Final paper

Mormon Sunday Service

[Student Name]

[School Name]

[Course / Assignment]

14th April, 2014

[Instructor Name]

Mormon Church Service

This is a report of the ethnographic research that I conducted about the Mormon Sunday service on April 13, 2014 at Washington D.C ward. I had earlier called the ward representative, known as the bishop, who assigned me one of the missionaries in the church to act as my tour guide during the whole 3 hours service time. Since, I had arranged for an interview with the missionary in the church, I arrived at the venue on time at 8.00am, so as I could interview him before the service started at 9A.M. Basically, I wanted to know what to expect as regard the service, to find out whether they believe in Jesus Christ , if they give tithes since they don’t collect donations during the service, and to find out and why they value the book of Mormon so much as well as their belief in regard to the Bible. The Missionary was very welcoming and friendly. He took me for an orientation tour so to speak around the ward area and made sure that I was comfortable. He prepared me psychologically of what to expect during the service. Mostly what he told me about the service I had covered in my previous assignment so I was a bit informed. He claimed that the Mormons strongly believe in Jesus Christ as their savoir. He also informed me that the Mormons do give 10% of their income too the church. According to him, the Mormons value the Book of Mormon just as they value the Bible. I also learned from the missionary that the Bishop, who is the head of the ward, is assisted by two councilors and clerks referred to as bishopric .

It was now time to start the Mormon Sunday Service. It was my first time to attend such a service and it was very interesting. I noticed that there were several members of the congregation that were assigned the duty of giving a program to people coming to the service, which consisted of a piece of paper detailing exactly what was to happen and in which order. I saw many pictures of the savior that decorated the walls of the foyers leading to the chapel. The chapel had pews but did not have real decoration or pictures apart from some flowers that had been put at the podium. The leaders, speakers and music people sit at the stand, which is a raised area at the front of the chapel. The stand also has an organ as well as piano on it. I observed that during the service people basically sit and listen, they do not respond in any way to the service except saying Amen after a prayer is said by one of them. The whole time, I simply had to sit; there was no standing or kneeling. I must admit it was a bit tiring and boring. I also noticed that the prayer is very different from the prayers offered in other churches. Mostly, their prayers involved thanking God for their prophets, such as Joseph Smith and others.

The main worship service is the sacrament meeting that took an hour. I noticed that the individual leading the service, that is, the bishop did not wear an ecclesiastical robe but wore a suit and therefore it is very difficult to differentiate him from the rest of the church’s members. So, during my follow-up, I plan to find out why the bishop does not wear an ecclesiastical robe. The service started with congregational announcements done by one of the local leaders. He then welcomed everyone and outlined the meeting. Outlining the meeting involved saying who will give the opening prayer, who the speaker is and the hymns to be sang for that service. This was immediately followed by an opening hymn that was led by the leader of music and played by a pianist. I noticed that very few people were singing, me included, as most could not pick the key of the hymn and therefore, it was not lively. This was followed right away by a prayer offered by a church member who was requested to do so earlier.

Now, it was time for the Sacrament and it started with a hymn about the atonement of Jesus Christ. Then, the Sacrament was blessed by two priests through a prayer. They first blessed the bread and it was passed by two teenage boys (who I learned from the missionary that are known as deacons and must be more than 12 years old). After the bread is passed, they then blessed the water (most churches use wine or grape juice). The deacons passed the bread and water in trays and I noticed that they took hold of the tray using the right hand and took a piece of bread using the left hand and pass the tray to the next person. The deacon stood at the end of the seats so as to take the tray and pass it to the next row. As I had discovered during my previous assignment visitors do not take the communion, so I just passed it to the next person when it was my turn. I noticed too that kids just pass the communion and I learned from the missionary that one has to be baptized in the church to take the communion and that kids get baptized at 8 years, so after that they can take the communion. Contrary to many other churches whereby all members of the congregation waits until every member hold the sacrament so as they can take it together, I noticed that everyone took the sacrament immediately it landed on his/her hands. The whole church was silent during this time and I learned from the missionary that one was supposed to reflect on Jesus Christ as the savoir as well as renew his/her baptismal covenants during this time. One can also decide to read scriptures about atonement of Jesus Christ during this time (Givens, 2004).

It was now time for talks or what in most churches is called the sermon. During the talks, there was no formal reading of scriptures from the podium as happens in many churches but those giving talks extensively cite from the scriptures. There were 3 speakers, two teenage boys and one adult, who held talks for around 10-15 minutes each. After the speakers, the service ended with a hymn and a closing prayer conducted by a member of the congregation.

During the service, I noticed that the church does not recognize visitors as there was no time they gave visitors a chance to greet the congregation and introduce themselves as is common in many churches. I also noticed that during the service there was a lot of disruption, people moving in and out anyhow and children crying all over, that made it very hard for one to concentrate fully. The service to me felt more like a religious conference rather than a Sunday service.

After the Sacrament Meeting, it was time for the Sunday school classes that are arranged according to age groups as I had discussed in my previous assignment. Being a visitor, I chose to attend the Gospel Principle class that is customized for new members. During this one hour, I was taught a lot about the church beliefs and faith. I learned that the Mormons dress modestly during the worship service so as to show respect to God, and also that though the church leaders, including the bishop are paid, they volunteer (Arrington, 1979).

After the Sunday classes, it was time for the other one hour class about Relief Society and Priesthood. I didn’t attend this meeting as I was by then very tired, but I inquired about it from the missionary. He told me that the classes are grouped according to gender and age since it involved learning things specific to a gender and age. For example, women are taught how to be good wives, or how to bring up children in Godly ways. Mostly, men and boys are taught about serving in the church as priests or deacons respectively (Givens, 2004).

In analyzing my observations I would have to say that I would categorize the function of these events as

1. Filling individual needs, especially psychological or emotional.

The services seemed to provide comfort hope and relief from fear and despair.

2. Explanation, especially of origins or causes.

The event was based around the belief in Jesus Christ as a Lord and Savior and symbolic representations of the history behind Christ .

3. Source of “Ultimate Sanctions”.

Services spoke about how the people should act according to the Book of Morman and the Bible, while the classes were held to teach how to live as individuals both male and female serving a different role .

References

Arrington, L.J. (1979). The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints; University of Illinois Press.

Givens, T.L. (2004). The Latter-day Saint Experience in America (The American Religious Experience) Greenwood Press.

Moro, P. (Ed.). (2013). Magic, witchcraft, and religion: A reader in the anthropology of religion (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

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