Recording in the Chapel [Was Re: [Ldsoss] Shut-ins and the Sacrament Meeting]

[A. Rick Anderson]

Slide wrote:
> On 11/30/06, Jesse Stay <jesse at thestays.org> wrote:
> 
>> What about Baby Blessings - anything in the Handbook about recording
>> Baby Blessings?  I tried to do it once and my Bishop said the church
>> didn't allow it.  It was right before the blessing, so I didn't have
>> any preparations to record it in another way - so my youngest son
>> unfortunately has little record of his baby blessing.
>>
>> Jesse
>>
> 
> 
> Personally, even if its in the handbook that it is ok, I would still
> follow the council of my Bishop, I don't think you were condoning
> doing otherwise though. If you can find someone who knows shorthand,
> that is how my mom recorded all her grand children's blessings.

The handbook has varied on recordings over the years.  The basic 
principle in the handbook that it is obvious that it is trying to 
provide guidance on is that the sacrament service and sacred ordinances 
in the church are not to be elaborate, ritualistic or distracting. 
Worship is an internal experience, not a public, external expression.

In their rush to "capture the moment", some people forget that keeping 
the actual, real-life moment/experience is more important then capturing 
a bunch of tapes and pictures.  They end up destroying the very moment 
they are trying to capture.  No matter where they draw the line, there 
will be some crass, self-centered prima-donna that will want to hang 
speaker-mikes from the ceiling, hire a professional photographer/video 
crew and out-do every form of good sense and literally trample the 
sacred nature of the experience so that 20 years later, the tape and 
pictures can rot in the back of a drawer somewhere.

A small, classroom recorder fits nicely in your pocket.  It will capture 
the blessing without fanfare or interrupting the occassion.  If the 
batterys go dead, then do what the prophets and scribes have done 
through the ages.  Afterwards, the same spirit is still available to 
capture the intent of the original blessing.  Use it to write down.  If 
you can recall the words, then perhaps there's a reason :-)

-- 
A. Rick Anderson