or not.
On Own Now wrote:I have long hoped for a time when Sacrament Meeting Planner (Coordiator, Officiator, Leader) would be a new calling in which someone outside the bishopric determines who is going to speak about what, when to have musical numbers, and who will pray. Outside of worthiness issues, there is no reason to bother the already-strapped bishopric with that detail.
The church did make a change and told the bishoprics that the ward council can (should?) help in preparing the SM topics. Small step in that the bishopric is still fully responsible for SM, but they are now “allowed” to get input from others. I am sure some will and a few will give it lip service (“here is the SM plan for the year – any issues? Sisters – and issues?” OK, check mark on “get Ward Council feedback on SM topics, including the sisters.”)
On Own Now wrote:It is a myth that the person conducting SM has to be a member of the bishopric.
Myths, Traditions, … Most feel “the way we are doing it is more than just tradition UNTIL someone on high says it is tradition and here is the new way, then everyone agrees, “oh – of course it was always known that was just a policy or tradition and not doctrine” (by definition since it just changed).
It might not matter whether it’s the BP or the entire ward council if SM themes are being set as an action item during an already overlong meeting. I can imagine scenarios where people have a calendar with the open Sundays in one hand and a list of talks from the most recent conference in the other. I don’t know how we do it in our ward, this is one of those areas where every ward is going to be different.
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