Several young children (under seven or eight) got up to bear their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting today. My son Joshua (three and a half) was fascinated by the six- and seven-year-olds saying “they knew the Church is true.” He turned to me and said, “Daddy, I want to go up there.”
I of course feared the worse — stage fright, talking into the pulpit, rather than the microphone, etc. But up he went, with me holding his hand. He put his mouth right near the microphone and said, “I love Jesus. That’s good.” And he was done and ready to go back to his seat.
It’s really that simple, isn’t it? The Spirit was really quite strong today at Sacrament meeting, and I think my three-year-old felt it. Wow, I feel honored and blessed to be a part of this Church.
Thanks for sharing, Geoff. I felt the same way when my son bore his testimony for the first time in Sacrament meeting. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.
I like it in part because it sounds like it came from your son himself, and wasn’t something coached by you, or a Primary teacher, or from repeating the rote speeches of the older kids. Keep up the independent, honest testimony, little brother!
Unfortunately, some of the adults in my ward decided to make it “I know that Prop 8 is true” day. The closing hymn was changed at the direction of the bishopric to one of the “patriotic” numbers closer to the back of the hymnbook. We would have been better off to have had more kids come to the mike.
I wasn’t able to be home today, so I attended Church closer to where I work. We had a lengthy opening prayer that had a Prop 8 reference in it, but that was it. A couple of kids did standard whisper-and-repeat testimonies, and a couple of medical testimonies, and more silence than my home ward usually has.
But it was a nice ward, especially since I showed up in jeans and a non-white button up shirt without a tie. I had a good dozen people introduce themselves and welcome me, and I even stayed and sang with the choir afterward with them accepting that I probably won’t be back.
I love your son’s testimony. It’s good.
Ardis, I have actually heard a bishop discourage parents from bringing their children up to the pulpit and whispering in their ears to tell them their testimonies. Personally, this is not something I would do with my children — although we sometimes do this at home so that Joshua learns the proper way to pray.
Mark N, I have commented on this elsewhere, and I’ll say it again: the Church has asked members to do everything they can in California to support Prop. 8. Some members feel this includes giving their testimonies on this issue. As far as I’m concerned, that is more on-point than a lot of other testimonies I have heard over the years.
Blain, nice to hear you went to Church while on the road. This is something I do very often — probably five or six times a year. Sometimes I forget to bring church clothes. We are going to Hawaii in January (for work, believe it or not — yes, I know, it’s not fair I get to go to Hawaii for work, but who said life is fair?). Anyway, I will probably “forget” to bring my church clothes to Hawaii also — I have some very nice Hawaiian shirts.
Geoff,
My 3-year-old went up to bear testimony for her third time. We talk about what she’s going to say before we go up. The first time, she said that Jesus loves her. The last two, she has frozen with this cute little smile on her face, playing with the mic but not saying anything. But she knows what she wants to say, and she knows the Jesus loves her, and that’s all I care about.