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I am surprised that you did not see any of the songs that you sing in our hymn book, because there are several songs
that have Protestant derivation, such as, How Great Thou Art, Rock of Ages, Abide With Me, and countless others.
Regarding the length of our services, they are as follows; the general Sunday
worship services is called Sacrament Meeting. It is there were the sacrament of the Lord's supper is blessed and
passed to the congregation. Bread is used in remembrance of his body, which was broken for us, and water is used
in remembrance of his blood, which was shed for us. All of which gives us an opportunity to remember, not only the
suffering of our Savior in our behalf, but the great necessity of keeping his commandments, taking upon ourselves
his name, and striving to have his spirit to be with us always. That meeting is began and ended with prayer. There
are opening and closing songs, which the congregation sings from the hymnbook. There is a song, which is sung by
the congregation, while the sacrament itself is being prepared. After that, there are usually two different sermons
preached by members of our congregation or our Bishop (ours is a lay ministry) and there is often a special musical
number between those two sermons. Sometimes it might be a piano solo, a violin solo, or a vocal presentation solo,
duet, trio, or quartet. On certain Sunday's there is a choir that will also sing. Following that meeting there is about a
ten-minute break and the congregation divides into several departments, one for the women, one for the men, one
for the teen-age girls, one for the teen-age boys, and one for the children under the age of 12. There are
gospel-oriented lessons that are taught to each of those classes, and it is always a meaningful educational experience.
Following that hour, there is another 10-minute break and those various groups go to other locations. The adults
divide into two different Sunday school classes, and the teen-agers into Sunday
school classes, depending on their age group and little children remaining
in their age group. All of those three meeting times cover a three-hour period on Sundays. I hope that this is helpful
to you.
(To learn more about LDS Church services click on this link:
http://www.lds.org/library/page/display/0,7098,500-1-355-1,FF.html )
Sincerely,
Donny Osmond
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