November 9, 2011 - Reverence

[pam]

“Reverence includes turning off our cell phones and BlackBerry devices. Texting or reading e-mails in a Church meeting is not only irreverent; it is distracting and signals a lack of respect for those around us. So we exemplify reverence by participating in the meeting, listening to the speakers, and singing the hymns of Zion together.”

Margaret S. Lifferth “Respect and Reverence,” Ensign, May 2009, 13

[Vort]

I am amazed that this even needs to be said. What's next? "Reverence includes avoiding standing up during sacrament meeting and conversing loudly with someone on the other side of the chapel"?

[annewandering]

I am amazed that this even needs to be said. What's next? "Reverence includes avoiding standing up during sacrament meeting and conversing loudly with someone on the other side of the chapel"?

You have never sat by two people conversing in normal volume while the sacrament is being passed?

[Vort]

You have never sat by two people conversing in normal volume while the sacrament is being passed?

Indeed I have. When my wife and I first married, we lived in Provo and attended a family ward for about six weeks, until we fled to a married student ward. The people were nice enough, but the ward was utter pandemonium. Little children literally ran up and down the aisles during the sacrament meeting. People carried on conversations, more or less in normal tones, during the administration of the sacrament. I know I come across here to some people as ultraconservative, but in reality I consider myself fairly broadminded and slow to judge on a personal level. But in retrospect, I am appalled. What were people thinking?

Again, I am amazed that such things even need to be said. I would think that civilized people would realized that civilized behavior is expected.