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Lecture series blends religion, inspiration
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It’s a blend in equal parts of dogma and inspiration, of religious exhortation and encouragement to keep trying when the going gets tough.
The Latter-day Saints Student Association’s ongoing lecture series kicked off this spring, beginning with four speakers who gave short religiously-toned lectures, or devotionals, in the LDSSA Institute chapel.
Each session began at 12:15 p.m. with prayer and a congregational hymn, after which a student introduced the speaker with a summary of his or her accomplishments.
The guest lecturers then told anecdotes from their lives, noting the lessons that they learned along the way. Another student closed with a prayer.
Afterward, some audience members hurried back to class while others met in another room for social time and light refreshments.
Speaker Nina Callister, a mother of 12 children, gave tribute to the late LDS President Gordon Hinckley and urged young people to follow his advice.
“These are little things that make us obedient or not,” Callister said of Hinckley’s teachings. “We don’t want to be so casual that spirituality flies out the window.”
James McCauley related his experiences as a young LDS missionary in Sweden and eventual business owner in Boise.
The talks interwove life lessons, such as, “No failure in life is permanent until we quit,” with admonitions, such as “We must ask and wait for God to answer [prayers] in the way he thinks is best,” (both from McCauley). At various times the speakers referred to church organizations such as Relief Society, stakes and wards and mentioned doctrinal teachings like priesthood and eternal marriage.
The first four guest speakers have held church offices such as stake president or Relief Society president. So far, around 40 to 50 students have been in attendance at each lecture.
“I don’t think there were many non-LDS students, maybe one or two,” LDSSA advisor Joel Flake said. “We’ve tried to make it appeal to more students. It’s certainly open to all BSU students. I think some of them are afraid that we’ll try to convert them.”
LDSSA Vice President and BSU student Dustin Moyer said that the event has drawn “a couple non-LDS kids. Maybe they don’t know the time frame or they have classes. I think it’s friendly and great advice. People are encouraging you to stay in school, have those life experiences.”
Flake said the Thursday sessions are offered as a class for credit through the LDS Institute, and students passed around a sign-up sheet at the beginning of each meeting in order to mark their attendance.
A flier on the wall advertised the series as the Institute Devotional and offered refreshments, credit and parking privileges in a nearby lot for attendees.
These are available to students who are enrolled in the Institute and attend at least 75 percent of the time.
The sign outside the building also directed students to the Institute Devotional.
The previous week the sign said Lecture Series.
Student Charity Clark doesn’t receive credit for the Thursday meetings, although she does earn it by serving on an LDSSA committee.
“We get so busy, caught up in our responsibilities. If we can make the extra effort to be here for about 50 minutes, it makes the biggest difference in the world,” she said.
Eleven more speakers are scheduled every Thursday through May 8.
JENNIFER SAWMILLER
Senior News Writer