MiserereNobis

Who watches the watcher? What is the awareness in our consciousness? Can a camera take a picture of itself? Whatever you see, think, etc., can't be you, because you are watching that. So what is it? Who are you? "I and my Father are one."

I knew you'd love this topic

This isn't smac, it's a general conference talk he quoted. Man oh man! I mean... Work is my divine heritage? Heaven is constant labor? No, thank you. I'm more inclined to this guy: Do you think American Puritanism might have overly influenced your church's views here? The idea that work is divine and we will all work forever definitely has roots there. Work was Adam's punishment, not his reward. It is a necessary in a fallen world. In Heaven, through Christ, we will live in perfect peace and rest.

Nice try! Pepperoni is American, not Italian. Typical from an American based church 😉😊

It appears to me that the correct practice of the sacrament given by Jesus to the Nephites, one of the greatest contributions of the Book of Mormon, declares that wine should be used 😉

I asked because in Catholicism one needs to only receive the bread. Wine is optional. In fact, until 1970, only the priest received the wine. This was to enforce the doctrine that in both the bread and wine is the fullness of Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity; one does not need to receive both in order to receive the fulness.

There are so many posts where you say how much you will delight in seeing people who are wrong realize they are wrong. On the school playground, did you like chanting, “I won bubble gum, you lost apple sauce!” Somehow I don’t think schadenfreude is part of Christianity.

The Catholic view of transubstantiation!

I think I asked this before but I'm fuzzy on the answer. Is the Word of Wisdom the reason water is used instead of wine? Does it have to be water or is another liquid ok? I'm thinking grape juice might show the symbolism of blood better (the origin of Welch's!). Is it required to receive both bread and water? Are there any requirements on what kind of bread is used?

The liturgical purpose of Mass is to worship together as a community, commemorate the sacrifice of Christ by its renewal, hear God's word, and become one body. While there are readings from the Bible and a homily in Mass, scripture study, classes, etc., are not liturgical and thus happen outside of Mass.

The times I've attended your services I was overwhelmed by the amount of greetings and handshaking I received. Did covid temper your handshaking habits or do y'all still approach everyone with your arm stretched forward? I personally like being left alone as I come and go to Mass, but that's just me. You'll get a major stink-eye and possibly a comment at my parish if you're on your phone. While this could be over-the-top, I certainly appreciate no phones in sight anywhere. It definitely changes the overall dynamic and feeling.

Hey, that was my idea for your services!

I haven't been to LDS services since the change from the 3 hour block meetings. Now, I am most definitely a high church guy, so it was harder for me to connect to the service. I did appreciate the reverence; I emphatically do not like pentecostal style meetings (the rock band, hand swaying someone else mentioned). I'm not sure how this would work in your context, but it didn't seem like worship to me because the vast majority of the 3 hours was spent with people talking. Talks in sacrament meeting definitely felt like the focus of the meeting, then Sunday School was like a class (understandable because of what it is), but then priesthood meeting was also like a class. So it felt like classes and meetings instead of worship. For me, the rituals focus my mind, spirit, and body on Christ, so that I am worshipping. In the traditional Latin mass, there are many moments when the priest sits and waits for the schola (Gregorian chant) to finish. The symbols all around me, such as statues, stained glass, stations of the cross, the altar, etc., allow me to stay focused and worship and/or pray. The music, in Latin, doesn't distract because of the language, honestly. Again, I'm not sure how this would apply to your context, since LDS services are decidedly low church. But, could there be (approved) paintings on the walls? Could there be more contemplative music? Could the ritual of the sacrament be elaborated/extended or somehow made to feel like the center and focus of the meeting instead of something that is done early on and then all the talks occur? What if the talks were removed and a separate meeting held for the talks, so Sacrament Meeting didn't have announcements, business, etc., but just music, both congregation and choir, and sacrament? Just some thoughts from the outside.

Does that include the “laws” of this forum? EVERYONE knows that politics are against the rules — there’s even a banner to remind us that shows up regularly. Does the fact that Nemesis hasn’t shown up yet make it ok to break the rules? We also need a hotline to Nemesis when something egregious (like Pink) occurs.

Check out the videos of NHL games recently where Canadians boo during the US Anthem. Compare that to videos in the past where Canadians would sing along with the US Anthem.