How Does The Lds Church Celebrate Easter?

[diglot]

Just curious.

Is there some sort of special message delivered by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve on Resurrection Sunday?

I myself (being an EV) celebrate Easter by observing the 40 days of Lent (according to how Western Christianity observes Lent, though this coming year I may do it the Eastern Orthodox way).

Anyway, just wondering if there are any special ways in which the LDS Church observes Easter, or how any individual Mormons have chosen to do so.

Thanks!

Edited November 1, 2011 by diglot

[thesometimesaint]

diglot:

I give my 4-9 year old Grandchildren Easter baskets with lots of chocolate.

We are to live our lives like every day is Easter, a celebration of the life and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

Edited November 1, 2011 by thesometimesaint

[volgadon]

Our General Conference is usually right around Easter, many of the messages do center around the ressurection of Christ.

I served a mission in Russia, and the branches put together wonderful programs, complete with greetings of Khristos Annesti and traditional paska cakes.

Back home in Israel I organised a sacrament meeting on the Mt. of Beatitudes. We sang Easter hymns and read from the ressurection accounts.

[volgadon]

We are to live our lives like every day is Easter, a celebration of the life and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

True, but it is wonderful to have a day focusing on that just a little bit more.

[Sky]

I wouldn’t say we celebrate Easter in any particularly noteworthy way. Don’t get me wrong – it is a very important holiday for us, but we don’t observe Lent or offer Sunrise services as other Christians do.

About the extent of it would be somebody giving an Easter themed talk in Sacrament meeting – usually talking about Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection. But you could just as easily hear a talk like that at any other time during the year. We renew our baptismal covenants every week. The Ensign magazine also always offers an Easter themed message.

We do sing Easter themed hymns from our hymn book. And wards that have a ward choir will usually offer an Easter program.

As has been mentioned, we have our General Conference’s at the beginning of April of every year. Most of the talks (if not all) center on Christ and what He has done for us.

[altersteve]

Same way every other Christian celebrates it, really.

[kolipoki09]

Just curious.

Is there some sort of special message delivered by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve on Resurrection Sunday?

I myself (being an EV) celebrate Easter by observing the 40 days of Lent (according to how Western Christianity observes Lent, though this coming year I may do it the Eastern Orthodox way).

Anyway, just wondering if there are any special ways in which the LDS Church observes Easter, or how any individual Mormons have chosen to do so.

Thanks!

In most cases, unless General Conference falls on Easter Sunday (which it has in the past), how individual wards or branches choose to celebrate Easter is up to local leaders. However, I've never attended an LDS Easter service that wasn't focused in large part around the message of Christ's atonement, the empty tomb, and the hope of resurrection for all mankind.

This year our Bishopric read a First Presidency Message from 2000 entitled The Living Christ which accurately and appropriately summarizes contemporary LDS views on who Christ is to us. About two years ago I was approached to participate in an interview by an Evangelical filmmaker about LDS views on the atonement of Christ. Due to time constraints I was unable to appear in the documentary, but I clarified my views by pointing to The Living Christ, which may or may not be canonized in my lifetime, along with the Proclamation on the Family.

Daniel Peterson offered this Easter address directed toward a primarily LDS audience earlier this year.

[rpn]

The First Presidency does issue an Easter message, but not on Easter itself. If it is a regular meeting sunday, the service is often devoted to choir and either scriptures or talks or both about the resurrection. You might be surprised at how many LDS members join interfaith sunrise services too.

[Storm Rider]

Just curious.

Is there some sort of special message delivered by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve on Resurrection Sunday?

I myself (being an EV) celebrate Easter by observing the 40 days of Lent (according to how Western Christianity observes Lent, though this coming year I may do it the Eastern Orthodox way).

Anyway, just wondering if there are any special ways in which the LDS Church observes Easter, or how any individual Mormons have chosen to do so.

Thanks!

I find the manner in which LDS celebrate holidays, in general, to be lacking. Our services so often overlook holidays because the Church has a prescribed lesson plan for each Sunday. However, the Church has yet to plan lesson materials with respect to holidays throughout the year. This results in Sacrament meeting talking about the Crucifixion and the resurrection and then in Sunday school talking about another gospel topic. I have always found our meetings on holidays as frustrating and leave unfulfilled.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism and their respective sister churches to a much better job of respect spiritual holidays than LDS.

[Jesterss]

Being a non-LDS who actually went to an LDS Easter service just last year, it appears to me that most of these posts have been pretty accurate. Nothing special. 3 people got up to speak (same as any other day) and delivered their thoughts or messages about Jesus and the atonement. After this first hour I left though, and the families like others have also said, celebrate the day just as americans do by fixing up egg baskets, hunting for eggs, etc...

[Sky]

LDS’s might celebrate Easter in a very uninteresting way, but I object to EV’s using this as a stick to beat up the Mormons for not being “Christian” enough. I’m not accusing anybody of doing this, but I just wanted to mention it because I can see how the temptation might be there for some.

I’ve shared this quote before, but I’ll share it again.

The prophet Joseph Smith said:

“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”

[thesometimesaint]

The world has more than enough C&E(Christmas and Easter) Christians of all denominations.

[Freedom]

Christmas and Easter are not biblical celebrations, they have secular roots and christian religions adopted them. The resurrection is celebrated on Sunday, every Sunday. The question is not 'why doesn't the LDS church celebrate Easter and Christmas' but rather 'why do many christian churches have a special service on December 25th and Easter Sunday if the bible does not teach this?' For religions that say the bible is the only source, why do they celebrate these non-biblical holidays? Christmas and Easter in my opinion are secular holidays and have little if anything to do with Christianity. Rather, they have evolved into very secular and anti-christian celebrations. I think that the more a Christ centered faith distances themselves from them the more Christ centered they will become. I celebrate Christmas and Easter but I recognize it for what it is: a time to eat lots of food, visit with Family, and watch the children open presents or find Easter eggs. I lump these holidays together with Halloween, birthdays, and Canada Day (or July 4th if you are American). When Christmas falls on a Sunday, as it does this year, our services are actually shorter. We will only be holding Sacrament service in our ward. This holiday is an opportunity to build memories as a family and is not a special day of worship. If it was to be a day set apart for worship, the scriptures would have said as much.

I would not go so far as to criticize religions that have a special service on these days, they are following a long tradition and such a service is expected from their congregations. Nevertheless, just because something has been done for a thousand years does not make it necessary or right. In fact, I think it tends to cause the opposite problem: many members of these churches only attend at Christmas and Easter because they consider these days special days of worship and the other Sabbath days are somehow reduced in importance. The moment you elevate one Sabbath over another, those that are less important are cheapened and risk being perceived as irrelevant.

[thesometimesaint]

Freedom:

I don't have a problem with extra celebrations for C&E. Different strokes for different folks. However if those two occassions are only times someone darkens the church doors. I think it's a problem.

Edited November 2, 2011 by thesometimesaint

[Garden Girl]

I find the manner in which LDS celebrate holidays, in general, to be lacking. Our services so often overlook holidays because the Church has a prescribed lesson plan for each Sunday. However, the Church has yet to plan lesson materials with respect to holidays throughout the year. This results in Sacrament meeting talking about the Crucifixion and the resurrection and then in Sunday school talking about another gospel topic. I have always found our meetings on holidays as frustrating and leave unfulfilled.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism and their respective sister churches to a much better job of respect spiritual holidays than LDS.

I have a different perspective than Storm Rider... perhaps his ward is a little different...

Our ward always has a special program on holidays such as Easter and Christmas, centering around the scriptures relating the events of the atonement and resurrection... and for Christmas the nativity story. The Choir sings special music... the whole meeting is special and focused... That is our main meeting for the holiday and our worship time...we also partake of the Sacrament and renew our covenants (as we do each week).

When that is over, we proceed on to our Sunday School classrooms where we hear whatever lesson is scheduled, including in RS/Priesthood. At the beginning of these meetings, we always take a few minutes to recognize the holiday and give thanks and then proceed with the lessons. I don't find myself lacking, frustrated, or unfulfilled.

GG

[ERayR]

I find the manner in which LDS celebrate holidays, in general, to be lacking. Our services so often overlook holidays because the Church has a prescribed lesson plan for each Sunday. However, the Church has yet to plan lesson materials with respect to holidays throughout the year. This results in Sacrament meeting talking about the Crucifixion and the resurrection and then in Sunday school talking about another gospel topic. I have always found our meetings on holidays as frustrating and leave unfulfilled.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism and their respective sister churches to a much better job of respect spiritual holidays than LDS.

I am sorry you feel that way. I have always found the special days (easter, christmas, etc) meeting to be very good.

[volgadon]

Being a non-LDS who actually went to an LDS Easter service just last year, it appears to me that most of these posts have been pretty accurate. Nothing special.

Must be a USA thing.

[etana]

I watch the "Passion of the Christ" and sometimes even get my kids to watch a little.

[diglot]

Thanks for the response everyone!

[diglot]

Christmas and Easter are not biblical celebrations, they have secular roots and christian religions adopted them. The resurrection is celebrated on Sunday, every Sunday. The question is not 'why doesn't the LDS church celebrate Easter and Christmas' but rather 'why do many christian churches have a special service on December 25th and Easter Sunday if the bible does not teach this?' For religions that say the bible is the only source, why do they celebrate these non-biblical holidays?

The vast majority of mainstream Christianity does not say that "the bible is the only source." Most of mainstream Christianity sees Church tradition either as very important or as on par with Scripture.

[diglot]

LDS’s might celebrate Easter in a very uninteresting way, but I object to EV’s using this as a stick to beat up the Mormons for not being “Christian” enough. I’m not accusing anybody of doing this, but I just wanted to mention it because I can see how the temptation might be there for some.

FYI, my intention in the OP wasn't to berate Mormons for not celebrating Easter. I was just curious as to whether the Church has any sort of special tradition they hold to, and if not, whether individual Mormons like to do certain things.

I only recently (a couple of years ago) started celebrating Easter in a special way (by observing the Lenten season). I still don't celebrate or observe Christmas at all, but that's another story.

Edited November 3, 2011 by diglot

[Storm Rider]

I am sorry you feel that way. I have always found the special days (easter, Christmas, etc) meeting to be very good.

I don't think it is an issue of feeling, but rather a statement of fact. I am not sure it is a criticism; however, I do wish things could be made a little more focused on the holidays themselves. Going from a Sacrament meeting to Sunday School or Priesthood meeting where we talk about the Word of Wisdom on Christmas is not very fulfilling.

The D&C tells us to lead every meeting by the guidance of the Spirit. We seem to have forgotten that in many respects and have become very, very structured and bishops do little to move beyond the structure regardless of the special events that we celebrate however weakly at times.

In conclusion, we should be fair in our evaluation of our own Church practices as much as we are about those of others. Let us thresh the world for the better way and all truth, bring it home, and relish it in the building up of Zion. Putting our heads in the sand and telling ourselves it is already the best way is folly and narrow beyond measure.

[TAO]

Storm, I know that my bishop does mix it up a bit... when he gets impressions. His recent one was missionary work. It be all about trusting the spirit... even if it is the usual lesson, that can be inspired too =).

[thesometimesaint]

diglot:

We usually have GC around Easter time, I've been is some Wards where the Bishop gave a special talk during Sacrement Meeting on the meaning of Easter to the Saints.

If you mean do we have a "Sunrise Service". No, but no one is stopped from attending one, or even just getting up early on a Sunday morning either.

[KevinG]

I have an LDS friend who loves attending midnight Mass on Christmas eve.