Today was a good day

I'm aware that I often post 'in-anger.' For the handful of people who read this, it might be easy to assume that I'm always frustrated by church. I'm not.

I came home happy. My lovely wife noticed it and said so. I consider myself very fortunate to be married to a wonderful woman who, despite not attending church herself and not believing in the tenets of Mormonism, is still happy for me to be happy. I've read of a lot of 'dissaffected' people who celebrate their still active spouse's 'bad days' at church.

There were several reasons why church was good. The children all sat well through sacrament. These last couple of years has given me a real appreciation for how mind-numbing church must be for the "wives-of-bishops" who have young kids. It's a 70 minute endurance test sometimes. Especially when there are babes in arms. Mine are now getting old enough to occupy themselves for most of it. Youngest can still be a bit of a fidget but not too much.

I was impressed that all three had their attention truly grabbed by a 'sky-diving' story from our concluding speaker. It was a good talk. Simple and focused on Faith in Jesus Christ. No bashing "the rest of the world," no sense of superiority that sometimes irks me. Just straightforward faith. He re-told President Hinkley's story of Big Tom taking Little Jim's punishment. I've heard it several times before, but it was a good reminder of the positive principle of grace and mercy.

Sunday School was enjoyable. We had 4 elders and 4 class-members. I'll post my notes on it in a moment. The class went well and there was positive participation. I'm aware that I'm partly teaching the gospel according to me. But I stick to the rule of selecting from LDS resources, so I don't feel I'm teaching 'dodgy doctrine.' Selective perhaps... but not made up.

I could see that one of the Elder was getting a bit 'fidgety' by a couple of the quotes I used. The lesson intro encourages the teacher to stick to the topic and message of the lesson content (which I do) but also accepts using LDS resources and sharing personal experiences:

"If you have been called to teach a quorum or class using this book, do not substitute outside materials, however interesting they may be. Stay true to the scriptures and the words in the book. As appropriate, use personal experiences and articles from Church magazines to supplement the lessons. (Gospel Principles, Introduction)."

I usually include 4-5 LDS quotes to supplement the material. My rule is it either must be from LDS.org or a statement by a general authority (e.g. a CES devotional or book). I'll occasionally include a "personal experience" of reading other material but limit this and usually don't quote directly.

This might sound quite restrictive, but LDS.org has a huge archive and a very wide range of perspectives. Combining about 50% of the lesson material with selective LDS.org quotes helps me teach a "Thoughtful Gospel Principles." I don't think I could manage a straight, linear teach.

I found out the approach is working. There's a member whose long-term boyfriend has attended church from time-to-time but has previously had little interest in church. His girlfriend mentioned to the Branch President that the lesson last week was one of the first times he'd felt a connection in a lesson. He has little belief in God, but the view of God presented in the lesson was appealing and seemed reasonable.

I mentioned to the Branch President that I didn't always keep strictly to the lesson outline. He smiled and said, "I don't care, if people are enjoying the lesson, just keep teaching it the way you do."

He's a good man. He hasn't spent a long time buried in church history, but is still quite moderate in his views. He's focused on the people he serves and doesn't mind ignoring a program if it interferes with his focus on helping making members better followers of Christ.

We were chatting after church today and I mentioned to him that he might get a letter on the recent same-sex issue. He shrugged and said that he accepted the church's position on gay marriage for members but that he also had no desire to oppose gay marriage for non-members. He preferred to support the law of the land and the right of the individual.

He's a good friend and someone I'm happy to support and serve with. Regardless of the 'truthiness' of some of the church claims, my immediate environment offers positive opportunities to support people, look after each other and reach out to those in need. There's merit in that alone.