This is my second time in 3 years since I walked away from Mormonism. Now that my ex has moved out of the city, and if my daughter invites me to hear her sing, I will go. The first time was really awkward, but this time was ok but these are my observations.

It is boring, and long. My mind wandered all sacrament meeting. I could not tell you what the 3 speakers said.

I go to a new church called the Connections church. It is come as you are, has a band and a Pastor that is a great communicator. I went to this service just before the mormon one and what a difference.

Here is some advice to any mormon lurkers. Before you give another talk in sacrament, attend a Christian community church and observe how the Pastor has a great way of communicating. My new church is only an hour, with the band taking up the first 25 minutes, but in the 35 minutes of the sermon, I always hear ALL of it. Even if I try to make my mind wander, It can't because the way he delivers his message is so effective. He speaks as if he is casually talking to you, doesn't try to shove heavy information down your throat for dramatic effect like mormons do. He has one topic and elaborates on it, sometimes with a video clip, a little humour, but just down to earth, pleasant conversation. Also after the band plays, the kids go to Sunday school so it is quiet. And the band is freaking awesome.

I will admit that the organist at the mormon church played very loud and professionally and I liked her style of play.

But my daughter (married and 21) is an exceptional singer, and has sung in front of many crowds, one as high as 5000 people and doesn't get nervous. So I will even brave mormonism to watch her sing.

It was funny to me as old friends invited me back. I even mentioned to one that I now attend a new church, because he knows my Pastor. I chatted with my one mormon golf buddy that didn't dump me after I left mormonism.

There are *some* Christian pastors who do what they do because they really love people, and who use their role as pastor to inspire people with that love. You are fortunate to have found such a pastor.

I have no doubt that sitting through a Mormon sacrament meeting is Dullsville in comparison. Hearing your daughter sing last Sunday was the only thing that made it your attendance worth it!

You don't even need to go to an interesting church service for comparison to see how oppressively dull LDS meetings are. Just stay away for a few weeks. Do something else like clean the garage or do your taxes or get root canal done. You'll soon realize whatever odious thing you do, it's better than ChurchCo meetings.

I hear that. My first several sundays of freedom I spent landscaping and working in the yard. the whole time I was thinking how much better it was than church. I would rather spend 9 hours doing landscaping/weeding etc than 3 in church any day.

And after landscaping and weeding, you're able to see the fruits of your labor - you see that you've done something positive in your life. After an LDS Corp meeting, I come out sad, depressed, and angry that I wasted yet more time for nothing...

The difference is amazing, isn't it?

The Sunday after my father's death this past July and after his funeral, I went with his side of the family to their Christian church. The difference was so staggering I was shocked. The Pastor was so meaningful, honest, and had been wonderful to us for my father's funeral the day before. It wasn't that fake, ' I'm doing this for show' stuff that the members of my ward and bishop portrayed. And it wasn't dry and...boring.

After all the singing, the uplifting talk by the Pastor and such and everyone started to get up, I turned to one of my uncles and asked, What next? Classes right? He gave me an odd look and said...No. Now we go home! I couldn't believe it. Haha! I met with the Pastor later on to talk with him one on one and discovered he was ex-mormon. We had an excellent talk about the Christian church and the LDS church, and he listened to my hidden doubts about the LDS church and gave me some wonderful advice that gave me the courage to leave the church.

I don't have any plans of joining another church, but I am very thankful to that pastor. Next time I go visit that branch of my family, I can thank him.

The ones with the best show get the most customers.

I used to attend a particular Protestant church in NYC because the church's minister was such a compelling speaker. I don't think that it's unusual for practicing Christians to select their church based on the quality of the service and the ministers.

I mean, seriously, Christianity (I am including Mormonism for the purposes of this post) brings some fairly heady propositions to the table.

Death and Resurrection.
Atonement and Eternity.
Salvation.
Etc....

And yet, Mormon meetings are some of the dullest meetings I have ever attended. Bar none.

Maybe they should make public speaking a calling and "call" some librarians who are used to doing story time to do the speaking. SM certainly couldn't get more boring....

Could it?

I'm so used to being 'Talked Down To' in Mormonism... I couldn't EVER go back. It's Demeaning... BUT: Mormons are So USED to it, they hardly ever notice.

Most Mormons are completely zoning out during Sacrament meeting. Have you ever sat on the stand and looked out at the members' faces? Especially the look in their eyes. Most of them aren't there at all. Only two groups seem awake: the mothers of young children but because they are focused on keeping the kids quiet - they have no idea of what is going on - and the super self-righteous ones who take notes and try to appear edified. The vast, vast majority of everyone else have checked out. The more honest ones are asleep or playing on some device. The rest have hit a "righteous" pose while their minds vacate the premises.

That being said, this was the one thing I actually liked about going to church. I liked being able to sit still and organize my thoughts, plan my week, decide what I was going to eat/wear/do etc. I never had a clue what was going on but I liked the chance to almost meditate about the week to come. Since we left, we've tried a handful of other churches and even the stiff, liturgical churches have a more interesting sermon than your average Sacrament meeting. The more laid-back churches have actually been interesting and inspiring - makes you want to live a better life in the coming week. Even watching Joel Osteen on TV is better than what Mormons have to offer.

I just want to say that I give you a lot of credit for going back, and for supporting your daughter! I go to a new church as well, that is 10x more gratifying to attend for many different reasons. If I'm completely honest though, I can't even look at one of my old wards without cringing!! I would never step a foot into a Mormon related building again! I have never been in any temple, Not even before it was dedicated.. Never wanted to get married, never believed in baptize for the dead.. What was the point of trying to be temple worthy for me? I don't feel I missed anything...

CA girl,
Have you ever sat down with the minions and looked at the people on the stand? They're zoning out just as much. I don't blame them, I always see bishopric members taking naps.

LOL - yes, order66, you are absolutely right. My favorite example of this was when Bishop Jackwagon was obviously playing on his Blackberry during the Primary Program. What made it particularly bad was that his wife was the Primary counselor over the Primary Program - she and the chorister put it all together and were responsible for making it a success. And there is her husband, the bishop, zoning out the little children to play on his Blackberry.

If only he had been posting on RfM....