And, frankly, it was a bit odd. To sit in the chapel with a lot of old people in Sunday school opening exercises, and to suddenly have a bunch of young people stand up and say something more or less in unison.

I don’t recall any from the second half of the 60s, but my dad was the bishop. Perhaps he thought they were silly too–especially for a bunch of college students.

I remember, as a youngster, our ward choir director conducting the Ward Choir in a few “choral readings” of various Book of Mormon passages (as part of a Book of Mormon-themed cantata she had put together). My dad was in the choir and he loved it. The choir director would rehearse the choir over and over again on their pronunciation, the phrasing, and even conduct the accented words. She was such a strong character that no one dared question her!

In the end, it was an effective way to make an impression, that’s for sure. I can still hear their voices speaking aloud the phrase from the book of Helaman in unison: “Ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly toooooooooooo late!”

Huh – thanks for making me remember this quirky but pleasant memory.

Now, of course, I recognize the value of the 2-1/2 minute talk experience and could wish I had had more of it, with the right training (in writing them myself, I mean, rather than having a parent write them, which was the usual practice in the last few years before the church stopped doing them).

And amen to missing singing practice in Sunday School. That’s a part of past culture that is sorely needed again.

The block program probably did some good in a lot of ways, but the lack of SS singing time has really hurt our congregational singing. I actually miss that, and wish we could find a way to put that back in.