Speaking on Easter

[Linked]

I accepted a request to speak in SM on Easter. I don't think the BP realized it was Easter when they were planning it, he may change his mind... The talk is on service, which is awesome. I am happily surprised to be given 2 months notice for a talk on a subject I feel good about. This is the same ward that asked me to speak on prop 8, so it's a wonderful change of pace.

I plan to use a lot of stories to illustrate the good that people do in the world. Any good recommendations on service stories?

[MoPag]

Oh no one does Easter quite like the Mormons.

I would throw it back in their faces and give a talk about how Christ's life, atonement and resurrection is the ultimate form of service.

Or,
If you want to get that Prop 8 taste out of your mouth, here is an article about all the awesome stuff Ellen DeGeneres does for people. http://www.upworthy.com/ellen-degeneres ... f-kindness

I got it off of UPWORTHY. http://www.upworthy.com/search?q=Acts+of+kindness They are big on positive news with a wonderfully liberal spin

Good luck with the talk. Keep us posted.

[alas]

Oh no one does Easter quite like the Mormons.

I would throw it back in their faces and give a talk about how Christ's life, atonement and resurrection is the ultimate form of service.

Or,
If you want to get that Prop 8 taste out of your mouth, here is an article about all the awesome stuff Ellen DeGeneres does for people. http://www.upworthy.com/ellen-degeneres ... f-kindness

I got it off of UPWORTHY. http://www.upworthy.com/search?q=Acts+of+kindness They are big on positive news with a wonderfully liberal spin

Good luck with the talk. Keep us posted.

Yes, please make it a talk about how the atonement is the greatest service ever given and turn it into a talk on Easter.

[Random]

. . . give a talk about how Christ's life, atonement and resurrection is the ultimate form of service.

That's a great idea!

[document]

I thought only church musicians started worrying about Easter before Lent even begins.

[2bizE]

I saw a tv program or something last year that basically said Mormons suck at Easter. The whole world is celebrating Christ and we are sitting in church eating chocolate bunnies.
As far as service, I would stay away from any conference talks. People don't need a quote from Bednar to understand service. Something you have done that is genuine. Something someone has done for you. People get reality rather than some fifth person hand down story from a GA.

[wtfluff]

I saw a tv program or something last year that basically said Mormons suck at Easter. The whole world is celebrating Christ and we are sitting in church eating chocolate bunnies.

Hee Hee!

HollowBunny.jpg (59.47 KiB) Viewed 9092 times

[Corsair]

I saw a tv program or something last year that basically said Mormons suck at Easter. The whole world is celebrating Christ and we are sitting in church eating chocolate bunnies.

Individual wards and stakes often do have meaningful, Christ-centered Easter services within the bounds of sacrament meeting. My own ward has been quite good as long as General Conference does not clobber Easter. The LDS church is enormously hierarchical in matters of organization, finance, and social restrictions. But the painful irony is that in matters of deep Christian devotion the individual congregations will have their personalized worship of Jesus on Easter. This can range from profound to deeply disappointing depending on the character of the ward and its leadership.

General conference remains as bland and corporate as ever. The radical, uncomfortable Jesus of the New Testament is forced to fit into LDS social convention. Apostles living in their comfortable, executive bubble are held up as the preeminent followers of Jesus.

[moksha]

Like the old Barbra Streisand song goes:

Mormons
Mormons who serve others
Are the friendliest Mormons in the world,
We're children, serving other children
And yet letting our grown-up pride
Hide all the service inside.

With one Mormon, one very special Mormon
A feeling deep in your soul (sorry, neither spirit nor garments rhyme)
Says you were half,
Now you're whole.
No more hunger and thirst
But first be a Mormon
Who serves people.

Mormons who serve others
Are the friendliest Mormons
In the world!

Well, Streisand was no Marie Osmond, but the idea was good. Makes me all verklempt.

[2bizE]

I saw a tv program or something last year that basically said Mormons suck at Easter. The whole world is celebrating Christ and we are sitting in church eating chocolate bunnies.

Individual wards and stakes often do have meaningful, Christ-centered Easter services within the bounds of sacrament meeting. My own ward has been quite good as long as General Conference does not clobber Easter. The LDS church is enormously hierarchical in matters of organization, finance, and social restrictions. But the painful irony is that in matters of deep Christian devotion the individual congregations will have their personalized worship of Jesus on Easter. This can range from profound to deeply disappointing depending on the character of the ward and its leadership.

General conference remains as bland and corporate as ever. The radical, uncomfortable Jesus of the New Testament is forced to fit into LDS social convention. Apostles living in their comfortable, executive bubble are held up as the preeminent followers of Jesus.

Corsair,
I do. Believe some wards do a decent job at celebrating Easter. Part of the documentary I saw focused on what Christian religions do throughout the world to celebrate Easter. Reenactments of Christ riding into the town on a lowly donkey. Reenactments of Christ carrying the cross through the streets. Palm Sunday. Ash Wednesday. Mormons don't participate in these Christian events. We just go to church as usual or general conference if it falls on that weekend. We don't celebrate Christ like much of Christianity. We want to be called.Christians, but we do not have these Christian manifestations in our culture.

[ulmite]

Our liturgical calendar is so bad, we can only sing Easter related songs for one meeting (barring fast sunday or general conference) before having repeats. One song in the hymnal is for Palm Sunday, if your ward notices. Please oh please make your talk about Easter!

[MerrieMiss]

Hi Linked!

it's been a while since you've posted, and I was wondering how things are going for you generally and how preparation for you talk is going?

[Linked]

Hi Linked!

it's been a while since you've posted, and I was wondering how things are going for you generally and how preparation for you talk is going?

Hi MerrieMiss, Et Al.! Things are going pretty good right now, just a little busier at work. The talk was moved back a month due to a bunch of conferences. We were in a regional conference last week, Ward and Stake Conference sometime in the next month, and of course General Conference at the beginning of April. But I have been thinking a lot about it. I think it will have a general flow shown below.

- Talk and share stories about the different kinds of service people do (family stuff, the poor, hungry, church related service, work stuff, friends, I have a better list I don't have in front of me). No stories where I am the one doing service, cause those people are annoying.

- Reinforce that everyone is great for the service they do.

- Provide some information for serving the poor and effective ways to do it (how to give money to charities that actually help the poor)

- Reinforce that their service amount and mix is a personal thing between them and God.

I hope it works out.