The New Sunday Stuff and Me

[Anonymous]

mom3 wrote:

Our RS lesson was Dallin Oaks GC “Truth and The Plan” talk. It was full of “We’re Number One and Judging Others”. We had the privilege of listening to the whole d*&# thing. Only stopping it long enough for comments like, “The Proclamation on the Family. So ahead of it’s time” and “People searching the internet, then leaving”.

I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer, when the conversation turned to bashing all the other church’s. I tried as tactfully as I could to state “that we need to value them, too. That we wouldn’t be here with out them. And they are light years ahead of us in many areas, such as humanitarian service.” The response I got was, “That is true. But we have the Priesthood.” Like that makes it all better.

Oaks covered every offense imagineable. It was a treat. Gay people, inactives, faith fail-ers, information vs. knowledge. Balanced of course by our amazing humanitarian generosity and yellow t-shirt moments.

For the time being I am going to stick to first hour meeting and hall monitor for the rest.

This is a reason why I have been volunteering to teach R.S. for the last few months. [That and we had some really crappy teachers assigned.]

As the teacher, I can control the focus, and redirect as necessary so that all sisters are as equally comfortable as possible. I also tend to include a practical solution for every religious solution listed (i.e. pray and/or meditate, or read your scriptures & make sure that you are going to the doctor for checkups and/or taking medicine if necessary). I make it clear that these are a few of what has helped me – and that there might be other courses out there for them…

I don’t claim revelation for what I present. I don’t not claim revelation for what I present either. I stick to conference talks from the most recent conference that speak to me, and try to set up the classes so that each of the learning processes (audio, visual) is engaged, and that there is quiet time for contemplation. It is becoming a joke but, I usually hand out index cards and pens to the class with the disclosure that I want the sisters to have the resources available to write down something important if something important shows up. I also send my lesson plan to my mom for review – to make sure that I am protecting my back and not missing something important. She was recently released from being in their R.S. presidency, but I felt that her input was important to making sure I was staying on the path I needed to be to most assist my sisters with the lesson (even from my fluctuating belief stance). She LOVES my lessons, and forwarded them onto their ward’s Relief Society teachers actually….

[Anonymous]

That is great Amy. Your lessons sound like a good bridge of unity for all the women there.

[Anonymous]

We have a very accepting ward, overall, and Bishop, specifically – and I teach Gospel Doctrine right now. Therefore, my comments would be biased heavily by those factors.

Having said that, I prefer the new format to the old one. It gives flexible teachers more flexibility to focus on elements they feel are inspiring and avoid “those” passages and stories. Of course, the flip side is true, as well, for more orthodox or hardline teachers.

Teacher roulette is as real as leadership roulette.

[Anonymous]

Our YSA hold a social in third hour now which I’m glad about. I gather it’s going well.

[Anonymous]

mom3 wrote:

DJ – I imagined my ward to be like that. I think what happened is the “Old Guard” had been hanging out in Genealogy Classes and the High Priest Group. When we removed those classes – Ta Da – Suddenly they were accessible. None of them are shy. They make BRM proud. My husband said they slaughtered Uchtdorf’s lesson in PH.

Nibbler

Quote:

What’s negative to me, the we’re number one and judging others stuff, is often presented as something positive at church and standing against those things is seen as negative. It’s wearing.

Right now that ^^ is an understatement.

Our RS lesson was Dallin Oaks GC “Truth and The Plan” talk. It was full of “We’re Number One and Judging Others”. We had the privilege of listening to the whole d*&# thing. Only stopping it long enough for comments like, “The Proclamation on the Family. So ahead of it’s time” and “People searching the internet, then leaving”.

I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer, when the conversation turned to bashing all the other church’s. I tried as tactfully as I could to state “that we need to value them, too. That we wouldn’t be here with out them. And they are light years ahead of us in many areas, such as humanitarian service.” The response I got was, “That is true. But we have the Priesthood.” Like that makes it all better.

Oaks covered every offense imagineable. It was a treat. Gay people, inactives, faith fail-ers, information vs. knowledge. Balanced of course by our amazing humanitarian generosity and yellow t-shirt moments.

For the time being I am going to stick to first hour meeting and hall monitor for the rest.

Our ward is far from perfect, but we do have enough open minded folks who are also willing to speak up and we have a very accepting, loving, laid back bishop (whose time is about up). In the three hour block, there were more people in the hall or chapel second hour than there were in SS. A couple old ladies would hang out in the FH center, but most people avoided there because one of them is on the brash side. The Old Guard attended GD, which is what kept some people out of there – there were so few in there that the Old Guard dominated (and the teacher was Old Guard himself). (We did get a new younger, more open minded and more tech savvy teacher at the very end of last year.) A couple people attended gospel essentials (or whatever it was called) even though there sometimes wasn’t anybody taking lessons or new there – that class was frequently cancelled and they ended up with the rest of us foyer rats. The foyer/chapel group included the bishop (often flagged down for someone looking for welfare or some crisis) and his wife, so he was not one to shoo everyone off to SS.

So the big difference I see in my own ward is that almost everybody goes to SS now, but because of the size of the group there is little opportunity for participation. Everyone, including the Old Guard, is stymied. This does reflect on the teacher a bit, but she is trying. Truth is, I’m more fine with it than I originally was. My educator background was getting in the way as I kept thinking about the need/value in participation, but then I recognized that participation in this case is not always good and that perhaps this is more like a college lecture hall class (I went to a small college and a lecture hall class for us was 50-75 students – probably similar to what we have in GD now). On those days when the whole thing is going differently than I would otherwise hope, I’ll either continue doing what I’m doing on the back row or I’ll just slip out. The likelihood of getting a word in edgewise with any meaningful input is slim as the class is currently constituted.

PH is a whole different animal. The group is much smaller, we’re in a smaller (but ample/comfy) room and I know I have allies there. We are still a minority but we are by no means oppressed (it helps that the allies are all intelligent, have some street cred, and many of us have been in the ward for decades). In all honestly it has not changed except it is every other week and I mostly like it.

I have noticed that it does seem easier for some people to make it one hour church now. People who used to sort of hang out second hour and then come to third hour are now often gone after SM. Good for them, and more power to them. We need to not overlook or forget the “home centered” part which is actually emphasized. If DW wasn’t a Primary teacher I’d probably do the same more often. And I’ve noticed one other thing, and this seems to be stakewide here – SM attendance is up.

(Edited for clarity)

[Anonymous]

An afterthought. I did realize this past Sunday that I have lost a bit of contact (and hence have ministered less) since the change. The catalyst for this epiphany was when I saw the sister who is taking care of her grandbaby because her daughter is unable to (because of addiction). We regularly chatted during those second hours in the foyer. She doesn’t come every Sunday, and I have not been there every Sunday either (and we didn’t have church one Sunday because of snow). But I saw the baby and he had grown like a foot in the last month or so (it probably only seems like a foot, but he’s lots bigger). And it hit me – I haven’t chatted with her since the end of December.

[Anonymous]

mom3 wrote:

[Author]

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