What You Will Find...Inside a Mormon Chapel

SALT LAKE CITY 19 August 2008

Most first-time visitors to a Mormon church building comment on the number of rooms. Many expect to find one large interior space, such as in many other Christian denominations’ buildings of worship.

But meetinghouses for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are different from those used by many other religions. They include classrooms, offices, a font for baptisms, a kitchen and in many cases a cultural hall with an indoor basketball court. Cultural halls in Mormon buildings usually also have a stage, for dramatic and musical productions. And the basketball court doubles for a dance floor or dining area, among other uses.

This is all in addition to a large room that seats 200 to 300, called the chapel, used for Sunday worship services. The word “chapel” is also sometimes used by Mormons to describe the whole building or meetinghouse.

“The building was so simple,” said Sandra Yeo after visiting for the first time one of the Church’s meetinghouses in her native England.

“There were no crosses, no murals, no statues or icons of any kind as far as I could see. I had never been in a Christian church that didn’t have that sort of thing. I found the simplicity very appealing.”

For Latter-day Saints, the church meetinghouse is a hub of religious and social life. The most important part of the week, though, is the hour-long sacrament meeting. This takes place on Sunday and is similar to other Christian worship services. Men, women and younger members offer prayers and give sermons, hymns are sung, and the sacrament, similar to other traditions’ communion, is administered. Members teach the principles taught by Jesus Christ.

When Brian Sharon attended his first meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wisconsin, he was impressed with the worship service itself.

“I was used to a very formal, highly structured worship service in the church of my childhood," Sharon said. "I was intrigued by how smoothly and efficiently things were handled, without extensive ritual or ceremony. And I was touched by how friendly and open everyone was, especially to visitors like my family. It was refreshing to me.”

In addition to the sacrament meeting, there are other meetings on Sundays as part of a three-hour span from 9 a.m. until noon, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., or some other variation.

These other meetings include classes for youths and adults and what Mormons call “Primary,” a time for lessons and singing for children 12 and under.

Mormons tend to have large families, so be prepared to see — and hear — a lot of children. And though Mormon parents try to teach their little ones to be reverent, children are also encouraged to be involved.

In the children’s Primary, for example, you will see 7-year-olds, or even younger children, give talks, read scripture and pray in front of their peers. The songs taught and sung in Primary focus on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, on scriptural themes and on simple ways children and others can put into practice what is preached.

Mormons are generally a friendly people, so a visitor should not be surprised when someone, seeing the new face, comes over to talk and offers to shake hands and help the visitor find the right meeting or class.

A common misperception among those not of the Mormon faith is that only Latter-day Saints can enter their chapels. This is most likely based on a misunderstanding about temples and chapels. While temples, of which there are 140 (including existing ones and those announced or under construction) worldwide, are open only to members of the Church who are fully engaged in their faith, anyone can enter a Mormon chapel to visit or worship with their Latter-day Saint neighbors. There are over 17,000 chapels throughout the world with a new one built, on average, each day.

The physical design of Latter-day Saint chapels reflects Mormons’ depth of religiosity that goes beyond pulpit and pew. To be a member of a Mormon ward (or congregation) is to be part of a faith community that intersects weekly as a group and in smaller gatherings several other times throughout each week.

In some cases Mormon meetinghouses become launching areas for community service initiatives, such as in times of natural disasters. On many occasions, such efforts are in conjunction with those of other community and faith groups.

Mormons say that while the activities that bring them together within their buildings are wide and varied — some cultural, some sporting, some educational and some social — the underpinning motivation for all that is done is for individuals and families to help each other to overcome life’s challenges by learning about Jesus Christ and striving to become like Him.

For Latter-day Saints, the buildings they use for their various worship services and other gatherings are important — but not as important as the building that goes on within their walls. It is the building of strong individuals and families, of knowledge, of relationships and of faith in God that matters most to Mormons.

“Our chapels are not all constructed with the same design features,” said Church apostle Elder L. Tom Perry in a worldwide conference. “However, each one centers on the mission of our Savior. They are buildings dedicated for the purpose of worshiping Him.”

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/what-you-will-find-when-you-step-inside-a-mormon-chapel

The Priesthood is Restored

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have truly blessed my life. What a wonderful thing it is to have Them in my life. I am grateful I live in a time that Our Heavenly Father has restored His Holy Priesthood to His children to act in His name for the salvation of His children.

Priesthood
The priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God. Through the priesthood God created and governs the heavens and the earth. Through this power He redeems and exalts His children, bringing to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). God gives priesthood authority to worthy male members of the Church so they can act in His name for the salvation of His children. Priesthood holders can be authorized to preach the gospel, administer the ordinances of salvation, and govern the kingdom of God on the earth.

My recent experience happened about a week ago. My three oldest kids had come back home after a 2 week "vacation" away from their mother and I. My oldest son had been extremely sick with allergies, but was better by the time he arrived home. The other two kids were just starting to become horribly sick. My second oldest son was running a temperature of 103.8 and my daughter was at 101.5. After consulting with a doctor in the family, he suggested we take our son to the Urgent Care because a temperature of 104 is extremely dangerous. As I was grabbing the keys to rush him there, he asked that I give him a Priesthood Blessing. For a second it didn't register, but later stopped me in my tracks. What great faith this young boy has in his Heavenly Father. My wife called a friend over to help administer the blessing, and we proceeded to give my son and daughter a blessing of healing from their Father in Heaven.

As the friend left, we decided to take the temperatures one last time. Our son's temperature had dropped to around 100 degrees, and our daughter's was around 99. A true miracle! We decided to monitor them the rest of the night, and their temperatures only lowered. By the following day, they were back to their healthy selves, with our daughter displaying only a stuffy nose.


My story is somewhat similar, but required more Humility from me.

Humility
To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous.

My wife and I had taken our kids camping this past weekend. A couple days before leaving, I developed a severe pain in my neck. It was not going away, and I ended up taking a lot of pain medication. The first morning we were camping, it became unbearable and we decided to come home a day early. I was completely dead by the time we arrived home after the 3 hour drive. I took some pain medicine and Nyquil and slept for 11 hours. The following day I started to experience more severe symptoms, that I later learned (3 days later) resembled meningitis I could only manage to work a 1/2 day on Monday and Tuesday, before I had to come home and sleep and lay down to minimize the pain. My wife had mentioned since Sunday that I should call our home teachers to provide a Priesthood blessing. But unfortunately my pride didn't allow me to give in to that. I didn't want to believe that I couldn't beat this on my own. Yeah, I suffer from an extreme case of stubbornitis.

So finally on Tuesday night, I had had enough. After a long, and difficult internal struggle I asked my wife to make the call. An hour later these two worthy male members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived at our door, willing and able to give me a Priesthood Blessing. They laid their hands upon my head and gave me one of the best blessings I have had in a long time. I felt at peace. No, the pain did not miraculously disappear. But it did prompt me to ask that same family member who is a doctor, but lives out of state about my symptoms. He said those sound like meningitis (see the link in the above paragraph) and that I should get to the Urgent Care. I told him I would go there before I went to work the next day.

The next day I ended up going to the ER, because the Urgent Care was only open from 9am - 8pm (how strange is that?). While in the ER, they did almost every test possible. They drew my blood, gave me a CAT scan, chest x-rays and finally a dreaded Lumbar Puncture. Finally after 6 hours of laying on those uncomfortable hospital beds, the Dr. said all my results were negative. In fact, they couldn't find anything related to meningitis, or any other disease. I was shocked, but not really. It took me a couple minutes of trying to figure out what the problem was, I recalled the Priesthood Blessing the night before. I truly believe that I had a form of meningitis, and that my Heavenly Father cured me of it the night before.

I want to thank my Heavenly Father for His continued guidance and protection in my life. For the love and support He gives to me and my family. I am also grateful for the lessons He teaches me (Humility).

Scripture Authentication

"Scriptural witnesses authenticate each other. This concept was explained long ago when a prophet wrote that the Book of Mormon was 'written for the intent that ye may believe [the Bible]; and if ye believe [the Bible] ye will believe [the Book of Mormon] also' (Mormon 7:9).

Each book refers to the other. Each book stands as evidence that God lives and speaks to His children by revelation to His prophets.

"Love for the Book of Mormon expands one's love for the Bible and vice versa. Scriptures of the Restoration do not compete with the Bible; they complement the Bible. We are indebted to martyrs who gave their lives so that we could have the Bible. It establishes the everlasting nature of the gospel and of the plan of happiness. The Book of Mormon restores and underscores biblical doctrines such as tithing, the temple, the Sabbath day, and the priesthood."

(Russell M. Nelson, "Scriptural Witnesses," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 43)

Mormon Calendar Maker - Excommunicated

Well I'm having a hard time finding additional news articles about this. One of our local online news sites is running the follow-up story. I guess the other sites didn't feel it was newsworthy. But you can read the Full Story here.

I give Mr. Hardy (formerly Brother Hardy) credit for his words in the article. He doesn't backlash or speak harshly of the church "elders."

"I have no ill feelings toward any of those people," Hardy said of the church council. "They did what they believed was right and I really do feel it was the best decision for both of us."

I'm not sure why he felt it was the best decision for him. To have his name removed from the church rolls, and his Priesthood taken away and all the blessings of baptism, etc. Perhaps he felt like he needed a break from the strict rules and commandments our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ expect from us. The LDS faith has sometimes been referred to as the strictest religion. It takes a lot of self-discipline, dedication and faith to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mr Hardy also states:

"I felt like I spoke my truth," the 31-year-old entertainment entrepreneur said. "Bottom-line, they still felt the calendar is inappropriate and not the image that the church wants to have."

I'm glad he felt like he was able to present his case. Of course the church does not want the image of shirtless, provacative missionaries. Missionaries have a hard enough time controlling hormones at their age, and keeping from being hit on. The last thing they need is for the general public to purchase these calendars and think of missionaries as sex symbols.

"The project is about stepping outside the stereotypes and stepping outside of the image," Hardy said. "Not everybody fits the image and I let them know we're not trying to portray an image for the entire church."

Stepping outside the stereotypes, and images? Do you think the original 12 apostles changed their clothing, or the way they looked, because they didn't want to be associated with the Lord anymore? Does Mr. Hardy not understand that the Lord wants His missionaries to represent Him with this "clean-cut" image? Does Mr. Hardy not understand that this image is "not of the world", which is exactly what Jesus Christ is?

Unfortunately this is one man's distorted view, and he became too caught up in what the world thinks about the LDS faith. Does he not remember the words spoken by the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, 18 years ago?

Gordon B. Hinckley, “A City upon a Hill,” Ensign, Jul 1990, 2
"Unless the world alters the course of its present trends (and that is not likely); and if, on the other hand, we continue to follow the teachings of the prophets, we shall increasingly become a peculiar and distinctive people of whom the world will take note...

As the growing permissive attitude toward sex continues to spread, the doctrine of the Church, as consistently taught for more than a century and a half, will become increasingly singular and even strange to many...

It is not always easy to live in the world and not be a part of it. We cannot live entirely with our own or unto ourselves, nor would we wish to. We must mingle with others. In so doing, we can be gracious. We can be inoffensive. We can avoid any spirit or attitude of self-righteousness. But we can maintain our standards. "

How true these words are today. Especially in this case. The world finds us strange and peculiar because of our beliefs, but now it seems that even members of the LDS Church are thinking the same thing. This is when things become dangerous, and it is even more important to study the gospel and take our concerns to our Heavenly Father.

I hope all of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will remember the foundation the church is built on. They will remember who is the head of the Church, and they will have faith in Him. Be strong my brothers and sisters, and don't be afraid to be different and peculiar. Never think it is ok to distort the Church's stereotype to fit the mainstream world.

Mormon Calendar

"Shirtless Mormons calendar gets man in trouble" (Full Story)

A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Chad Hardy, decided he would "stir things up" a bit and make a calendar of shirtless return missionaries.

Hardy said, "I wondered what would happen if we took that perfect Disneyland image that the church spends millions of dollars cultivating each year and shook it up a little bit."

That "perfect Disneyland image..."? =/

That image is of missionaries representing the Lord Jesus Christ. That image is to reflect Jesus Christ and the Church. Brother Hardy has taken it upon himself to pervert that, and try to turn it into some kind of sex symbol. He fell away from the church in 2002, and admitted that no one try to contact him to "bring [him] back into the fold". So as a cry for help, he decides to pervert the ways and look of LDS Missionaries. When this story first came out many months ago, I was deeply disappointed. I am a return missionary, and find it very disrespectful of Brother Hardy to produce material like this. Now if he would have had shirtless men (maybe even return missionaries) posing as other occupations, or settings, he might not have caused the problems he did. But the fact that he has used the image of the LDS Church, he should have know it would have caused disciplinary action.

I am also saddened and disappointed in the return missionaries, who agreed to disrespect the image of a missionary. Did they not find it to be a humbing experience to carry their name badge with Christ's name on it for 2 years of their life? Did they not find some kind of sacredness in that? I have been home from my mission for almost 10 years now, and I still treat my name badges with respect because of whose name is on them.

I will pray for Brother Hardy and these 12 "models"/return missionaries, who perhaps might not have know better. I hope Brother Hardy's disciplinary counsel will be productive and he will understand the views of the Church on this matter, and work to correct it and be an active member again.

Priesthood Blessings

D&C 127:8 -

For I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts.

D&C 132:45 -
For I have conferred upon you the keys and power of the priesthood, wherein I restore all things, and make known unto you all things in due time.

What a blessing it is to have the restored gospel on the earth today. What an amazing thing it is to know the fullness of the gospel. Along with the gospel being restored, so has the Lord's Priesthood been given back to man. This same Priesthood has not only blessed my life, but I have been an instrument in the Lord's hands to use it to bless others. What a miraculous gift the Priesthood is for these latter days.

A quick personal story. I had just gone through major surgery, and was admitted into the ICU unit of the hospital. The doctors had predicted I would be there for less then 24 hours, while I recovered. I was not showing any signs of improvement after being there for 3 days. The doctors were puzzled and so were my parents. My faithful mother called upon the men who held the Priesthood to come to the hospital and give me a "healing" blessing. All I remember is seeing three men (strangers) walk into the ICU room I was in late at night. They raised my bed, dabbed my head with concentrated oil, then layed their hands upon my head and proceeded to give me a blessing from my Heavenly Father. I do not recall the words given in the blessing, but I had faith that I would be healed. The next morning I woke up, and was able to eat solid food. Just a few hours later, I was taken out of the ICU and put into a regular hospital bed while I continued to heal. It was a true miracle! Doctors and science can not explain what happened during the night that allowed me to recover, but I know what happened, and my faith has been strengthened by it.

On a less serious note, but nothing short of a miracle, I was recently able to give my 3 week old baby a blessing. There was nothing life threatening, or in need of a medical miracle. She simply had not been sleeping well, and that caused concern for her mother and I. My wife had asked me to give a blessing to our daughter, and I jumped at the chance. I love being able to share this wonderful gift that Heavenly Father has entrusted to me. Since it was not a healing blessing, I was able to perform the ordinace by myself. I laid my hands on our baby's head, and gave her a blessing to sleep better through the night (as well as other things that came to me through the Holy Spirit). My wife informed me the following morning, while I was at work, that our daughter had indeed slept through the night and Heavenly Father truly blesses us and answers prayers. Because of my wife and I's faith, a miracle had happened.

The Priesthood is real, and is a gift from God. I strive daily to be worthy in His eyes to be an instrument in His hands to bless other's lives through the Priesthood.

Basic Beliefs

1. 'Mormon' is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Members are often referred to as 'Mormons,' 'Latter day Saints,' or 'LDS.' The term 'Saint' means 'member.'

2. The Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with [President Thomas S. Monson] as the present prophet.

3. There are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.

4. Local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.

5. Mormons are well represented in politics and government. . . . Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment.


(M. Russell Ballard, "Faith, Family, Facts, and Fruits," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 25 26)