Mormon Church

Mormons are rather known for being a meeting people. They have meetings and they have meetings to plan meetings. But what do they do at all these meetings?

The most important meeting is Sacrament Meeting. This is held each Sunday and is the primary worship service. Because Mormons are run by a lay clergy, the bishop, who is the equivalent of a pastor, does not give the sermon each week. Every part of the meeting is done by someone donating his time and talents.

The meeting is held in the chapel, which is very simply designed. There are no statues, and newer buildings don’t have pictures. There is a “stand” which is a raised area at the front of the room. This contains seating for the choir, leadership, and speakers, and usually also contains a piano and an organ. There is a podium which sometimes has flowers and always has tissues because Mormons tend to cry when they feel the spirit strongly.

As worshippers arrive, prelude music is played by a volunteer. The meeting opens with a member of the bishopric-the bishop or one of his two counselors-welcoming everyone and conducting any necessary business. There is an opening song led by a chorister and a prayer given by any adult or teenaged member of the congregation who is invited to do so. Women are allowed to pray and preach in Mormon meetings. The prayer is given in the member’s own words.

Sometimes a person is confirmed a new member of the church or a baby is blessed (similar to a christening.)

After these preliminaries, and when announcements and information about who has been invited to fill church positions recently has been handled, the sacrament portion of the meeting begins. This is the primary reason for the meeting to be held. At this time, the members of the congregation sing a song about the death or resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then the Sacrament is blessed and passed to the congregation.

The Sacrament is blessed by boys or men who hold the priesthood. The priesthood holder must be at least sixteen years old. They stand in one corner of the stand at the front of the room at an alter. One priesthood holder says the prayer, which is one of the few prescribed prayers in the church, to bless the bread. Boys or men who are at least twelve years old take the trays from the people who blessed the sacrament and take it out into the congregation. These prayers can be read in the Doctrine and Covenants. This is followed by the blessing and passing of the water. The trays are taken to the ends of rows. Members take their portion and then hold the tray for the person sitting beside them as he or she takes it. A person who is not a member of the church can simply take the tray and hold it for the next person, without partaking.

The taking of the Sacrament allows members to renew promises they made to God at baptism and reminds them of the atonement of Jesus Christ. As the sacrament is passed, members sit quietly and think about Jesus or read their scriptures. Young children often look at pictures of Jesus during this time.

When this is finished, several members of the congregation give talks or brief sermons. This time often begins with five minute talks by one or two teenagers, followed by longer talks given by adults. Both men and women are invited by a leader to speak and are assigned a topic. The meeting is generally focused on a single theme chosen by leaders for that week. In this way, the speakers have been given an opportunity to study a topic for a week and then to share their insights, favorite scriptures, and meaningful quotes related to the topic. The congregation gains the insights of many different people over the course of a year.

There is sometimes an intermediate hymn midway through the talks.

At the end of the meeting, there is a song and a prayer, again given by a member of the congregation, and members are dismissed to go to classes.

It’s important to note that children attend the Sacrament Service with their families. There is no nursery for this portion of the day. This means Mormon services are sometimes a bit noisy, but members feel it is important for children to attend this service and to have lifelong memories of worshipping with their children. Many parents bring quiet books or toys for the youngest children. Despite this, there can be a fair amount of noise and even the occasional escapee, a toddler who gets away from his parents and decides to go visit the bishop up on the stand. However, the Savior made it very clear during his ministry that children matter to the Lord and that we must not turn them away. Mormons are accepting of the necessary distractions of children in meetings, even as they strive to teach their children to behave.

After the Sacrament meeting, people move on to various classes. Children who are eighteen months to age three attend a nursery class, which is not just a playtime, but is an actual class with lessons, music, and educational activities. Children ages three to twelve attend Primary. During half of Primary, they are in classes divided by age. The other half, they are in Sharing Time, where they are with all the children in Primary or half of them, divided by age. Here they have a participatory lesson and a music time.

Teenagers attend Sunday School with students their own age, and then split into two groups, one for boys and one for girls. They attend a class that helps them learn the practical aspects of the gospel-how to take the doctrine and apply it to everyday life. During the week, they will have a week day activity once a week, and those fourteen and older will attend a daily scripture study class.

Adults begin with Sunday School, and then they too split into groups according to gender. Men attend a priesthood lesson, even if they don’t yet have the priesthood, and women attend Relief Society, an auxiliary that focuses on service and gospel education. Although the two groups study much the same thing, they do so from the perspective of their roles in life.

This entire process of three meetings takes three hours. Because the Sabbath is set aside for worship, this does not in any way impact the day for members. Even when they return home, they will keep the Sabbath Day holy, as God commanded, and continue with family or private worship, study, and contemplation.

Mormon meetings tend to be very simple. They are run by volunteers and are focused on the mission of the church, which is to bring people to Christ.

Tags: Jesus Christ, Mormon meetings, Mormons, priesthood, Sacrament

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 5:09 am and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.