I didn’t know that this commandment could really be a problem for a teen-ager, but it was for me.
How holy was I to keep it?
Go to church and then go to a second Sunday Service in another ward?
Did keeping the Sabbath Day holy mean no shopping, no swimming, no movies. Nothing that cost money?
Marilyn, Else and I did find a scripture that said keeping the Sabbath day holy meant visiting the sick.
So we would go down to the General Hospital, look at the list of Latter-Day Saints who were in the hospital, and then go from room to room, introducing ourselves and cheering up, (we thought) the sick.
I wonder now what people must have thought. Well, there you have it. My teen-ager take on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. To extrapolate a bit on awards associated with attendance at regular church meetings, when I was in my teens, the boys were offered a set of scriptures and a trip to Salt Lake City if they would have 75% attendance at their Sunday Meetings and 50% attendance at the one weekly meeting.
Marilyn, Else, and I were 100%-ers times two, but being of the wrong gender, we never got a copy of those scriptures, nor the trip.
We did, however, make a lot of hospital visits.
Arta
How holy was I to keep it?
Go to church and then go to a second Sunday Service in another ward?
Did keeping the Sabbath Day holy mean no shopping, no swimming, no movies. Nothing that cost money?
Marilyn, Else and I did find a scripture that said keeping the Sabbath day holy meant visiting the sick.
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| Marilyn, Else and I used to enjoy having lunch in the cafeteria. ... small teen-age pleasures at the General Hospital ... |
I wonder now what people must have thought. Well, there you have it. My teen-ager take on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. To extrapolate a bit on awards associated with attendance at regular church meetings, when I was in my teens, the boys were offered a set of scriptures and a trip to Salt Lake City if they would have 75% attendance at their Sunday Meetings and 50% attendance at the one weekly meeting.
Marilyn, Else, and I were 100%-ers times two, but being of the wrong gender, we never got a copy of those scriptures, nor the trip.
We did, however, make a lot of hospital visits.
Arta
OK. This is so funny, in the context of the current COVID-19 conversation. I love the idea of you three off at the hospital. what a riot! (and nice bit of painful gender analysis at the end)
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine the 3 of us off at the hospital, either. Sunday. I had so much of "what not to do on Sunday", in my mind that it was hard to find a way to fill the day without just sitting and grieving over the "what-not-to-do's".
DeleteI do remember that on Sunday my dad liked to lay down in the middle of the afternoon after the big Sunday dinner was over. He would tell the rest of us to do the dishes and then disappear with my mom to the bedroom. What happened is that she went off to the bedroom with him, he went promptly to sleep and then she slipped out and helped the rest of us finish up the dishes. Blessed Wyora.
I don't think people get anxiety around how to keep the Sabbath day holy anymore. At least not the crowd I run with. At university there was a question -- is it OK to study on Sunday? Some people thought it should be a day of rest, even from books. A burning question for some.
ReplyDeleteNow I can't remember which side of the coin I came down on in those days. I am pretty sure that the ox was always in the mire for me and I had to write papers and do compositions 24-7. I did allow myself to eat the occasional Coffee Crisp Chocolate bar. I did wondered was this against the word of wisdom or not but we didn't have google in those days so there was no way for me to know.
That's so awesome. It's fun to read about how you worked out interpreting these rules, applying them in your life.
DeleteWhen was your first trip to SLC? Mine was ~ age 22 with you as part of moving to Provo for graduate school. I'm pretty sure I purchased a new triple combination with a blue leather cover.
What a funny question, when was my first trip to SLC. At first I could not remember. Then I remember making a new maternity dress and then going down there with Gloria Phillips to General Conference. What a disappointment when I got there and found out that everyone stayed home and watched it on TV. Of course, I wanted the real experience so I went down to temple square and got a seat in the balcony -- squeezed up against other people who went down for the first time, probably. I learned from that one experience: do as my aunt did and stay home and watch TV and sew at the same time.
DeleteI see you got your scriptures -- a beautiful set, later than I received mine. Funny how beautiful I used to think the cover to my set was, as well.
Having gone to conference now, although interesting, I agree the best seats are in your very own home.
ReplyDeleteI
What is good about the seats in your own home? You save the travel time to SLC and back. You have your own nice bed instead of a hotel room, or trying to bunk in with relatives. You can be surrounded with your own family and talk about what you have seen or heard right away. You can have good snacks in front of you. I feel the same way about the opera now -- the best way to watch it is on my own TV screen. And the same with National Theatre Live. The close-ups are amazing! The met opera says that the sound is best in the opera house. But I have to be rested when I get there -- otherwise, I only see half the performance.
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