To #46, yes “learn from every talk” is a cop-out. The same rule applies in SS and P/RS. Two related problems with this: 1) aren’t you supposed to be paying attention in meetings? (I guess not, or the Church wouldn’t encourage us to have lots of kids ) What’s the point if I am just supposed to give myself a talk in my head? 2) It completely takes any pressure off of the speaker, who knows that few if any will be listening to him, so why spend a lot of time preparing for the talk?

I say this as someone who is recently worried frequently at how little I am getting out of Church. I agree again that the Church is primarily a place for us to serve others rather than be served. But if everyone is serving, somebody has to be the recipient, right?. When someone is assigned to speak in sacrament meeting, pass the sacrament, teach a lesson etc., it is clearly that person’s duty to serve the rest of the congregation to the best of their ability. What service I can give in these moments is to listen attentively and pray that the Spirit will be present and that the person’s service will be appreciated by myself and the rest of the congregation. If I feel that the person is not giving their best effort, I feel a little justified in my disappointment.

Finally, I wanted to add how frustrating it is when someone gets up and immediately talks about how much they don’t want to give the talk or how they just started working at it that morning or that they feel unprepared. Immediately, all credibility goes out the window. As most of us have experienced, this happens a great deal in Sunday School and Priesthood/RS meetings too.

As far as the use of GA quotes, this is obviously a different story. GA quotes are just (?) like scripture. I really appreciate it when someone grounds their talk in scripture, but I would be disappointed if they just read scripture after scripture and spent the whole talk flipping through the quad to string them together. I would feel even more disappointed if someone got up and just decided to read a chapter or two verbatim from the scriptures, which is essentially what reading a GA talk is.

What I really want to hear in a sacrament talk is someone else’s ideas. I heard the GA speak in conference, I got it, and I want to hear something new. If the person makes some mistake in doctrine or history, that’s OK. The bishop can speak and made some clarifications at the end if the error was egregious, or he can let the audience do it for themselves. I think we have all heard that the experience of having an assignment/calling in church is more valuable to the one with the assignment than to those he/she is “serving.” The process of writing a talk is a precious opportunity to engage with the scriptures and with our own understanding of a gospel topic, and to seek our own personal witness of the scripture. This is absolutely lost when we really so heavily on a GA topic, since this is most often not digested by the speaker when selected and read aloud to the congregation.

As far as the effect of LDS.org, I agree that it has made access to volumes of Church literature much easier. Our own laziness makes it almost irresistible when a member is called to do something that they are already reticent to do (give a talk). I also think that folks use GA talks in order to give themselves more authority, as they don’t believe that their words and testimony carry much of it and that establishing some authoritative statement on the subject is the point of the talk.

I’m sorry for the distress I caused you. It is certainly possible to be a wonderful person and still lack the talent for public speaking. Even prophets like Moses are sometimes tongue-tied!

shortly after my baptism, i was told that you were SUPPOSED to follow a formula that began with looking up your topic in the topical guide, “mormon doctrine,” and the dictionary. my husband says this is how he was also raised.

but giotto makes me feel a bit better… my children are near perfect angels, which i attribute to no snacks, no toys, sitting in front of the bishopric, and only one book and only after sacrament is passed.

Every time I have served in a position where I have some input into talks, I have stressed talks on very clear and specific topics – tailored to the spiritual maturity of those who were asked to speak. If a GA talk is the basis of a talk, I have given explicit instructions that it was to used simply as a guide – and that it was not acceptable to read extensive quotes from the talk. I have provided general advice about writing a talk and public speaking, as well, when I felt that was needed. I have challenged the auxiliary and group leadership to model proper preparation and careful consideration – and have attended their lessons in order to gauge their efforts. I have insisted that the SS Presidency, for example, attend every SS class on a regular basis – and provide constructive feedback (positive, negative, positive) to each and every teacher. I believe strongly in the effect good teaching can have in our meetings – and that it is the responsibility of the leadership to do whatever it can to improve the quality of that teaching.

IMHO, this is a two-edged sword. We need to find ways to increase the spirituality in our meetings, and one of the best ways is to convey the spirit in our talks and lessons. However, we also need to avoid unrealistic expectations and accept each other’s imperfections at the same time. It’s a tough balance to maintain, but I would rather do whatever it took to feel the Spirit in each and every meeting regardless of what is being said than feel cheated by someone else who couldn’t “teach me something new”. In this case, I choose to act rather than to sit back and be acted upon – to give each speaker the opportunity to touch my heart and mind and spirit, but then to try to do it myself if the speaker can’t. Often, I don’t do that very well, but I try. As I said, that approach rarely has failed me.

When I said I let my mind go and try to learn from the Spirit, I was serious – but that happens rarely in my current ward. I have found that the constant focus of our Bishop on open and straightforward encouragement of spiritually prepared talks and lessons has done wonders in our ward. I have never heard him “call out” anyone after a poor talk or lesson, but I have heard him address the general topic over and over and over again – both in leadership meetings and from the pulpit. I have learned much from him, and I have seen the results of his passion in this area.