Mormon Easter

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Rivendale
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by Rivendale »

MG 2.0 wrote:
Tue Apr 12, 2022 12:47 am
Rivendale wrote:
Tue Apr 12, 2022 12:00 am
Keep ruining threads, it shows the true heart of an indoctrinated poe.
More than one opinion or outlook should be tolerated.

Regards,
MG
I think president Nelson would disagree.
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Gadianton
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by Gadianton »

Unless you happen to have been or are in the wards I’ve been in.
For most of your life the Church only had Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday, and then let everyone go early. At home, it was dying eggs and chocolate bunnies. And so technically, the Church spends less time in worship on Easter than any other Sunday, and church members opt to focus on the commercial side of the holiday on their own time. Sure, the Bishop might have had a short two minute message about Easter and then the speakers from the congregation were probably assigned Easter topics. Big deal.
How much noise will you be making this Sunday about the resurrection of Christ and the meaning that has for the world at large?
Methinks that it will be a lot less than what will happen in LDS wards across the world.
Why would you compare someone who doesn't believe in Jesus at all to the Church? Are you going to say next that Mormons think about Jesus more on Easter than the leaders of the Communist Party of China? The thread was about the significantly greater effort the Catholic Church puts into Easter than the Mormon Church does. Why should you care that Catholics care more about Jesus than you do? The most important thing is that you make sure Joseph Smith gets his due praise.
dastardly stem
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by dastardly stem »

MG 2.0 wrote:
Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:20 pm


Unless you happen to have been or are in the wards I’ve been in.

How much noise will you be making this Sunday about the resurrection of Christ and the meaning that has for the world at large?

Methinks that it will be a lot less than what will happen in LDS wards across the world.

But how would you know?😕

Regards,
MG
Fair point, I won't be preaching my take that Jesus never lived to anyone. That's just plain reasonable, as I see it. And I'm comfortable with the view that if there were a Jesus the stories told about him are largely made up, pulled together from various places. Also to note, I listened in to a recent debate between Bart Ehrman and Mike Licona on the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus (I gave my money to listen to it, knowing there would be nothing new discussed. But you know I ought to support these types of conversations, I figure). Not only did Ehrman more than wipe the floor with him, as they say, but there really doesn't seem to be any good reason to think the resurrection happened, and if so it certainly doesn't mean much to the world. We can all get along just fine without it.

ETA: THough I am kinda childlike and enjoy celebrating things like Easter, by seeing friends and family, and getting my kids excited. So, I suppose there is that. I'll remind my kids I don't really take the Jesus story seriously, probably, and might, as I do from time to time, teach them what Christians think and will typically say (so I may be preaching something about Jesus after all).
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
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drumdude
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by drumdude »

I do believe the good doctor noticed my humble thread. He gave a play-by-play of today's Mormon High Mass. It was very different from a typical LDS Sunday sacrament meeting, as you can see detailed below:
DP wrote:Easter isn’t about family, as such, but it’s a great family day nonetheless. Happily, we were able to spend this afternoon with one of our sons, my wife’s sister, and my father in law, who is now in his ninety-sixth year.

Before that, we attended our ward sacrament meeting, which was — not surprisingly — Easter-themed. “The fundamental principles of our religion,” said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”

Some of the best music in the Church is Easter music, and I regret that we tend to sing it only on Easter Sunday itself. That means, unfortunately, that we don’t get through it all in any given year, so that some of the songs are sung only every two or three years.

We began this morning by singing the wonderful Hymn 199, with lyrics by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818–1895) set to music by Joachim Neander (1650–1680):

He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.
Come with high and holy hymning;
Chant our Lord’s triumphant lay.
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.
He is risen! He is risen!
He hath opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from sin’s dark prison,
Risen to a holier state.
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream.

Our sacrament hymn was Number 183, by Evan Stephens (1854-1930):

In remembrance of thy suff’ring,
Lord, these emblems we partake,
When thyself thou gav’st an off’ring,
Dying for the sinner’s sake.
We’ve forgiven as thou biddest
All who’ve trespassed against us.
Lord, forgive, as we’ve forgiven,
All thou seest amiss in us.
Purify our hearts, our Savior;
Let us go not far astray,
That we may be counted worthy
Of thy Spirit day by day.
When temptations are before us,
Give us strength to overcome.
Always guard us in our wand’rings
Till we leave our earthly home.
When thou comest in thy glory
To this earth to rule and reign,
And with faithful ones partakest
Of the bread and wine again,
May we be among the number
Worthy to surround the board,
And partake anew the emblems
Of the suff’rings of our Lord.

Our bishopric blessed the sacrament, which was passed to the congregation by bearers of the Melchizedek Priesthood. I was pleased to see that, because it underlines the importance of the ordinance — which isn’t just something for young holders of the Aaronic Priesthood to take care of. I’ve heard of occasions when the sacrament has been passed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve (perhaps — I don’t really recall — after it having been blessed by members of the First Presidency).

And that reminded me of a story that was told me a few years ago about a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting that was held in the Kirtland Temple under the leadership of a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. It was the first time that such a meeting had been permitted in that building, which is currently owned by the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Permission had come from the RLDS First Presidency, but the RLDS employee who was the manager of the Kirtland Temple and surrounding properties was not at all happy about that, and was fairly vocal about his displeasure. Still, he sat in on the meeting — probably to make sure that the “Utah Mormons” didn’t do any damage or misbehave. The person who later told me the story was one of those who were passing the sacrament, and the RLDS manager was sitting in the section of the temple to which he had been assigned. He pondered whether he should offer the sacrament to someone who, although affiliated with the Restoration tradition, wasn’t actually a baptized member of the Church. Finally, though, he decided that he would. But the man rather brusquely waved him off, declining to accept emblems of the sacrament administered by the “Utah church.”

Afterwards, however, he approached my friend (a resident of the area around Kirtland, whom he knew) and apologized quite emotionally. Immediately following his refusal to take the sacrament, he said, he been roundly rebuked by the Spirit. He had, he continued, never experienced such a chastising before. “This isn’t your House,” a powerful inner voice forcefully told him. “This is my House.”

I’ve loved that account ever since. But back to today’s Easter service:

The sacrament was followed by a program that was put on by the children and youth of our ward, including numerous musical numbers as well as readings from the gospels, the prophet Isaiah, and other relevant scriptural texts. One of the first of the musical numbers was what I believe is a Primary children’s song:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.

Another was the popular Protestant hymn “How Great Thou Art!”

There is great doctrine taught in such lyrics, memorably expressed, and the music really helps to bring them home.

Following the program by the children and youth, our stake president, who happens to be a member of our ward, gave some brief remarks. And then we sang the closing hymn, Number 198:

That Easter morn, a grave that burst
Proclaimed to man that “Last and First”
Had ris’n again
And conquered pain.
This morn renews for us that day
When Jesus cast the bonds away,
Took living breath
And conquered death.
Thus we in gratitude recall
And give our love and pledge our all,
Shed grateful tear
And conquer fear.

It was especially nice to close with that hymn because its lyrics were written by Elder Marion D. Hanks and its music by Robert Cundick. I think that I’ll wait until my next blog entry to explain why.

For the second hour of today’s service, my wife led a discussion of the atonement and resurrection of Christ in her “Come, Follow Me” class. I was pleased that she elected to use the words of St. John Chrystostom that I cited in my blog entry a couple of days ago.
If only every Sunday sacrament meeting was such a momentous occasion. ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
msnobody
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by msnobody »

In a non-Mormon church today, I enjoyed seeing several children of various ages who have professed faith in the finished work of Christ have their first communion today. The church was packed. We had to pull out those prepackaged communion elements that I mentioned in another thread, because we ran out of the good tasting crackers/juice [Absolutely gluten free flatbread crackers].
The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession... The LORD set his love on you and chose you... The LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery. Deut. 7
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Kishkumen
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by Kishkumen »

msnobody wrote:
Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:44 am
In a non-Mormon church today, I enjoyed seeing several children of various ages who have professed faith in the finished work of Christ have their first communion today. The church was packed. We had to pull out those prepackaged communion elements that I mentioned in another thread, because we ran out of the good tasting crackers/juice [Absolutely gluten free flatbread crackers].
That sounds wonderful, msnobody. Thank you for sharing this experience with us.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
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Kishkumen
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by Kishkumen »

drumdude wrote:
Mon Apr 11, 2022 2:17 am
Having grown up catholic, I was quite surprised to see the lack of change in the church during Easter. For the most part, it seemed like just another week. Catholicism of course has an entire Lenten season, plus an entire Holy Week leading up to Easter itself. Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, etc.

Was I missing anything? Do Mormons treat Easter as basically just another Sunday?
Yeah, I really don’t like that about LDSism. The Christian liturgical cycle has a lot going for it.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
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Re: Mormon Easter

Post by doubtingthomas »

MG 2.0 wrote:
Mon Apr 11, 2022 11:20 pm
How much noise will you be making this Sunday about the resurrection

I don't have my glasses. What's the last word? I don't think that's right. :shock:
"I have the type of (REAL) job where I can choose how to spend my time," says Marcus. :roll:
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