Sacrament Talk

This week was invitation Sunday. We were encouraged to invite friends to our Sacrament Meeting. I invited three, my children's teachers. They were very nice in accepting my invitation and I was hopeful they would be there. Yesterday as I sat up on the stand waiting to give my talk, I looked for them. They did not come. I looked for new faces, and truthfully did not see many. I had prepared my talk for non-members. Ruefully I got up and gave my talk on Joseph Smith.

I had worried about what to say on such a big topic in only 10 - 15 minutes. I had the unpleasant surprise of seeing four speakers on the program and knew I had prepared too much. I pared down what I could and kept it to about 10 minutes. The other speakers were all wonderful. I saw our resident non-members. Those who come fairly regularly. I had not thought I was talking much to them. Being so close and friendly to so many members, I thought this was something that they already had heard.

After the meeting, I sat down by Craig to get ready for Sunday School. My friend that I am getting to know was three pews up. She looked like she wanted to say something and so I gave her my whole focus.

She told me that Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon were things that she was struggling with. That makes sense to me. Those are the things that make us different. She said she had never heard the narrative presented in that way before. She had heard parts of the story, but appreciated the few added details I gave. And she had not thought of Joseph being like the other boy prophets of the Old Testament.

I had prayed a lot and pondered what I should say as I prepared for this talk. I got out my old charlas and our copy of Preach My Gospel. I wanted to keep it simple. I worried that I left out the part about priesthood and authority, but I couldn't see where to put it. And I knew I had a time limit. Actually I went over, even before I knew about that fourth speaker.

I am grateful to the Lord that he allowed me to know why I prepared what I did. Who knows how my friend will respond further. But knowing that what I said helped her to reconsider Joseph Smith is wonderful to me.