What were the topics of the talks given this Sunday in your wards?


Irishcolleen
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We only had two speakers this Sunday in our Sacrament meeting.

The first talk, given by one of the Sunday School teachers, was on the Holy Ghost. It was a very good talk. I filled my spiritual journal page with notes. In fact, he took up most of the sacrament meeting.

The 2nd, and concluding speaker, was a visiting High Councilor. He gave the love of the Stake Presidency. His talk was very good too, but unfortunately, I was having issues with my son and daughter and did not write anything in my journal. I have learned, that if I don't write it down, no matter how great the talk or lesson, I can't remember.

But I do remember the Sunday School lesson and the Relief Society lesson. Both were also closely related to the talk during Sacrament Meeting on the Holy Ghost and following the promptings. ~TG

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No idea. I was flying solo and was basically there for appearances. I was out of Sacrament with my baby more than I was in it. I do remember something about gay marriage, though.

Church with little ones seems so pointless sometimes, doesn't it? ^_^

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Church with little ones seems so pointless sometimes, doesn't it? ^_^

My husband is a stake auditor, and the audits happen in February and August. Of the last five weeks, he's been at home with sick girls two weeks, camping one week, and auditing other units two weeks. I'm soooooo over being at church by myself. Oh yeah, and I'm in Nursery, so really, I'm getting nothing out of church when he's not there.

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Church with little ones seems so pointless sometimes, doesn't it? ^_^

Actually, I'd turn that around and say that Church without little ones would often seem pointless.

I have noticed that many other churches and pastors choose a specific verse or chapter of scripture and base their sermon around it. In some cases, they do this basically to give a personal gloss or prooftext of the scripture for whatever they're talking about. Other times, it seems to be an honest attempt to consider a scriptural teaching and its possible implications in our lives. You occasionally see this in LDS talks; I am reminded of a recent, almost verbatim, reading of James 3.

More often, LDS talks are testimonies -- that is, personal experiences -- buttressed with scriptural and authoritative quotations and historical accounts that pertain to the topic, which I personally find to be a more powerful experience in general. We typically save our scriptural dissections for Sunday school or Priesthood meeting (and I assume Relief Society).

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Of course you know, Vort, that I'm talking about those times you're just sitting in the foyer or walking in the halls with a baby or toddler. At those times it can seem like it's pointless to get dressed up, haul everyone to church, and try to soothe them in the middle of their naptime when they just want to be home in their beds. It would at those times seem to me like it was pointless for me to be there. Of course I know that the truth is, setting those patterns and habits and setting that example is one of the many things we do now for rewards later. I do see those rewards as the children get older. But it doesn't always feel at the time like there's a point to being there when all you're doing is walking halls.

It was an empathetic observation, that's all.

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Of course you know, Vort, that I'm talking about those times you're just sitting in the foyer or walking in the halls with a baby or toddler. At those times it can seem like it's pointless to get dressed up, haul everyone to church, and try to soothe them in the middle of their naptime when they just want to be home in their beds. It would at those times seem to me like it was pointless for me to be there. Of course I know that the truth is, setting those patterns and habits and setting that example is one of the many things we do now for rewards later. I do see those rewards as the children get older. But it doesn't always feel at the time like there's a point to being there when all you're doing is walking halls.

It was an empathetic observation, that's all.

Of course I know that. But it was much too good an opening to just let it slide.

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I was so glad when my parents started going to church with us. We needed four adults to keep 2 preschoolers quiet!

I'm so embarrassed...I wish I could claim I had a baby or preschooler. No, my problems came from my 12 & 10 year-old children. They were "looking" at each other, they were breathing the same space, they may have actually <gasp> touched each other, and some mumbled words and dirty looks were exchanged. SIGH

At that point (during the intermediate hymn) I made them sit on either side of me.

Usually they are good, but my son was bored, and when he gets bored he aggravates his sister for fun.

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The new youth curriculum and how it had increased testimony of the Godhead and the Plan of Salvation. It was our Stake Conference this week.

Little mirky was one of the youth speakers, I'll share his talk below.

Good morning brothers and sisters. President ****** asked me to talk on the new teaching curriculum for our classes. This new curriculum has given the young men and young women an opportunity to participate more in class instead of listening to lectures all hour. The changes also let us decide where the lesson will proceed. I really enjoy this new curriculum because it gives me and my classmates the opportunity to have our questions answered, and we can decide what we will learn about on a general topic.

I will first talk about the plan of salvation. We first heard about the plan of salvation in the pre-mortal life, in what the scriptures call our first estate. We don’t know much about what has happened in this time period, but we do know that we lived there as spirits. We know we made certain steps of advancement to prepare for the opportunity to live here on earth, be tested, and finally be judged into one of the three kingdoms of glory. These kingdoms are: The telestial, terrestrial, and celestial kingdoms.

In the telestial kingdom it will be much like earth is now. This belongs to the people who have received the gospel, then rejected it. The terrestrial kingdom is the glory of the moon, which lets people enjoy the savior, but not the father. The celestial kingdom is the highest and is compared to the sun. We will be able to become gods, create worlds, have eternal happiness, have our eternal families, and more. You can read more about this in sections 76, 131 and 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

We also know that our Father held a great council to explain why we would come to earth life. We had the opportunity of accepting or rejecting the plan of salvation. It was not forced upon us. The essence of the plan was that man would have an opportunity of working out his own life on earth, with God’s help. A leader was selected to teach us how to follow the plan and to redeem us from sin and death. God’s only purpose is to enable all of us to enjoy his gifts and blessings. He has provided a perfect plan to accomplish His purpose.

We understood and accepted this plan before we came to the earth. God created Adam and Eve in His own image, with bodies of flesh and bones, and put them into the Garden of Eden. They were given the choice either to remain in the garden or to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and have the opportunity of experiencing mortality. They accepted this challenge, partook of the fruit, and thus became mortal and subject to physical death, sickness, and they would also experience all of the trials and other difficulties of mortality.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie has said, “There are two purposes for life in mortality. The first is that we might gain experiences that we could not obtain in any other way. The second is to obtain tabernacles of flesh and bones. Both of these purposes are vital to the existence of man. We are now being tried and tested to see if we will do all the things the Lord has commanded us to do. These commandments are the principles and ordinances of the gospel, and they constitute the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every principle and ordinance has a bearing upon the whole purpose of our testing, which is to prepare us to return to our Heavenly Father and become more like Him.”

All of this is possible because Jesus Christ. He is the centerpiece of the eternal plan of the Father. God sent His Beloved Son to overcome the Fall of Adam and Eve. He came to earth as our Savior and Redeemer. He overcame the obstacle of physical death for us by giving up His own life. When He died on the cross, His spirit became separated from His body. On the third day His spirit and His body were reunited eternally, never to be separated again.

I’d like to bear my testimony; I know that this new curriculum has been designed by the lord for the youth. I know that this plan is the perfect plan for not only our world, but all other worlds, I know that if we endure to the end that we will be able to liv with our Father in Heaven again, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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It was an empathetic observation, that's all.

I really appreciated it. Yesterday did not feel like a "day of rest" for me.

Of course I know that. But it was much too good an opening to just let it slide.

I also appreciated your comments, Vort. I like that the speakers in our church aren't professionally trained, aren't theologians, and aren't the same every week. I enjoy learning from each of the saints, each in their own style.

It's tough though, when I can't learn at all, because I'm in the hallway with a tired, uncomfortable, crying 15-month-old.

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Sunday is one of our busiest days, and neither of us even really has a leadership calling. I've done my murmuring about not getting that day of rest, only to be reminded that it's a day of rest from our worldly cares. I wish I could say that changed my attitude entirely, but I'm still working on it. :)

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Was a patriarch released? That would be quite unusual.

I don't think it's unheard of. It's happened in two stakes we've been in and also my husbands grandpa was a patriarch who was given that emeritus status also. Once a patriarch, always a patriarch but sometimes they reach a point where their health or mental status interferes with their calling. They can still give blessings to their family but another patriarch is called to give blessings to members of the stake.

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I don't think it's unheard of. It's happened in two stakes we've been in and also my husbands grandpa was a patriarch who was given that emeritus status also. Once a patriarch, always a patriarch but sometimes they reach a point where their health or mental status interferes with their calling. They can still give blessings to their family but another patriarch is called to give blessings to members of the stake.

I know it's a life calling, and the only time I've ever heard of more than one patriarch in a stake is when an already-ordained patriarch moves in. I guess one could ask to be released, based on personal health, etc. (much like the pope's recent resignation), but I've never heard of it. Thanks for clarifying.

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When I first joined we had two patriarchs.

I believe one was in foreign climes (can't remember where exactly believe it was somewhere in Africa) and another was called effectively I believe to 'cover' for him.

The original one is still going (or he was at the last stake conference and I haven't heard anything since then) but in very poor health, so we effectively have two patriarchs again.

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