The blessings of disaffection

[Anonymous]

I do believe that Bishops or Bishoprics influence Sacrament Meetings.

I have attended wards (not many I will admit) that have more uplifting or stimulating meetings. Those wards change the programs up at times. They have music and the spoken word days – like a readers theater with narrators. My parents ward is less strict on talk presentations. Meaning tasteful light heartedness comes up when it applies or more memorable stories. In one of the wards I lived in I was YW Pres. and we got permission to be the main event at Sacrament Meeting. We made it an all hymn/music meeting. There are still people I bump into who remembered it.

My guess is most Bishops are busy. Other than picking a topic for the meeting they just let it go along, unless something horrible goes awry. Ironically this maybe one of those moments when the age old joke about Relief Society with table cloths and doilies comes in. Not that doilies are needed, but women are more presentation oriented. Where as the men open the book, set it on the desk and go.

This is a tricky one to change if you aren’t in a capacity to do so. However I’ve attended Evangelical services and though they have more trained pastors who can stir a crowd they too have deficits. Bands maybe great, but some of their hymns sound like the accompaniment is the same no matter what the words are.

My final thought on boring meetings comes from Ronald Reagan “One thing I do know-all the hours in the old church in Dixon (which I didn’t appreciate at the time) and all of Nellie’s faith have come together in a kind of inheritance without which I’d be lost and helpless.”

[Anonymous]

This post reminds me of the concept of financial freedom vs financial success or wealth. Financial freedom takes into account both the numerator and denominator (how much you need to be happy as well as how much you earn), but the latter only takes into account the numerator or how much you earn. You could be homeless and have financial freedom. It’s all a matter of your expectations, wants and needs.

For me, I can get enough through the friendships at church to make it worthwhile, and I’ve got great listening filters. When I hear something off or that strikes me as counter to the gospel (e.g. all obedience, no personal revelation), I am amused and intrigued by human nature and realize that person probably has a life lesson ahead. My downside is when there’s really not that much good content (that is personally edifying or provocative spiritually), I sometimes get bored. Repetition can be a bit mind-numbing at church, and when that happens I just resort to enjoying the relationships. Fortunately, I’m teaching the youth right now, and they are so fresh that things are new to them. It helps, although the manuals are pretty awful. I usually take one or two key ideas and expand on them with attention getting activities.

[Anonymous]

hawkgrrrl wrote:

This post reminds me of the concept of financial freedom vs financial success or wealth. Financial freedom takes into account both the numerator and denominator (how much you need to be happy as well as how much you earn), but the latter only takes into account the numerator or how much you earn. You could be homeless and have financial freedom. It’s all a matter of your expectations, wants and needs.

I love the idea of a Church Satisfaction Quotient (CSQ).

CSQ= Happiness Provided by Church Experiences/Happiness Needs Level.

The higher the ratio/quotient, the better.

When people find happiness provided by natural church experiences is zero or negative (the numerator), you have to find ways of making that numerator as positive as possible to bring that ratio above the value of 1. For me it’s been:

1. Acts of service for their own sake, independent of any programs

2. Hopefully, trading up — making Sacrament meeting time more valuable than it is by removing my son and having a spiritual lesson somewhere in the building.

3. Emphasizing relationships with people through non-Church experiences

They are probably different for each person, but the idea of finding non-traditional ways of increasing the numerator can really help.

Another strategy is to lower your needs, the denominator. Not sure exactly how to do this, but one thing I said in another post is to look at the Ward as a foreign country with values you often don’t hold, but which you respect as you would the culture of any foreign group. That reduces your needs for the organization to produce happiness, or think the way you do.

Quote:

For me, I can get enough through the friendships at church to make it worthwhile, and I’ve got great listening filters. When I hear something off or that strikes me as counter to the gospel (e.g. all obedience, no personal revelation), I am amused and intrigued by human nature and realize that person probably has a life lesson ahead.

How do you stop that from turning into arrogance? (It doesn’t sound like it, the way you’ve worded it, but I find that when I start thinking I know more than others, I have to be on guard).

Quote:

My downside is when there’s really not that much good content (that is personally edifying or provocative spiritually), I sometimes get bored. Repetition can be a bit mind-numbing at church, and when that happens I just resort to enjoying the relationships. Fortunately, I’m teaching the youth right now, and they are so fresh that things are new to them. It helps, although the manuals are pretty awful. I usually take one or two key ideas and expand on them with attention getting activities.

Or games that teach. I found that when you entwine gospel content with games the youth start bringing their non-member friends to Church and attendance goes way up.

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