Sacrament Meeting Talk Topics

[Paperback Writer]

This is great stuff. I agree that the bolded is incredibly entrenched. I personally think there is an unwritten rule that church shouldn't be entertaining because (1) entertainment is not worship and (2) that would be too much like the evangelicals and that would go against the LDS teaching that other churches have to be entertaining to get followers while we get followers being boring and dry because we are the true church.

It's the unwritten order of things. That's my experience as well as the second question asked when something new or different is proposed is: "Has this been done before?" The first question asked: "Is that OK by way of the church handbook?"

I've heard many state of the "comfort" of a sacrament meeting being the same in SLC as in Houston or Dallas. Personally, I'd like them to be a little different. For example, in the Dallas area there is a tradition of some excellent evangical chuch choirs. Why not form a choir from all the wards that meet in a building and sing some of the evangical music that is appropriate? I'm also open to some background organ music to accentuate the monthly high council speaker-they need all the help they can get.

[BigPiney]

We are getting away from the original question here. The focus on Christ needs to made. This is a worship service and needs to come back to Christ in everything we do.

One set of topics that could be possible, and I haven't looked at them in years, so I don't know if this would work. Maybe starting with the scripture mastery scriptures from that year and assigning those as the topics. I think there are 25 per standard work, 100 in all, so maybe that could be a starting point. Then someone could go in whatever direction they want with that scripture.

[The_Douger]

In the last year we have had guitar, saxophone, and trombone duets. A few weeks we had a guy playing the accordion in sacrament meeting. I liked that one a lot.

I play the accordion quite well and I've asked if I can play it in our meetings and that's been a stern no.

Apparently, it's a very irreverent instrument, so I'm told.

[Solon]

You don't like to hear the words of the lords anointed? Speaks volumes.

Sounds like cougjunkie is volunteering to give a talk on friendship & fellowship.

What topics do you want to see taken up in sacrament meeting talks?

IMO, the main problem with Sacrament-meeting talks isn't the topics, it's the speakers. Some people are better at speaking than others. Most people are pretty willing to sit through a dry talk or strain to hear a mumbler if the person has some social-capital saved up in the ward. I'm not sure how much the topic will matter in most cases.

However, in a few cases, I think a good, conscientious speaker paired with an interesting or original topic could really make a difference.

My church attendance isn't all that regular, but I remember a talk from last year where a woman pretty brazenly talked about how she has a lot of friends who don't believe everything in the church and felt like they didn't belong. This woman was really funny in her presentation (she's a gifted speaker, so that helped), but the content was solid: people who are hung up on parsing what they believe or don't believe are missing the point of church altogether. "It's not about you," she said. "It's about everyone else." So, I guess the "topic" for such a talk would be something like "It's not always about knowing or believing; it's about worshiping & serving"; or "Quit being so self-involved and worrying about whether or not you should wear a purple tie to support that lady in pants and just enjoy 35 minutes of sitting in church with your friends & neighbors"

Another topic that might work is something about "hope." I appreciate testimonies that say "I hope" more often than "I know." Epistemologically, it's more honest; religiously, it's more humble. So, the topic could be something about "it's okay to say "I hope"".

Besides these two, I think you could go along with wuap's suggestion about O.T. history by finding some good examples of principles we still observe for people to key on. For instance, one of my favorite stories in the OT is the way Esau meets Jacob after years of estrangement in Genesis 32 & 33. Jacob is nervous when he learns Esau is coming to see him - after all, Jacob "stole" Esau's birthright. In fact, Jacob is so apprehensive that he divides his stock into parts so that, when Esau attacks, one/some of the groups should be able to escape (Gen 32.6-8). When Esau gets close, Jacob puts his favorite wife & son in the back, the safest spot, and puts the handmaids up front to receive the wrath. But when they meet, Esau runs to Jacob, embraces him, weeps, and asks about his family (Gen 33.4). It's one of the most touching moments in scripture, and a powerful lesson on forgiveness - but, of course, the GD lesson manual prefers to paint Esau just as the guy who placed no value on his birthright. (OT Lesson #10, in case you're curious).

So, you could give a theme like "Forgiveness" and then ask them to use the story in Gen 32-33 as a backdrop or a starting-point.

Finally, I think it could be cool to assign a "talk" from the scriptures like the practice of assigning a GC talk. So, you could choose a notable address from the scriptures and have the invited speaker prepare thoughts on it. Clearly, there are plenty of Jesus' parables to choose from. There are obviously plenty in the BoM (almost too easy there), but it could be rewarding to get one of the talks of Moses (e.g. Deuteronomy 29-30), or Jeremiah's Temple-Sermon (Jer. 7), Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin (Acts 7), Paul's speech to the mob at the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 21.26-22.21), or maybe a NT letter. It's pretty much the exact same format as the regular assign-a-General-Conference talk scheme, but this would require people to actually engage with a bigger section of scriptural text instead of cherry-picking individual verses to fit a preconceived theme or subject.

So, there are my ideas.

Oh, and if there's someone you don't particularly like, just assign that person to speak on one of the PoGP facsimiles.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Solon, can I hire you to write my next Sac Mtg talk?

[Bo Diddley]

Solon, can I hire you to write my next Sac Mtg talk?

And actually I'm speaking on Sunday. "Rearing Children in a Polluted Environment" Joe J. Christensen. Thanks in advance.

[Jeff Lebowski]

And actually I'm speaking on Sunday. "Rearing Children in a Polluted Environment" Joe J. Christensen. Thanks in advance.

Sounds like a real picker upper!

Good luck with that.

[TripletDaddy]

And actually I'm speaking on Sunday. "Rearing Children in a Polluted Environment" Joe J. Christensen. Thanks in advance.

This must be a Northern Utah-specific talk.

[Bo Diddley]

This must be a Northern Utah-specific talk.

The counselor who gave me the assignment (my next door neighbor) is a real environmentalist too. He rides his bike to work most days, even if there's fresh snow on the ground.