Ward Preacher Podcast Ep 91 - Differences in the Sermon on the Mount

 This week, our Come Follow Me curriculum brings us to 3 Nephi 12-16.  We discuss the differences between the Nephite and Matthew versions of the Sermon on the Mount, and the clarity of Jesus's message.  Study with me!

Anchor.fm:

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-961318159/ward-preacher-podcast-ep-91-differences-in-the-sermon-on-the-mount

Youtube:

Ward Preacher Podcast Episode 9 - Jesus teaches us to judge others

This week the Come Follow Me curriculum focuses on Matthew 6-7, the conclusion on the Sermon on the Mount.  We focus on the importance of doing good for the right reasons, how to make prayer meaningful, and examining Jesus's teaching on judgment in context with his counsel about people who are like dogs, swine, and ravening wolves.

Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-961318159/ward-preacher-podcast-episode-9-jesus-teaches-us-to-judge-others

Youtube:

Ward Preacher Podcast Episode 8 - Let your light so shine vs thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly

This week's Come Follow Me curriculum starts us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, Luke 6).  How can we let our light shine, and also, do our good works in secret?

Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-961318159/ward-preacher-podcast-episode-8-let-your-light-so-shine-vs-thy-father-which-seeth-in-secret-shall-reward-thee-openly


Youtube:

Anatomy of a High Council Talk

High Council Sunday...  perhaps the most yawn-inducing event in all of Mormonism.  Of course there are some individuals with this calling that do have some speaking ability, but it seems that the vast majority of gentlemen that address LDS congregations monthly are not chosen for their speaking abilities.

 I frequently wonder if some of them know how terrible their talks are.  When the 12-year-old youth speaker outshines them with a monotone reading of a random New Era article, it makes the audience wonder if they intend to give a horrible talk as some sort of punishment.  Perhaps our ward's contributions to the Boy Scouts were low...  perhaps we had poor attendance at the Stake fireside, or Stake Priesthood meeting...  Perhaps the Stake Presidency just hates our ward...  Wonder no longer; today we will analyze the anatomy of a High Council talk!

The format for this lighthearted analysis will consist of the high council speaker's words in bold and their thoughts in italics.

Wow, that youth speaker had way better material than me...  maybe if I just take two minutes to arrange my papers, I can avoid an awkward transition.  Hey!  I remember this paper, it was something I doodled instead of preparing a talk!  Best decision ever!  Oh crap!  A lot of people are staring at me...  They don't look happy either...  what can I say so that they never find out I was assigned to this ward because the Stake presidency can't stand them?  Oh I know!

Brothers and Sisters, I bring you the love of the Stake Presidency...

Whew!  That was close.  Now I can just babble about them for a couple minutes...  I just have to remember not to bring up the fact that this ward didn't contribute enough to Boy Scouts so I don't offend anyone.  Although if they haven't already been offended by how tight an green my Scout shorts are, maybe it won't hurt...  I'm getting sidetracked though...  the number of screaming children has doubled since I started...  I know!  I can just tell them I worked hard on preparing my talk!

So anyway...  I have been given an important topic today...  it is the topic of prayer!

Heh!  That did it!  They know they will feel guilty if they don't listen to a talk about prayer!  Crap... what do I say now?

When I got this topic, I was really excited...

Why are everyone's eyes glazing over?  Do they know that I was lying about being excited about prayer?  Heck, last night I fell asleep after 2 minutes of praying and woke up in a pool of my own drool 2 hours later...

I remember when I was a boy, my parents taught me to pray...

Or more accurately, they would spank me when I prayed for the Lions to win more football games instead of grandma to get better...

It's a lesson I've never forgotten...

 Unless it's football season...

It reminds me of the scripture story about ...

Come on brain, don't fail me now...

Enoch..  who prayed all day and all night...

What are those primary kids whispering?  Did I say something wrong?  Enos...that's what they're saying?  Ah crap...

Oh right...  Enos...  your kids are smarter than I am...

Condescending brats!

Anyway, Enos prayed all day and all night, and...

It looks like everyone is calming down now.  I can just keep spouting random details about Enos and I will have like five minutes left.  I wonder how much time I've used.  Probably at least seven minutes out of my fifteen...  I'll just look at the clock...  oh crap, only two minutes!?!?!?  But it felt like forever...  I wonder if that's how the congregation feels...  nah...  they love me!

And so my Uncle Frank's cancer got worse, and we didn't know what to do...

What am I even saying?  How did I get to Uncle Frank's cancer?  Oh well, it has a lot of details, so that's sure to keep people occupied...

 And he was coughing out blood and he had difficulty using the toilet...  his vision wasn't great either, which made it difficult for him to enjoy his favorite game show, the Price is Right...

Heh!  That was a great show...  "Come on down!!!!"


And anyway, the cows would kick over the milk bucket and spill it all over...  I would get so mad at them...

Is that the sound of applause?  I know they must love me, but we probably shouldn't applaud in Sacrament meeting...  oh wait...  that's snoring...

And so that's why shopping on Sunday is bad...  Sure, I enjoy a doughnut as much as the next guy...  in fact, my wife tells me I enjoy them a bit more than the next guy...   but I have a testimony that the word of wisdom helps us in our lives....

I'm on a roll now! Everything is coming together now!

...and that's when my son told me that he appreciated my example...  and I'm not saying that to boast, I'm saying that the Savior has blessed me...

...probably more than you...  Yeah, I'm both awesome AND humble!

...and I loved my mother...  she was the best...  even with her dementia and when she started fires in the care center that we sent her to...

Man I hated that care center...  I hope my kids send me someplace nicer when I lose it...

...and that's what happens when you try to go fishing without bait...  I mean what did you expect when...

What's that on my shoulder?  Oh...  it's the Bishop tapping his watch...  well he doesn't have to glare at me...

Well brothers and sisters...  Bishop is tapping his watch so I guess I should wrap it up...  I just want to bear my testimony of prayer.  I love prayer...  and that reminds me of when my daughter was sick and she was just puking all over the place...  it was the really gross...

Oh and that's just like when my sister ate that chicken that we had left out too long...  that was awful...

...so it's a good thing I had health insurance...  it's also a good thing to...

What now?!?!  Oh it's the Bishop tapping his watch again...  no wonder the Stake President doesn't like this ward...  they don't even let you finish your train of thought...

 Well... anyway...  that's my testimony of prayer...

I think that talk went pretty well!  I'm sure the reason all the people in the congregation are sleeping is because of the early meeting schedule...

Obviously this account is a bit tongue in cheek... but the kernel of truth at its core is that everyone could benefit from a little preparation, or with a greater understanding of oration.  Obviously no one is going to be as good as Jesus, who astonished people with his power and authority, (Matthew 7:28-29) but it should be the practice of Christians to try to connect with their audience when expressing the importance of his gospel.

It is also understood that there are some people who will not accept or appreciate the truth regardless of the presentation method, but for those that are sitting in a church congregation, this is likely a very small number.

If you are assigned to give a talk, consider the negative feelings that come on high council Sunday, and try and avoid pointless details and incoherent ramblings.  No one cares about how you prepare a talk unless it is really really good, and if they think it is, they will ask you.  Don't waste time on that subject during the talk.  Be mindful of the time.  Even great orators that can hold an audience's attention for long stretches know the value of being concise.  It is better to have a short talk with value and substance than a long talk that will be forgotten before the benediction.

 Ultimately, know one is perfect, but it doesn't hurt to try to be better....

The Mediocre Mormon Talk

Many churches have ministers or pastors that perform their duties as a career.  The congregations of these churches typically benefit from the instruction of a speaker that is eloquent, passionate, and clear.  The storytelling skills of these individuals is typically quite impressive.  Successful pastors can hold the attention of large and even divers audiences for long periods of time.

Mormons do not have paid clergy.  The leadership of the church comes from the membership.  Our Bishops and High Priests must typically maintain separate jobs in addition to their ecclesiastical duties in order to support themselves.  While there are many advantages to the all-volunteer system, training in and passion for public speaking are not always among them.

Even in cases where leaders are gifted speakers the typical Sunday service provides speaking opportunities to members of the congregation.  This means that almost any person could be called upon to give a talk.  The result?  Mediocrity....

Many congregations will have a youth speaker that will give a 5-minute talk, followed by two adult speakers (often a married couple) that will each give talks between 10 and 15 minutes.

Frequently youth speakers will read a story from a periodical and perhaps a few applicable verses from the scriptures until their assigned time is expired.  This is not necessarily a bad technique for public speakers as young as 12, although forming a habit of just reading a few items that are probably related to the assigned subject is not good practice.

The true mediocrity appears more frequently in the adult talks.  Many times, the technique and even the content is identical to the youth speakers with the exception of lengthy and largely pointless introductions, and recitals of the moments when a member of the Bishopric contacted the speaker to give them the speaking assignment.  These recitals almost always involve the speaker talking about their loathing of public speaking and end with the phrase "but I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today..."

Another popular technique of mediocrity is to share the process of talk preparation.  This method usually begins with the phrase "...as I was looking for what to talk about..."  The speaker then goes on to talk about how they looked in the dictionary, they searched for talks that other people had given, they looked in the scriptures, or they talked to someone they knew.  This type of speaking rarely amounts to little more than stalling.  In fact, most of the techniques used in speaking revolve around a central goal of filling the air with words for the requested duration of time. 

While it is good to have some sources and quote some scripture, speaking should never exclusively be recycling other peoples thoughts.  In between reading quotes from church leaders or other sources, the speaker inserts their "original" commentary of "I really like this quote/story/scripture."  This is especially a problem when the assigned talk subject is... a talk.  These produce the worst results and the greatest chance that the speaker will just read large portions of someone else's talk, with little passion, insight, and typically with average articulation.

No wonder so many LDS services are mediocre.

Would anyone imagine Jesus speaking to people using these techniques?  It might start something like this abbreviated hypothetical version of a sermon (no blasphemy intended):

Hello everyone... I hope you'll bear with me today as I have been asked to speak to you... I thought I would start by introducing myself.  I'm Jesus.  I've lived most of my life in Nazareth, but I was actually born in Bethlehem and even lived in Egypt for a while while Herod was... well... killing babies.  I have a lot of experience in carpentry.  So that's me!

I was asked by my Father to talk to you about the gospel... I thought a long time about it.  In fact, I've fasted and prayed for a long time, and even been to the temple as I thought about what I would say.  I think that this assignment is going to be tough, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today.

The hypothetical sermon would then contain mostly quotes from the scriptures followed perhaps by the "I really like this scripture.  It means a lot." as the only original material.

The truth is that Jesus spoke boldly, passionately, and persuasively.  He wasn't just trying to 'get through' his sermons, or speak so as to fill an assigned interval of time.  He was speaking to persuade people to understand and to do what was right. (Matthew 5:17-19)  He was incredibly bold and taught ideas that were consistent with the law and the prophets, but with new and original insight. (Matthew 5:38-44)  He made it clear that his words were not simply to entertain, but his council was to be followed. (Matthew 7:24-27)  When he concluded, his audience was amazed by the power with which he addressed them.  Matthew writes "And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matthew 7:28-29)

The message of the Mormon church is bold.  Its purpose is not to fill a time interval in Sunday services, it is to change the world.  It represents the ultimate transforming power that makes bad men good and good men better.  There is no need to dilute the core truths with mediocrity.

Jesus Christ is the son of God.  He is alive and well, and he is guiding his church.  Joseph Smith saw him, and received power from him just as the apostles of old.  By his power, the Book of Mormon was translated, that we might have a purely prophetic book by which we can be made to understand faith, penitence, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and all important aspects of his unfailing kingdom.  He has given men the power to act in his name to spread his teachings and will to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

With so much powerful and profound truth, it is a shame to see mediocrity in talks and lessons.  The purpose of any talk should be to persuade men to come to Christ and to do his will.  Next to that, the speaker's brief biography, their methods of preparation, their liking of scriptures, quotes, and stories, or any stalling techniques are trivial, boring, and mediocre.

While no one can teach or speak as well as Jesus did, it sure would help if more people tried.