Latter-day Saint Life

6 Ways to Love Church, Even When It Seems Boring

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The following article is excerpted from John Bytheway's "The Best Three Hours of the Week" available at deseretbook.com.

Last year at Especially for Youth, I asked the youth in one of my classes what would have to change so that they could get more from their Sunday meetings. Hands went up. The first young man I called on said, "It's too early."

"Oh, really, what time do your meetings start?"

"Eleven," he said as the class snickered. I wrote, "too early" on the board as I mumbled to myself, "That's impressive."

"What else?" I asked.

"Boring speakers," was the second response. I kind of expected that one, I thought as I wrote on the board.

"There's too many noisy kids during the meeting," someone else said, so I wrote "bawling babies" on the board.

"Okay," I continued, "What else could we change?"

"Our teacher thinks he's funny, and he's not." I wrote, "teacher not funny" on the board and wondered why this wasn't going the way I planned. Finally, a young woman changed everything when she said, "Maybe we could change our attitude."

"Yeah!" I said as I glared at the class and wrote "attitude" on the board without looking. "Perhaps we could change our attitude!"

You see, for years, I've been noticing something every Sunday which makes me feel a little frustrated and uncomfortable. You know what it is? I'll tell you: Bored [people] at church. There's no reason for it. The gospel is the single most exciting thing on this earth, and we ought to be the most interested and energetic people in the world because we have it.

Would you like to get more out of your church meetings? . . .

Well, good, because we're going to look at six things you can do to get more from the best three hours of the week.


For more great insights, check out the whole fireside in full at deseretbook.com.


C is for Choose

Recently I read a story about a restaurant manager who was always in a good mood. One of his friends asked him how he always managed to stay so happy. He replied,"Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'You have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

Several years later, this man was held up at gunpoint and shot. How did he react to that situation? I mean, being in a good mood in the morning is one thing, but what kind of mood are you in after you've been shot? He continued:

As I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live. . . . When they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, "He's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action. . . . There was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me. She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes," I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Bullets!" Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead" (Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work [1996]).

Needless to say, he lived. . . .

Now to the point: If a man who is bleeding to death can choose to have a sense of humor, do you suppose the [someone] reading this . . .  could choose to enjoy his or her church meetings? You bet. . . . But the choice doesn't begin on Sunday morning. . . .

I'm not saying there aren't boring speakers now and then, but have you ever noticed that two people can come out of the same sacrament service with totally different feelings about the meeting? Elder Henry B. Eyring told of a time when he attended church with his father and listened to what for young Henry had been a "dull talk." As they walked home, he was trying to think of a way to ask his father why he had been "beaming" during the boring meeting.

I finally got up enough courage to ask him what he thought of the meeting. He said it was wonderful. . . . Like all good fathers, he must have read my mind, because he started to laugh. He said: '"Hal, let me tell you something. Since I was a very young man, I have taught myself to do something in a church meeting. When the speaker begins, I listen carefully and ask myself what it is he is trying to say. Then, once I think I know what he is trying to accomplish, I give myself a sermon on that subject." He let that sink in for a moment as we walked along. Then, with that special self-deprecating chuckle of his, he said, "Hal, since then I have never been to a bad meeting" (To Draw Closer to God [Deseret Book: Salt Lake City, 1997], 23).


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.


H is for Holy Sabbath

If you saw the October 1997 New Era, you probably read the article about Eli Herring. If you don't recognize the name, well, there's a reason for that. You see, Eli made a certain choice after graduating from BYU. USA Today said he would have been a first-round draft pick in the NFL, but he decided not to enter the draft. The reason? He didn't want to play football on Sunday. When the press interviewed his father, Eli's father said, "Our great-grandfathers called it the Holy Sabbath. Our grandfathers called it the Sabbath. Our fathers called it Sunday. And we call it the weekend" (David L. Herring, Cougar Club Newsletter, May 9, 1995, Vol. 10, No. 9).

If we're not careful, we might follow in the footsteps of the world and allow the Sabbath to be become less and less important in our lives. . . .

You can get more from your Sunday meetings by re-enthroning the Sabbath day in your life. Because Sunday television has become such a temptation for sports fans, Elder Joe J. Christensen recommended [recording] the games, then watch them on another day when you can fast-forward through the commercials. (Fast- forwarding through commercials is one of life's great joys). . . .

Elder Joe J. Christensen also said, "Make Sundays special, and they will help make you special in the sight of the Lord. Who was it that said, 'It is not so much that the Jews kept the Sabbath,' but rather, over the centuries, 'The Sabbath kept the Jews.' Keeping the Lord's day holy will do the same for you"(BYU Devotional and Fireside Speeches, 1993-1994, 64). . . .


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.


U is for Unity

If Satan really wants to destroy the Church, I think he'll start from the inside and work outward. The outside-in approach, used by those who publish anti-Mormon books and videos, will never do much damage. President Heber J. Grant taught:

Our enemies have never done anything that has injured this work of God, and they never will. I look around, I read, I reflect, and I ask the question, Where are the men of influence, of power and prestige, who have worked against the Latter-day Saints? . . . They cannot be found. . . . We need have no fears, we Latter-day Saints. God will continue to sustain this work; He will sustain the right. If we are loyal, if we are true, if we are worthy of this gospel, of which God has given us a testimony, there is no danger that the world can ever injure us. We can never be injured, my brethren and sisters, by any mortals, except ourselves. (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, 85).

The anti-Mormons will continue to do their work. Don't be alarmed or concerned. Just do your part to strengthen your own ward or stake.

May I suggest that next time you go to church, you take some paper or stationery or thank-you notes? Imagine what you could do to build unity in your ward by expressing gratitude to those who teach and serve you. . . .


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.


R is for Respect

I firmly believe, that when you disrespect your called-and-sustained teachers, you disrespect the One who called them. In other words, you disrespect the Lord. Folks, that's a sin.

Our modern media doesn't teach respect. It teaches that you have to dish out clever put-downs to earn applause. Don't believe it. It's false. The Lord teaches reverence and respect. . . . As a Sunday School teacher, almost every week, I have to go out into the foyer and literally pull people off the couches into class. It shouldn't be that way. . . . You know where you're supposed to be. And your attendance in Sunday School shouldn't be based on whether the teacher is funny or not. We don't go to church because it's fun. We go because we love the Lord, and he wants us there to strengthen each other and to remember him. Show genuine respect to your leaders and teachers, and you'll be showing it to the Lord.


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.


C is for Covenants

As you know, we come to church to partake of the sacrament and in that way renew our baptismal covenant. We take the sacrament every week, and we cannot take doing so lightly. I recently came across this poem whose author is unknown to me:

There was envy in the glances that a lovely matron cast, At the coiffure [hairdo] of her neighbor while the sacrament was passed, And a teenage girl, I noticed, though a timid lass and shy, Watched a youthful priest intently through the corner of her eye, As he sat behind the table where the water trays were spread, She was not remembering Jesus, nor the prayer the priest had said. There was nothing reverential in the things the Cub Scout drew, On the pages of the hymn book till the sacrament was through. Not a thought of Jesus' passion entered careless elders' minds, As they whispered to each other and the girls they sat behind. And the high priest's brow was furrowed while he stole a secret glance, At a checkbook's dismal story of his failures in finance. There were hundreds in the chapel, but the worshipers were few, And I couldn't help but wonder what the Lord Himself would do-- Yes I couldn't help but wonder what the Lord Himself would say, Should He walk into the meeting while His Saints behaved this way. Would His loving eyes be saddened, would His countenance be grim, While He there observed and listened to the service meant for Him?

I love those last three words, meant for Him. Somehow, some of us think the meeting is meant for us. . . . All this time, we've been talking about "getting" more from our meetings. Now we're going to move to higher ground. We don't go to church to "get." We go to "give." What do we give? We give our devotion to the Savior, we give our love and respect to our fellow ward members, we give, because we have been given much. . . .

The next time you go to sacrament meeting, I hope you'll notice a few more things. First of all, notice how the priests tear the bread during the sacrament hymn. Why? Perhaps because Jesus' body was "bruised, broken, and torn for us."Jesus said of himself, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). Notice also in the words of the prayer, the bread and water are not taken to "nourish and strengthen our bodies," but are blessed and sanctified "to the souls" of all who partake. The sacrament is more than just physical food, it's spiritual food. . . .

When we renew our baptismal covenant, the Lord also renews his covenant with us. Elder George Q. Cannon taught: "When we went forth into the waters of baptism and covenanted with our Father in heaven to serve Him and keep His commandments, He bound Himself also by covenant to us that He would never desert us, never leave us to ourselves, never forget us, that in the midst of trials and hardships, when everything was arrayed against us, He would be near unto us and would sustain us" (Gospel Truth, Vol. 1, 170).


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.


H is for Holy Ghost

Another reason we go to church is to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit makes things clear. It pulls us upward. It brings to our mind things we can do to be better. It' not just the speakers'and teachers' job to invite the Spirit. It's ours too. . . .

 If we are on the same wavelength as the Lord, our spirit will "vibrate"; we will feel the truth of what is being said. When we are sitting in our classes or our sacrament meetings, eager to feel the Spirit, listening intently for the Lord's instructions for us, we can experience what is promised in Doctrine and Covenants 50:22: "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." Rejoicing together with our friends and neighbors is what it's all about.

This next Sunday, why not set a goal to do all you can to prepare to feel the Spirit? I believe the Lord would like us to have that experience, but we can't if we aren't prepared. If we show up to church sleepy, disinterested, and bored, then we don't deserve to feel the Spirit. . . .

There are so many things we can do to "prepare our minds" for our meetings! We can get enough sleep, we can read the Sunday School reading assignment, we can pray for our teachers and speakers in our prayers on Saturday night! It's all up to you.

If everybody did this, there wouldn't be any more bored people at church. Can we do it? Sure we can. We've been told that we are a chosen generation, now we can show it through our actions. How? Well, among other things, we'll choose to enjoy the meetings, honor the Sabbath, be unified with our brothers and sisters, respect those who teach us, thoughtfully renew our covenants, and strive to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. Make your Sundays special, and the time you spend in church will become the best three hours of the week.


From Isaiah for Airheads to5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage to When Times Are Tough, John Bytheway has funny and perceptive insights into many of life's most complex topics. Check out his products today at deseretbook.com.

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