Hello again, everyone! I posted web addresses for additional content which clarifies the Church statement released earlier today, but since I needed to post here again anyways to pass on some other news, I will also be sharing those contextual clarifications of the Church statement. Let's get right into all of that. First, to the clarification of the Church's statement. KSL posted this article on how the most well-known Church pageants will be affected by that statement. Meanwhile, the Church News and Events page provided additional context on the changes announced today.
My most interesting takeaway from that last article was the fact that it was stated point-blank that cultural celebrations the night before temple dedications had been discontinued, and that these would be replaced by a devotional for youth with presiding Church leaders that night. I would just like to interject a thought of my own here: Some may see this as President Nelson just undoing another thing President Monson lauded and supported (as the latter had spoken repeatedly about how much he enjoyed those celebrations), but there is more to it than that, aside from the Lord having instructed President Nelson to take this action.
It occurred to me that if the youth of the Church get too busy preparing to participate in the cultural celebration, that might be detrimental to and potentially take away from their ability to fully prepare for, enjoy, be inspired by, and get as much out of the dedication of the temple the following day. So reducing and simplifying things by letting the youth not focus on the pressure of performance and instead enjoy the opportunity to hear addresses from leaders directed to them on the night before the temple dedication definitely seems more appropriate to me.
Now, to the available report on this weekend's dedication of the Concepcion Chile Temple. The Newsroom released this article spelling out what will be involved in the celebrations of this weekend. President and Sister Nelson and Elder and Sister Stevenson have addressed the youth at the devotional tonight (since it is now almost 11:00 PM Chilean time), and tomorrow, with dedicatory sessions held at 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM (which will be 6 & 9 AM and noon Utah time).
Joining the Nelsons and Stevensons for the dedicatory sessions will be Elder Larry Y. Wilson, Executive Director of the Temple Department, and Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse, who may be accompanied by their wives. The Newsroom notes that "other leaders" will be in attendance at the dedicatory sessions, but does not specify who else that will be. Within the next several hours, a report of the devotional will likely be made available, and I will pass word of that along to you all as I receive it.
In the meantime, I also continue to monitor any and all other Church news and temple developments and will keep doing my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of it. I am additionally working on assembling my initial predictions for the April 2019 General Conference and hope to have those posted before the end of this month, if all goes well.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Clarification Provided On Church Pageants; President Nelson Prepares for the Dedication of the Concepcion Chile Temple
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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Hello again, everyone! The Church News just provided a report on the remarks of Church leaders who spoke at the youth devotional earlier tonight (prior to the dedication of the Concepcion Chile Temple tomorrow). The article confirms that the change from cultural celebrations to youth devotionals the night before a temple dedication is for the purpose of continuing to reduce and simplify the work of the Church. The address of that article follows below. Thanks.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-10-27/president-nelson-speaks-in-chile-about-temple-blessings-asks-youth-to-study-these-5-topics-48329
Another stor has sufaced and it came from KKUT 93.7 heard in Utah County and a small part of Salt Lake County and the Heber City area.
ReplyDeleteDoug Barton came on-air with the news about Manti, Elder Rasband was there yesterday, and met with the stake presidencies, mission president, and temple presidency about that, it happened yesterday morning. The missionary deoartment will support it through the 2019 staging and after that it would be a local affair if it were to be continued in some form. He encouraged the stake presidents to make decisions in the next few weeks.
Thanks for that additional information. It makes sense that general Church leaders would want to meet with those impacted by this announcement to provide clarification on this matter, and to get a feel for how best to transition to whatever these events will look like going forward.
ReplyDeleteAnd I likewise appreciate that the general Church leaders are leaving some things up to local discretion, since locals would know how best to alter, scale down, or eliminate such events in the future.
I especially appreciate how the Church is recognizing that pageants on a larger scale can detract from family time, or time studying the gospel. But it seems that so many people who have no idea how the Church works see this as President Nelson just making such changes unilaterally. The general public commentary seems to be that President Nelson is changing as much as he can as quickly as he can.
But for those of us who know how such decisions are made, I am grateful that the apostles have counseled together on this matter and made this decision, and although it may be another hard adjustment, if it enables families to spend more time with each other (and particularly to study the gospel), then I would say this development is long overdue. Thank you again, James Anderson, for taking time to comment.