I want to preface this entry by saying, I love going to church on Fast Sunday. I treasure the testimonies of those who found love and comfort in the Church when life was beating on them. I love hearing the unshakable testimonies of my friends who know God is with them, the sweet sisters whose tender voices pry my heart open with the Spirit, the new converts still filled with awe at the new lives they have found. Fast Sunday is, to me, the breeze that stokes my inner flame.
Nevertheless, I just can’t get around the way some testimonies are presented. It’s wonderful when members express heartfelt gratitude to God (as they should), but a lot of the stuff that’s imparted should be said on knees, in a journal or sent to the New Era– certainly not by loitering at the podium on Fast & Testimony Sunday. Examples of what I’m talking about: Drawn-out, melodramatic tales of adversity and what they learned from it; spending the bulk of the testimony time thanking family members for coming to blessings, baptism/confirmations, missionary farewells (you know, the unofficial ones) and ordinations; lessons on scriptural passages…
Okay, I have to stop here to illustrate. Once, a member actually set up a video projector and pulled down the screen behind the stand before Sacrament meeting. Then, when it was his turn to bear his testimony, he shared how profoundly affected he felt from reading the Beatitudes, read the entire account to us (with thoughtful interjections) and then, just to show us how powerful it was, he had a pre-ordained co-conspirator start playing us the scene from The Greatest Story Ever Told. I leaned over to the sister in front of me and excitedly whispered, “Jesus looks just like Max Von Sydow!”
…Singing songs or reading poems for their testimonies; giving 15+ minute talks (wouldn’t it be great if there was a red light on the podium that the bishop could flash when the speaker out-stayed their welcome?); using the podium as a testing ground for LDS puns; counting off a laundry list of ills and travails; last Sunday moving announcements; confessing and/or apologizing to specific members done wrong (how does that urban legend go? Brother Williams, I have slept with your wife, Heidi and… (sob)… I’m so sor-or-reee…)…
I think that’s enough from me. I apologize if it sounds at all mean-spirited. It’s a tough subject, though, especially for our loving bishop who wouldn’t want to risk discouraging people to come up by giving a lecture on what a testimony should and should not be. I keep waiting for something like someone talking to us through their sock puppet.
I like what Russell M. Ballard had to say:
“Like almost everything else in life, testimonies grow and develop through experience and service. We often hear some members, and especially children, bear their testimonies, listing things for which they are thankful: their love of family, the Church, their teachers, their friends. For them, the gospel is something that they are grateful for because it makes them feel happy and secure. This is a good beginning, but testimonies need to be much more. They need to be anchored very early to the first principles of the gospel.
My experience throughout the Church leads me to worry that too many of our members’ testimonies linger on “I am thankful” and “I love,” and too few are able to say with humble but sincere clarity, “I know.” As a result, our meetings sometimes lack the testimony-rich, spiritual underpinnings that stir the soul and have meaningful, positive impact on the lives of all those who hear them.”
Again, please keep in mind that we are talking about sharing real testimony, not just speaking generally about the things we are thankful for. While it is always good to express love and gratitude, such expressions do not constitute the kind of testimony that will ignite a fire of belief in the lives of others. To bear testimony is “to bear witness by the power of the Holy Ghost; to make a solemn declaration of truth based on personal knowledge or belief” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Testify,” 241). Clear declaration of truth makes a difference in people’s lives. That is what changes hearts. That is what the Holy Ghost can confirm in the hearts of God’s children.(M. Russell Ballard, “Pure Testimony”)
On LDS.org. the Church defines testimonies this way:
“The foundation of a testimony is the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives and loves His children; that Jesus Christ lives, that He is the Son of God, and that He carried out the infinite Atonement; that Joseph Smith is the prophet of God who was called to restore the gospel; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Savior’s true Church on the earth; and that the Church is led by a living prophet today. With this foundation, a testimony grows to include all principles of the gospel.”
It’s that “testimony grows” part where some folks get into trouble. And the sad truth is, it’s a crap shoot to bring investigators to church on F&T Sunday. You never know if one of the more colorful members might go up and interpret their testimony through dance or tell everyone to go to hell.
It’s fun for us, sure, but we don’t to scare away the nice people who came looking for the TRUE church.
8 responses so far ↓
1 xoxoxoxo // Jan 10, 2008 at 6:41 am
The bishop of the ward where the guy set up the projector was seriously delinquent in NOT preventing it in the first place (ie noticing the theater set up-the smell of popcorn wafting from the kitchen-the tissues being handed out at the door…) OR putting a stop to it when it started (ie whispering discreetly in the gentleman’s ear that the Spirit was prompting others to get some time too). Our current bishop would not hesitate to find a quiet and dignified way to end the inappropriateness, and a long ago bishop started off testimony meeting by saying “A testimony consists of testifying of the truthfulness of the gospel, a modern day prophet, and the scriptures. It should be brief, sincere, and intended to strengthen others regarding the aforementioned things. I shall now demonstrate..” After bearing his testimony, he invited others to do the same-after a moment of stunned silence, we heard from more members of the ward that Sunday than ever before-because the time was spent testifying-not story telling.
2 David // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:00 pm
My sentiments exactly and kudos to your bishop for being the example.
Yeah…*sigh*… Our ward has a history of unconventionality. A good portion of the membership belongs to various industries of the arts and expression is rarely stifled. This example, however, was an extreme. Usually we only get the minor infractions. For what it’s worth, our current bishop (one of the original cast members of “Saturday’s Warrior”) has been following the tone of the stake presidency which is considerably more conservative.
3 xoxoxoxo // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Sigh…now I feel old…aren’t the cast members from SW still only around….21?
Oh, I KNOW unconventional. Lived in a ward once that had a handful of members (not related to each other either) who would occasionally stop taking their physician prescribed meds (literally) and then do improv at the pulpit on Fast Sundays. I was always highly entertained by the content and by how agile our older bishop became in those moments.
A group of my dear friends was talking one night and several of them had served as bishops. They all spoke of not sleeping the night before Fast Sunday and dubbed it “Open Mike Night”.
4 BHodges // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Take ‘em as they come, and don’t forget to occasionally set the example if you are so prompted.
5 Nebraska // Jan 13, 2008 at 3:29 am
As a bishop of an inner city ward where f/t meetings can get out of control I have started ‘carding’ people during their testimony. For us, carding is when we lay on the pulpit, in front of the speaker, a note that simply says, “Please conclude your remarks/testimony”. Last week, we did it twice and came close to a third.
Whoever is conducting f/t meeting always makes an announcement describing what a testimony is and to keep it brief. There are always those who are not listening.
We also card people during their assigned talks. If we assigned a 15 minutes talk we will card around the 18 minute mark. It doesn’t seem fair to the other speakers who planned to speak for 12 minutes and then only have 5 left to give their talk - I think it’s also not right to prevent the ward from hearing their inspired talk that they (hopefully) prepared according to the Spirit.
I was stunned to read about the projector set up… what a failure of the individual to follow the Spirit. It sounds like the bishopric may have learned a lesson the hard way (as I have).
6 David // Jan 13, 2008 at 5:49 am
Nebraska,
Interesting idea, the ‘carding.’ I’ll have to ask my bishop if he’d consider using that approach. On the last Sunday before the new year, I gave a talk regarding my conversion, but not before a missionary who was supposed to give a 15-minute talk, gave a very dry 25. When it was my turn, I didn’t abridge my talk. I went 6 minutes over and the bishop let me, even with the stake president sitting next to him. Under the circumstances– even if it wasn’t me– I think he made the right decision.
7 Nebraska // Jan 13, 2008 at 7:03 am
I think your bishop made the right choice. I forgot to mention that we go by the Spirit in all cases, but that we have a benchmark that determines when we start seeking that guidance.
Without being there, it sounds like we would have carded the elder at minute 18. When I was first called it seemed we had this problem every week so we had to do something. Overall, the goal is to increase spirituality - I think it’s working as the ward catches on.
By the way - Great blog! I visit here often. Also, I don’t live in Nebraska… I just didn’t want to confuse anyone.
8 David // Jan 13, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Nebraska (#7): Yes, “inner-city” and “Nebraska” do conjure two different images. You never hear Stevie Wonder singing about Nebraska… unless it was that cover album he did of Johnny Horton hits.
We usually don’t have speakers that go too long (every once in a while when spouses speak, you’ll see one giving the other daggers for taking all the time), but we do have our share of testimony hoggers. This is probably unkind to say, but I don’t appreciate those who get up every month and recite the exact same thing. As xoxoxoxo commented here, it can be “Open Mike Night” for a star-studded calvacade of regulars. Curiously, that hasn’t been happening as much lately, either. Perhaps something was said about it over the pulpit and I missed it.
Thank you for the kind words about my site. I hope to hear from you again.
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