I love General Conference. And not just because I get to have Couch Church. I love everything about it. We generally spend a couple of weeks in our family revving up for the semi-annual event. We’ve found lots of ways to make General Conference memorable.
I love holidays. Every single one. Even Labor Day. I love the traditions and food and fun and family and music and memories. And Easter is a holiday that is filled with good things. One of my favorites was dreamed up by my mom when I was in late elementary school. She “decorated” our house for Easter by gathering gorgeous reproductions of events in Christ’s life, mounting them carefully, and placing them around the house in sort of a timeline — after our family night lesson explaining each story.
Once again this year, Easter and General Conference collide. It’s always a downer for me because a big part of Easter is the act of attending church. From what I understand, Christmas (week) and Easter are the two most attended days in Christian churches — a time when even non-regulars make the effort to show up. And even though we attend every week, it’s part of the whole feel of Easter Sunday to me.
Before we broke down and bought a home satellite dish (which, completely coincidentally, happened one day before a General Conference Sunday), we sat in the chapel one Easter Sunday in Boca Raton watching General Conference on the live feed. Periodically, folks we had never seen wandered in wearing their new Easter dresses and bonnets and gloves — hoping to attend Sunday services while we sat in the dark peering at a TV screen.
While not the most important thing in church administration, I would be thrilled if the Church General Conference and Other Enormous Meetings and Events Scheduling Committee would modify the conference schedule to accommodate ward Easter worship. Either that or someone with national holiday declaration clout could standardize Easter to, say, the last Sunday in March.
When should we break out the Easter dresses this year?
I love General Conference, too, but I feel kind of cheated when it falls on Easter. This year, I’ve decided that I’ll attend a local sunrise service on Easter morning before watching conference. That way I’ll get the best of both worlds.
I’m also planning on attending services at another church this Easter before watching conference. That is the beauty of conference not starting until noon on the East coast.
come to church in Japan – never any mention of Easter whatsoever! (and no excuses – we get GC the week afterwards!)
Wear the Easter clothes during the Fast and Testimony meeting that is either the week before or the week after General Conference this year. Or you could suggest to your bishop (or his counselors) that the Sacrament meeting before or after Conference that is not F&T meeting be a service devoted to Easter. I know that my bishopric would be happy to have members suggest topics for talks on Sundays!
well, what a bummer! i hadn’t realized that yet. we already planned to roadtrip to a church easter pageant and arrive home in time to attend easter vigil mass with my family. it’s my favorite of all holidays. this makes easter sunday a bit easier, as regular church starts at 11:00 and family brunch is at noon… but i’ll miss dragging my four kids under the age of six to the stake center all by myself to sit quietly in a dark chapel for eight total hours.
oh. wait…
This is the best time to have general conference. Of course the Easter Sunday worship service is changed significantly. The reason I appreciate conference on Easter is that I get Good Friday off and can then have a weekend in which yard work, spring cleaning, etc. can be accomplished.
I thought we could solve it by simply following the Orthodox calendar–but it turns out that Orthodox Easter falls on the same day this year.
We’re having our Easter program on the 11th.
We’re having our Easter service the week before. Which is Palm Sunday to everyone else.
I like the idea of attending another Easter service. GC starts at 10:00 here, so I’ll look into that. (To clarify, I’m not really concerned about when to wear Easter clothes. :) That was just a toss out.)
nemekemono, that would solve the problem, but it’s kind of an extreme solution, don’t you think? ;)
makakona, I feel your pain. My six kids were spaced further than yours, but the GC experience like yours was miserable for us. How do you entertain little kids for hours on end (in Sunday clothes…ack!) in the dark?
We really did get the satellite the day before one GC. After years with the above scenario, we just broke down. GC became a great event again. :)
Amen to all that.
I love Easter vigil mass at the Catholic Church. I feel perfectly free to borrow as much of each religious tradition as I want, and mix it all in with our own. My son and I began dedicating meals to Krishna and asking him to come eat first, as our way of saying grace. We sit at the table for a few minutes thinking of Christ/Krishna while he eats the spiritual part, and then eat the physical food he leaves behind. By eating after God this way, we get infected with God-germs that make us happier, holier people! It’s awesome!
I’d love to find some part of every major religious tradition that I could incorporate into each day. That would make me feel so connected to everyone in the whole world. Any ideas?
Easter? That holiday is permeated with too many pagan fertility symbols to make it a Christian holiday for me.
You might be a Mormon if your Christian friends only go to church for Christmas and Easter and those are the only times you don’t.
I’m actually really glad that Easter and Conference are on the same weekend. It means that we can celebrate Easter on Sunday morning with DH home.
Stephanie, you have a point!