Latest from Mormon Land: How to make church less of a yawner; how sacrament is helping the Earth

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Curing your church blahs

Be honest. Do you ever get bored at church?

Well, Exponent II blogger Abby Maxwell Hansen does and isn’t afraid to acknowledge it. So she came up with “eight easy ways to make church 100 times better.”

Here are several of her suggestions:

• Put a pro at the pulpit. “I understand the benefits of letting youth and regular ward members practice preparing talks and speaking [but] couldn’t it just be a small part at the beginning instead of the whole meeting? Hansen writes. “...Why are we so afraid to hire a professional clergy member to give our Sunday sermons?”

• Pay for professional child care, too. “I normally sat in sacrament meetings stressed out and alone, trying to keep three bored kids quiet,” she explains. “… At other churches, I would drop off my baby with the professional nursery staff before the meeting began, then my older kids would leave with the youth group to meetings geared toward their interests. … It was heavenly.”

• Let worshippers clap. “Why on earth do we not applaud when people give a great musical performance?” Hansen asks. “...And when the music is catchy (assuming we get more fun songs) why not clap along to the beat?”

Can Abby get an “amen” to any of that?

New words for women

Nearly a decade after releasing a Gospel Topics essay about priesthood, temples and women, Latter-day Saint leaders have posted a new Q&A webpage titled “Women’s Service and Leadership in the Church.”

Here are some highlights:

• “Members are blessed as they heed the counsel given by women in General Conference, study their messages, and apply their teachings to their lives.”

Of the 34 sermons at last fall’s conference, three were delivered by women.

• “All church members should be intentional and vigilant in valuing and respecting women’s voices and perspectives.”

Before and after becoming church president, apostle Russell Nelson has urged Latter-day Saint women to “speak up and speak out.”

• “How church members choose to balance caring for children and other family members with working to financially support them will vary according to individual circumstances. … The [family] proclamation states that fathers preside over, provide for, and protect their families in love and righteousness and that mothers primarily nurture their children. The fulfillment of these responsibilities can be adapted to individual circumstances.”

In the past year, debate has continued among faithful members about the roles of women and men when it comes to family life and work life. That’s hardly surprising since, as this excerpt states, circumstances vary from home to home.

(Emily Jensen, web editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, shares her thoughts on the new essay in a Religion News Service commentary.)

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Why they left

Valerie and Nathan Hamaker launched their “Latter Day Struggles” podcast to help fellow members navigate their way through faith crises but ended up in hot water themselves. On this week’s show, they share their experiences, their decision to resign their membership, and whether they would consider rejoining the fold when their local leadership changes.

Listen to the podcast.

The fourth R

When Latter-day Saints take the weekly sacrament, they often reflect on the three R’s: Redeemer, resurrection and remember.

Perhaps they can add a fourth: recycle. After all, the Communion cups come from 100% recycled plastic.

The church switched from paper cups or partially recycled plastic cups to 100% recycled plastic last year, according to a recent news release on environmental stewardship. They are produced at the faith’s Print Center and, after worship, can be fully recycled. Excess plastic from the assembly line is also recycled.

Maintenance supervisor Felipe Rivera said the Salt Lake City plant recycles about 220 tons of paper, 40 tons of plastic and up to 3 tons of aluminum each month.

“As we live upon the Earth, we have that responsibility to care for what he created for us,” Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé, who oversees the church’s temporal affairs, said in the release. “That’s a way to honor him — to love him.”

New handbook help

Have a question from the General Handbook? Well, the church offers a new format to help, courtesy of artificial intelligence.

Simply click on “Search Assistant,” type in your question and, voila, an answer appears, complete with links to relevant handbook sections.

We wrote, for instance, this question: “What instruments are allowed in sacrament meetings?”

Here was the response: “In sacrament meetings, the standard instruments used for prelude and postlude music and for hymn accompaniment are organs and pianos, where available and where members can play them. However, bishoprics may approve the use of other instruments to accompany congregational singing, for prelude and postlude music, and in other musical selections.” The handbook reference: 19.3.6.

Read more about the latest handbook changes.

From The Tribune

• Mia Love, a Latter-day Saint convert and the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, has died. She was 49.

• The church vowed to increase its humanitarian aid in 2024. It did. See by how much.

• In a new webpage on race, the church calls on members to call out racism in their congregations and notes that Jesus wasn’t a European-looking white man — despite what so many paintings in the faith’s meetinghouses depict.