Easter and Christmas will only be 1 hour meetings from now on

[webbles]

In a letter from the First Presidency, from now on Easter Sunday will only be 1 hour and the Sunday nearest Christmas (decided by the Stake Presidency) will only be 1 hour.

https://www.deseret.com/2024/2/3/24059921/church-lds-meeting-schedule-holidays

[InCognitus]

2 hours ago, webbles said:

In a letter from the First Presidency, from now on Easter Sunday will only be 1 hour and the Sunday nearest Christmas (decided by the Stake Presidency) will only be 1 hour.

https://www.deseret.com/2024/2/3/24059921/church-lds-meeting-schedule-holidays

That makes sense to just establish a blanket policy on that instead of sending out official communications that say the same thing twice a year.

[Calm]

1 hour ago, InCognitus said:

That makes sense to just establish a blanket policy on that instead of sending out official communications that say the same thing twice a year.

Especially for scheduling the year ahead of time…

[MiserereNobis]

What happened back when meetings were 3 hours long on Sundays? Were Sundays services also shortened to 1 hour on Easter and Christmas?

Easter and Christmas are the two holiest times in the Catholic liturgical calendar -- they are holy days of obligation, which means you must attend mass.

[webbles]

39 minutes ago, MiserereNobis said:

What happened back when meetings were 3 hours long on Sundays? Were Sundays services also shortened to 1 hour on Easter and Christmas?

Easter and Christmas are the two holiest times in the Catholic liturgical calendar -- they are holy days of obligation, which means you must attend mass.

Easter was always 3 hours.  I don't remember it ever be shortened (though it is possible that some stakes/wards did shorten it).  For Christmas, if it landed on Sunday, it was usually shortened to 1 hour.  But the 1 hour is the Sacrament meeting so the parts that are missed were the classes.

[InCognitus]

50 minutes ago, MiserereNobis said:

What happened back when meetings were 3 hours long on Sundays? Were Sundays services also shortened to 1 hour on Easter and Christmas?

Easter and Christmas are the two holiest times in the Catholic liturgical calendar -- they are holy days of obligation, which means you must attend mass.

Our meeting is shortened to one hour so we can go to mass.

[webbles]

4 minutes ago, InCognitus said:

Our meeting is shortened to one hour so we can go to mass.

I'm seriously considering that.  I've been to mass before but never a Christmas mass or Easter mass.

[Stargazer]

9 hours ago, webbles said:

I'm seriously considering that.  I've been to mass before but never a Christmas mass or Easter mass.

Go to a midnight Christmas mass! They are awesome! Did that on my mission in Germany.

[Stargazer]

15 hours ago, webbles said:

In a letter from the First Presidency, from now on Easter Sunday will only be 1 hour and the Sunday nearest Christmas (decided by the Stake Presidency) will only be 1 hour.

https://www.deseret.com/2024/2/3/24059921/church-lds-meeting-schedule-holidays

Our stake did that for Christmas Eve last year. 

10 hours ago, MiserereNobis said:

What happened back when meetings were 3 hours long on Sundays? Were Sundays services also shortened to 1 hour on Easter and Christmas?

As I recall, no. At least, not generally. Before the 3 hour meeting block, there were three different meetings on Sunday. First was Priesthood meeting. Then the priesthood holders would go back home to get their families for Sunday School. It used to be that Sunday School was a mini-Sacrament meeting, where the sacrament was administered, short talks were given (mostly for younger people to help train them for giving talks), hymn practice occurred, and then we'd separate to class time. If the unit was large enough, there were two Sunday School sessions separately held, with the senior SS in the chapel, and the junior SS in a smaller meeting room. Finally, after everyone went home for lunch, we'd meet again for the Sacrament meeting, which resembled Sunday School, except that the talks were longer and we all sat in the chapel for the entire time.

Back then, Primary and Relief Society were held during the week.

Yes, things have changed.

10 hours ago, MiserereNobis said:

Easter and Christmas are the two holiest times in the Catholic liturgical calendar -- they are holy days of obligation, which means you must attend mass.

Well, as you must know, our equivalent of mass is sacrament meeting.

Having attended mass before (in Germany, for Christmas, back in 1973), I am happy to attend on Christmas and Easter. 

[BlueDreams]

11 hours ago, webbles said:

I'm seriously considering that.  I've been to mass before but never a Christmas mass or Easter mass.

I've gone to a few midnight masses. The ones near my family's home were always Wonderful music programs. I really enjoyed them. 

 

With luv, 

BD

[blackstrap]

4 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Before the 3 hour meeting block, there were three different meetings on Sunday.

Yes this. Back in the ' olden days ' 

I went to a Catholic mass and aside from a lovely service , there was the added positive of being able to skip leg day at the gym in the following session. 👿

[LoudmouthMormon]

My ward has been doing sacrament only services on the Sunday nearest Christmas and Easter for as far back as I can remember - including when we had the 3 hr block.