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I was asked to speak in Scarament meeting the last of March. I was given no topic, and told to pick my own (benefited of being an ex-bishop I suppose) So, what should I talk about? I always push the envelop with my talks, even as bishop. But not too far, so that in the end most people liked my talks, except for a few hard core TBMs.
Your suggestions?
http://rationalfaiths.com/you-belong/http://rationalfaiths.com/you-belong/” class=”bbcode_url”> I have always wanted to give a talk on Jesus’ 3rd Nephi commandment to include everyone. It’s a commandment for crying out loud. It’s in our cherished BOM. We should know, live it, become it. Okay – rant over. Thank you. That felt good.
Keep us in the loop. We want to hear the results.
3rd Nephi 18 beginning at verse 25 and see sawing through to verse 32 and 33.
Sheldon, Pick a GenConf talk about tithing or obedience from October and give a talk on it. Be sure to read long sections of it. If that doesn’t seem like enough to fill your time, throw in a story describing how the bishop contacted you for the assignment. Be sure to set the bar very low by hitting a couple of key points to suck the energy out of the room, like how you hate to speak and/or that you didn’t prepare the talk until this morning. That will leave’em riveted to their seats… er… pews.
Balaam, and how his donkey can see angels even though he can’t and he is a prophet. I’d like to hear someone speak on that and explain it…and also the part where the donkey speaks. It’s kinda a weird story. I think it is cool when people take odd stories from the bible and expound on them. Maybe you can relate it to the ward by suggesting the bishop is the donkey for that congregation. He sees things before we do. When he speaks, we should listen.
Basically…without being direct…you are calling the bishop an ass.
As an aid in your preparation, you might consider this from four years ago. The Church still hasn’t made the video, but I haven’t lost hope: In seriousness, though, I think a great topic would be how we move forward with gender equality within the context of the gospel. I’d start by acknowledging that customs have throughout time set women/girls in a secondary role in environments like civic and religious groups and use as an example that in our parents’ generation, women never spoke in SM, or until recently, women never prayed in GC. But, rather than being accusatory toward the Church, I think this is a great opportunity to acknowledge that the Church is trying to make strides. Sister Training Leaders in the mission field is a great example. I’d probably say that it may seem like too much for some, not enough for others, but then say that we should take the Church’s lead, and talk about how we, individually and collectively, can contribute to an environment where we can shed some of the old and unnecessary customs. (Most here, of course, believe it’s not enough. While I believe the Church is way too slow on this front, the fact that changes are happening at least give us the chance to start to talk about what we can do to help the Church make a transition, right here, today. It would be a bit of a balancing act and I’ve sometimes been successful, sometimes unsuccessful in the balance, as was the case this week in HPG, but that’s another story). IMO, this is the type of talk that would be better given by a man, so that it can be presented as soul-searching, rather than demanding. I don’t in any way think women should not be allowed to give this talk, all I’m saying is that if a woman gives a talk about how men should be supported in their desire to watch more NASCAR, it would be a much different experience for the listener than if a man gave it.
Some tidbits that might not be appropriate for a SM talk, but which I find interesting:
– Contrary to perception, the Apostle Paul was actually very progressive about how women were viewed in the early days of Christianity. Later, more conservative authorities made additions (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) to existing Pauline material, or fabricated new material (1 Timothy), which put women back in their place as defined by the larger social norms of the day. But Paul was a first-century feminist, accepting that women could/should pray and prophesy in the Churches (1 Corinthians 11). While he wasn’t perfect on that front (also 1 Corinthians 11), his writings on women praying/prophesying with their heads covered, while men should pray/prophesy with their heads uncovered, indicates that the differences between men and women to Paul were more in form than in (gospel) function.
– Additionally, Paul referred to “Junia” as an Apostle in Romans (Romans 16:7). Junia was a woman’s name in those times. Later tweeking successfully obscured this information by using the masculine “Junius” instead. While the KJV does use the original “Junia” the language is vague about whether the name refers to a man or woman as well as wether Junia was an Apostle.
Quote:KJV: Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kins
men, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. The word ‘kinsmen’ doesn’t help… Also, “of note among the apostles” could simply mean, the Apostles took note of him/her. But modern translations are free of the masculine name, the masculine terminology, and much more direct about Apostleship.
Quote:NRSV: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives [or ‘compatriots’] who were in prison with me; they are
prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. NIV: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
Quote:
– Contrary to perception, the Apostle Paul was actually very progressive about how women were viewed in the early days of Christianity. Later, more conservative authorities made additions (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) to existing Pauline material, or fabricated new material (1 Timothy), which put women back in their place as defined by the larger social norms of the day. But Paul was a first-century feminist, accepting that women could/should pray and prophesy in the Churches (1 Corinthians 11). While he wasn’t perfect on that front (also 1 Corinthians 11), his writings on women praying/prophesying with their heads covered, while men should pray/prophesy with their heads uncovered, indicates that the differences between men and women to Paul were more in form than in (gospel) function.– Additionally, Paul referred to “Junia” as an Apostle in Romans (Romans 16:7). Junia was a woman’s name in those times. Later tweeking successfully obscured this information by using the masculine “Junius” instead. While the KJV does use the original “Junia” the language is vague about whether the name refers to a man or woman as well as wether Junia was an Apostle.
KJV: Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
The word ‘kinsmen’ doesn’t help… Also, “of note among the apostles” could simply mean, the Apostles took note of him/her. But modern translations are free of the masculine name, the masculine terminology, and much more direct about Apostleship.
NRSV: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives [or ‘compatriots’] who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
NIV: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
Keeping. Thank you for the research.
I love talking about Elder Wirthlin’s orchestra analogy in “Concern for the One”. I also love talking about the Sermon on the Mount and the command to love and actually interact with and serve everyone.
My favorite talk was about the three degrees of love/service (telestial, terrestrial, and celestial: loving and serving those like us, loving and serving regular people not like us, and loving and serving people radically different than us) and
how most of us love in a telestial manner. I gave that talk in a YSA ward, and they ate it up. (It helped that Inquoted “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”: “Be excellent to each other.”) I would like to hear a good talk on Quote:Hope
. What it is. What it isn’t.
Another is:
Quote:What is the basics of the gospel?
Where should our faith really focus on a daily basis?
Another is:
Quote:How can we draw closer to our HF?
How do we become more spiritual beings?
Another is:
Quote:The gospel seems to be a gospel of 2nd chances.
We can’t learn everything there is to know in this life. There is more coming in the next.
Good luck. Let us know what talk you decided to use.
Is there a prize involved?I like MM’s idea of talking about hope. I was in a gospel principles class a few months ago about faith. The teacher was talking about how faith can be difficult for some people. For some, it seems to come easy; for others, it seems to be much more difficult. I mentioned that it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say, “I know…” in regards to my testimony. He said that there are a few things that he feels comfortable saying that he ‘knows.’ There are many other things that he says he ‘believes.’ And then there are a lot of things that he ‘hopes.’ I’ve thought a lot about that. Before you can know, you have to believe. And before you can believe, you need to have hope. It all starts with hope, and it’s okay if hope is what gets you closer to Christ. A person can be just as righteous following Christ through hope, as a person following Christ through belief or knowledge. Wow, how great would that be?!? To have a former bishop put out some real food for thought about a Mormon woman’s experience. But a different thought: that will be the last regular Sunday before Easter. The 2nd is GC, the 9th Palm Sunday. I would love to hear a talk that started early turning attention to it and drew from hundreds of years of Easter celebration. I’d love to hear the actual story. I don’t know about you, but we hardly ever hear it. I’d love to hear what we hold in common with others, so no mention of Joseph Smith, authority, temples, etc. Give it a rest. That’s grouchy, but it’s how I feel. In 2018 we’ll be back to GC for Easter. Grr.
(P.S. This is on my mind because I just noticed that Ash Wednesday is March 1st, and have always wished, even pre-faith crisis, that we had that custom.)
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