Our Stake President said...

I mentioned attending a stake priesthood meeting a couple Sundays ago. Anyway, at the meeting, our stake president, George Kaluhiokalani, mentioned how he has curbed down his TV viewing in order tend to other higher order concerns.

President Kaluhiokalani also mentioned that during his morning and afternoon commutes to and from work, he has taken to listening to General Conference talks instead of the radio. Without coming out and saying so directly, I think the President was letting us brethren know that we best consider wiser uses of our time.

As such, I have taken to listening to General Conference talks while driving. I probably spend at least an hour a day in a car, and I know I've been better off since I have begun (actually rebegun because I used to listen to GC talks at one point a few months ago.

The messages being conveyed have a way of seeping into my brain. And my brain needs a lot of seeping into.

Church on Super Bowl Sunday 2008

Yesterday at Elder’s Quorum, the lesson was given by the Bishop of our ward. I haven’t been in the church but two years, but this is the first time the bishop ever has given a lesson in EQ since I’ve been here.

What I did notice is a few brethren who rarely show up for EQ were in attendance yesterday. Maybe the bishop should teach more often.

Anyway, the lesson was about time and money. Specifically, we learned or were reminded about our top four priorities, in order, as laid out for us by President Gordon B. Hinckley. And they are

1. Our wives and families
2. Our jobs
3. Our church callings and duties
4. Ourselves

From what I have read and heard, too many of us brethren, me included, have been doing too much #2 and not enough of #1 and #3. Results may vary, of course.

And taking into account my slowly increasing waistline, I’m also falling short in #4, particularly in the exercise and diet part of it.

A lot to work on in 2008 an onward into eternity for me.

Also of note in yesterday’s lesson was information about how the church allocates its money to the thousands of wards in the ward. The amount of funds a ward receives is based on its sacrament average meeting attendance. A uniform dollar figure that is the same for every ward in the world is multiplied by the average # attending sacrament meetings at that ward to arrive at the budget allocated to that ward.

I wonder if attendance will be up for our ward now that we have switched to a 1pm to 4pm time slot for 2008. In 2007, we gathered from 8am to 11am.

Speaking of attendance, not only was it up for EQ yesterday, there was also yesterday one of the bigger gatherings for sacrament meeting in my two years in the church. And it was Super Bowl Sunday to boot.

Good Saints we are. Go Giants!

A man amongst boys...

As a convert, one of the mysteries of the Mormon church that I had to understand is the priesthood. Males in the church, starting at the age of 12, can be ordained to the priesthood. The lower or lesser priesthood is called Aaronic. Generally and usually, Aaronic priesthood holders in the LDS church are boys from 12 to 18 years old. Not long after I was baptized and confirmed a member of the church, I was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Bear in mind, I was 47 years old, which made me three to four times older not to mention a foot or more taller and a bunch of pounds heavier than all the other Aaronic priesthood holders in my ward.

One of the responsibilities of the Aaronic priesthood is to administer the bread and water for sacrament meetings on Sunday. Partaking of the bread and water (sacrament) is the main event of an LDS Sunday service, and the young men of our ward, as in most wards in the church, were given this responsibility or calling. Being in the Aaronic priesthood, I, far from young and of hulking presence, had to take my place among the young men as part of my priesthood duty.

One of the things I had to do was say the sacrament prayer. To do so, I had to kneel and pray aloud into a microphone built in to the stand where the bread and water were administered. For this particular ordinance, the priestholder saying the prayer has to recite the words exactly right. If a word is missed or repeated, the whole prayer has to be redone. The bishop of the ward, or whoever else is presiding, has the responsibility of listening carefully to the wording to make sure the prayer sayer gets the words right. And if the prayer is mispoken, the bishop will indicate with a hand gesture to the praysayer to redo it. Fortunately, the words of the prayer were made available in large-sized, easy-to-read words on a sheet of plastic-covered paper.

I can't tell you how relieved I was that first time I prayed the prayer to see the bishop give me a nod of approval that I had gotten the words right.

A couple Sundays later, I repeated an "it" in the prayer without even realizing that I did so. So when I looked at the bishop for the sign of approval that I had gotten the prayer right, instead of seeing his nodding head, I saw him shaking his head and twirling the index finger of his right hand in a circular manner, meaning, "Do the prayer all over again."

Of course, I was embarrassed at my miscue. After all, I am an English teacher, and I should have been able to read and recite the words of the prayer without error. But I suppose Heavenly Father was testing my pride.

Thankfully, I said the prayer the second time flawlessly. And no one started a petition to kick me out of the church.