When I lived in Utah many years ago, first as a student at BYU and later in a small town in Northern Utah, most Mormons I met had no idea what Palm Sunday was, and certainly, for those who might know, it was not anything they would recognize within the context of their church. Now they use Palm Sunday on their ward websites inviting others to come help them celebrate. It’s disturbing to say the least.

Wow. I don't think I EVER heard anything about Palm Sunday being a thing at church.

They are sure trying to mainstream. I'll bet they say stuff about advent at Christmas too now.

Pretty soon maybe they will have Postum hour in the lobby after the services. ;-)

  
  

It might conflict with RS activity night.

"Not necessarily."

--Jesus, 17th Earl of Sandwich, after lunch

I never heard a word about it at LDSInc either. It is pathetic to see them twist and turn trying to be like other churches. What a joke after being taught to say No, I am not Christian, I am mormon.

I like the tradition in Ukraine. Since there were no palms, they use pussy willows. It was originally an old Slavic tradition, wishing health and happiness in the Spring season, that was adapted when Ukraine converted in 988 (and later Russia).

Considering they've schedule GC on Easter Sunday many times, it's not surprising that Palm Sunday wasn't a thing. I'll bet they never hold GC on Easter Sunday again.

Jana Reiss: SLT, April 2020:

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/04/05/jana-riess-palm-sunday-is/

Excerpts:

"It's intriguing that Nelson is instituting the Hosanna Shout on the perfect day in the Western liturgical calendar: Palm Sunday. Shouting “hosanna” on Palm Sunday is a sacred tradition for Christians all over the world as they commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. At that time, Jesus rode a donkey while crowds lined the streets to welcome him by shouting “Hosanna!”

"But reenacting this scene is not common for Latter-day Saints, who celebrate Easter but do not generally mark the other days of Holy Week. Mormon worship services on the Sunday before Easter do not explicitly reference Palm Sunday or its traditions."

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It's "not common" for LDS.

No kidding.

But you all are right, in this and other similar discussions on other threads about a seemingly rapidly evolving church: Maybe the Big-3 realize it's Mainstream or Die time.

I understand that change may occur in programs and emphasis as years go by but Mormon leaders seem to be moving at lightning speed to re-invent the brand. They're not quite at the level of the Pope hinting about backtracking on clerical celibacy but LDS leaders are implementing their new look Mormonism (less Briggy more Jesus) at a noticeable clip.

Pope Francis is clarifying (excusing) the change he's trial-running by emphasizing that celibacy is a "discipline not a doctrine". You'd think a good few priests would be some ticked off after being faithful to this "discipline" for their adult lives. "NOW you tell us" I can imagine them wanting to say to Francis. I know that for them a principle would still be mandatory and that was their choice at the time they entered the priesthood but the differentiation gives the Pope an avenue to retract the mandate in order to hopefully attract more males into the shrinking priesthood.

It's a bigger deal, imo, for the CC to change such a prominent feature of its priesthood (and especially given the sacrifices made by priests through all the years) than for LDS teachings to begin to include some of the more traditionally non-LDS Christian beliefs and practices.

But to hear Mormons suddenly talking about Palm Sunday, in addition to their somewhat recent emphasis on Jesus, is a bit of an adjustment.

Maybe they'll characterize it as ongoing light and knowledge which can help to bury the memory that they were so busy with JS, BY et al throughout their history that they de-emphasized, or even rejected, discounted or ignored basic Christian beliefs which led to them being branded as non-Christian, or as an inconsequential (outside of Utah/US) sect at best.

For many, it just took too long for The Prophet to wake up and smell the Easter lilies.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2023 12:15AM by Nightingale.

Will they be handing out palms after the service? Next thing you know they will be decorating the ward chapel with flowers for Easter.

In the 60s and 70s my ward had flowers in the chapel regularly.

Our chapel always had fresh flowers in big vases on the stand and on the grand piano when the flowers began to bloom. You could smell the roses and other flowers during sacrament meeting.

Back in the days when most Mormon women didn't work outside of the home and they had a real knack for decorating and making environments nice. I remember my mom and her friends would have elaborate get togethers kind of like a British high tea without the tea of course or they would meet at the country club in the summer for ladies day. It was a different world.

Isn't every Sunday a palm to the forehead Sunday in Mormonism?

I had problems with a palm tie clip.

I remember a neat incident when I was 10 or 11 years of age (Blazer-Valiant?). Mom started insisting that I not only dress in a white shirt, but start wearing a necktie with tie clip. I actually liked the tie clips because we had several "secular" ones to choose from versus those ghastly LDS ones (moroni and silly temples). I guess people never noticed or cared that I would wear tie clips for sports, but I had one with a small palm tree. Well, I wore it for Palm Sunday and it became a big fuss at church.

It started with a lot of teasing from my primary aged classmates. I was used to it, but one girl wouldn't leave it alone. "Why is Messy wearing a palm tree? Boy, that's real dumb. He never shows any respect at church." The primary teacher actually defended my decision to wear it; which infuriated her. So she left the classroom and returned a few minutes with her mother. Her mom, one of the counselors in primary, wanted a word with me. So outside in the hallway, the sister inspected me head to foot. She shook her head while making some ticking noises like a rattled clock. "Please hand over your tie pin, Messy. It is neither appropriate for primary nor for church." (Mind you that there are little boys and girls that are undressing from their church attire (shoes, shirts and one 7 year old girl would slink out of her dress and run wild during the singing throughout the 2 hour primary block) and this sister is pissed off over a small tie clip of a palm tree on Palm Sunday.

I refused to hand it over to her, but I removed it and stuffed it in my trouser's pocket. The sister gleefully charged that this incident would be brought to my mother's attention. It didn't matter to me as I later caught it from my mother while walking into the chapel. She jabbed me with her elbow as she accused me of skipping primary to go outside in order to wrestle in the grass. She thought that I had lost my palm tree tie clip.

How ridiculous! Sorry you had the treatment you did in your ward.

Your post reminded me of what the kids would do in my SS class and one of them was to take her dress almost off and I'd catch her and tell her to put it back on. They would take pieces of clothing off. I think they were 4 or something.

One time, one of the kids wanted the bread tray when they passed sacrament in SS (this was 1970s). He grabbed it from me and the bread flew all over.

It’s palms from trees, not the palm of the hand. So it’s not a special Sunday for confessing to your bishop.

If ChurchCo focused on Honesty, Kindness & Respect fir others, the trivial details of how an individual worships would eventually disappear or at least be allowed.


It's a shame, disgrace, and& disservice to everyone where TBMs place focus & misuse energy.

Do non liturgical groups mark Palm Sunday? Does the Assembly of God?

My experience is that they generally do. Palm Sunday has no real doctrinal significance but marks Jesus's entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of events surrounding his death and resurrection.

In the mid nineties, my then 28 year old niece came to live with us. She was very immature, but full of the Mormon arrogance of "superior knowledge" about religion. My husband is a cradle Episcopalian, and we worshipped as same, (I had left the mo as a teenager and explored many options.)

So my niece heard me discussing upcoming Palm Sunday services with the choir director and asked "what's Palm Sunday." The director, who had already been told my my niece about Mormon superiority, looked at her and said, "So, Mormons aren't Christian?"

In the 60s/70s I was taught to say I was mormon not Christian. This was in Utah and CA. What did your niece say to the question?

I was taught the mormon, not Christian superiority stuff too in the 50s/60s. My niece was speechless and waffled some sort of vague answer.

My wife was Catholic and I have Catholic cousins so I heard about it...didn't know or care what it signified. My wife never brought a lot of her faith into our marriage.