My reactions to the change in Sunday meeting time length

This has to be from the Lord, because it is not what I would have expected. In some ways, it is contrary to earthly wisdom. To anyone concerned about the quality of learning and teaching in the church, it would make sense to put more emphasis on church-centered activities or learning, not less. So, put more emphasis on home-centered teaching is counter-intuitive. It puts more weight on families to step up. This increases our personal responsibility to use our time in a way that increases our learning and worship. I’m looking forward to seeing how the curriculum and resource book helps with this.

It seems to me that this shows how much the Lord trusts us. He frees up valuable hours for us to use to strengthen our families and increase our gospel study and learning.

On a slightly different another topic…

I heard rumors about this meeting time length change through an article or two on the internet. I chose to ignore those rumors and not pass it on, even to family members. My reasoning was that if they were rumors, they were not worth listening to unless the news came straight from the prophet and apostles.

 Now that I find the rumors had some truth to them, does that mean that I decide to put faith in rumors? No. Rumors might still be false.  Even if rumors happen to be true, they don’t come with helpful context or reasoning about the purpose behind it all. They may come filtered through the view of doubtful perspectives that murmur over them, and that isn’t going to edify.

But when the news about change in the church comes from the prophet and apostles, they speak about the purposes and designs, about the historical context, about the spiritual needs that are being addressed, all designed so that we can accept it and move forward with those changes. While they have the authority to say “Thus saith the Lord” and withhold reasons, they still reason together with us so that we may understand. This allows both our minds and hearts to be touched.