Status of church

[rongo]

20 minutes ago, cinepro said:

Last year, when we first returned to Church (about a year ago?), about 95% of my SoCal ward was wearing masks.

Then they lifted the mask mandated and reinstated it in July. After that, only about 60% would wear masks (and yes, I actually looked around in Sacrament meeting and counted).

Now the mandate has been lifted again (at both the County and Church level), and about five people are wearing them each week. The Bishopric aren't. Yesterday we had Stake conference, and the Stake Center was packed and I counted about 20 masks.

 

That's where my stake was last August. Almost no masks at wards or stake conference. We've been barely touched by the restrictions from the beginning (other than the worldwide church shutdown). 

[mfbukowski]

9 hours ago, cinepro said:

Last year, when we first returned to Church (about a year ago?), about 95% of my SoCal ward was wearing masks.

Then they lifted the mask mandated and reinstated it in July. After that, only about 60% would wear masks (and yes, I actually looked around in Sacrament meeting and counted).

Now the mandate has been lifted again (at both the County and Church level), and about five people are wearing them each week. The Bishopric aren't. Yesterday we had Stake conference, and the Stake Center was packed and I counted about 20 masks.

 

Over the years I think I have been able to deduce what stake you are in- but that's great.   We are more southwest of you guys if I get it right, and so our folks are probably slower to take on new ideas.

I guess that would not make sense to anyone who did not live here.    You guys are a bit more progressive I think.

 

[pogi]

9 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

Over the years I think I have been able to deduce what stake you are in- but that's great.   We are more southwest of you guys if I get it right, and so our folks are probably slower to take on new ideas.

I guess that would not make sense to anyone who did not live here.    You guys are a bit more progressive I think.

Wouldn't your ward be considered the more progressive one for wearing masks despite the loosening of requirements? 

One of those semantic things I guess.

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by pogi

[Hamba Tuhan]

Three Sundays after our government lifted our mask mandate, I'm still one of the few choosing not to wear at mask at church, though the numbers are definitely increasing with each week. For the young people in my mission prep class, it's about 50/50 now. We will be using all the pews in our chapel for our upcoming stake conference, but wards will continue to use alternate rows after that to allow for deacons to serve the sacrament.

[cinepro]

On 3/14/2022 at 11:24 PM, mfbukowski said:

Over the years I think I have been able to deduce what stake you are in- but that's great.   We are more southwest of you guys if I get it right, and so our folks are probably slower to take on new ideas.

I guess that would not make sense to anyone who did not live here.    You guys are a bit more progressive I think.

 

Well, any further north from my stake and you're no longer in the "Los Angeles" area and we'd be talking about the Central Valley. So that should narrow it down a bit. But for my first 7 years on this board in the 2000s, I was in West LA by the Temple.

But I'm with Pogi in not understanding your definition of "progressive." Politically, I'm in a *very* conservative area (the week after Newsom was elected, there were people standing on street corners by our mall collecting signatures to recall him, and the week after the 2020 election, there were people on street corners with Trump signs). My ward reflects that as far as I can tell.

Edited March 19, 2022 by cinepro

[mfbukowski]

11 hours ago, cinepro said:

Well, any further north from my stake and you're no longer in the "Los Angeles" area and we'd be talking about the Central Valley. So that should narrow it down a bit. But for my first 7 years on this board in the 2000s, I was in West LA by the Temple.

But I'm with Pogi in not understanding your definition of "progressive." Politically, I'm in a *very* conservative area (the week after Newsom was elected, there were people standing on street corners by our mall collecting signatures to recall him, and the week after the 2020 election, there were people on street corners with Trump signs). My ward reflects that as far as I can tell.

Aha! So the West LA thing was the connection, was in them there parts for at least 10 years before I moved East, still in LA county though, around  the  time you went North. So I may actually know you or definitely know folks you know. Westdale wards, mar vista Santa Monica singles.

Regarding the masks, in the world on one side we have conservatives who hate masks and progressives who love them, but in church the conservatives stress obedience, and the progressives are the "stick with science" folks so regarding masks it gets confusing! 

It seems to me opposite of what it is in the world: the pro maskers are conservative out of obedience and the church progressives want to question everything the church wants 

So it gets confusing!!

Edited March 19, 2022 by mfbukowski

[cinepro]

4 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

It seems to me opposite of what it is in the world: the pro maskers are conservative out of obedience and the church progressives want to question everything the church wants

This has not been what I've seen with my more "orthodox" relatives in Utah, and in my ward. Even with the statements from the Church and President Nelson, the more orthodox or conservative (both religiously and politically) they are, the more likely they are to be mask and/or vaccine hesitant. 

I have one older relative that is a real "salt of the earth" kind of guy, totally sincere in his LDS beliefs, but also devoted to Trump and constantly watching Fox News and reading the Epoch times. He delayed getting vaccinated until he just couldn't take it anymore and his desire to follow the Prophet overrode his hesitancy about the vaccines. It was a real act of faith for him, because he still thinks the vaccines are altering his DNA and terrible for him.

[SwedishLDS]

I think it is important to recognize that the church is supposed to grow and spread worldwide so that the gospel can reach into every corner of the earth, so that while we will all inevitably have political differences, we also have to recognize that the church will not support our every political wish or be the activist we wish them to be

[Peacefully]

We had a group of about 20 young men in shorts and t-shirts at our sacrament today. They left right after taking sacrament. I asked the second counselor who they were and he said they were here from Utah for some sports tournament. It was nice they took time to take the sacrament. I thought it was pretty interesting. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Peacefully

[Hamba Tuhan]

3 hours ago, Peacefully said:

We had a group of about 20 young men in shorts and t-shirts at our sacrament today.

When I was Young Men president, one of our formerly inactive boys wanted to attend church, but his parents forced him to play rugby on Sundays. Once he had his licence (I had given him lessons in my car), he started driving himself to church. If he left immediately once the match ended, he would miss priesthood opening exercises but arrive just in time for priests quorum class. This meant arriving in his rugby gear ... and often covered in mud and blood too.

Bishop and I were thrilled at his commitment! But some ward members from his same (very tightly wound) ethnic group/culture pulled him aside and told him that he was offending God by showing up that way. He told me, and I told Bishop. Bishop told the boy to ignore them and then sent me to the homes of the offending families to tell them to stop it. They weren't happy with me (or Bishop), but neither of us cared. This boy served a mission, married in the temple, was recently released from serving in the bishopric, and is in the final year of his university degree. So yeah.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Hamba Tuhan

[Peacefully]

26 minutes ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

When I was Young Men president, one of our formerly inactive boys wanted to attend church, but his parents forced him to play rugby on Sundays. Once he had his licence -- I gave him lessons in my car -- he started driving himself to church. If he left immediately once the match ended, he would miss priesthood opening exercises but arrive just in time for priests quorum class. This meant arriving in his rugby gear ... and often covered in mud and blood too.

Bishop and I were thrilled at his commitment! But some ward members from his same (very tightly wound) ethnic group/culture pulled him aside and told him that he was offending God by showing up that way. He told me, and I told Bishop. Bishop told the boy to ignore them and then sent me to the homes of the offending families to tell them to stop it. They weren't happy with me (or Bishop), but neither of us cared. This boy served a mission, married in the temple, was recently released from serving in the bishopric, and is in the final year of his university degree. So yeah.

Great story! We all should be thankful for anyone who attends church. It’s not the most popular thing to do these days, especially for young people. Let’s make it easier for people to attend, not harder:)