speaking of the sacrament prayers...
 

We have a YM who almost every times he blesses, has to do it three times due to mistakes.

On the one hand, I'm proud that he goes up there and battles.

On the other hand, it doesn't bode well for his academic future. He is almost 17 and has the reading ability of a sixth grader.

I guess the ward has gotten used to his mistakes.

Why a Bishop would place the kid's self esteem as a lower priority than some pharisitical devotion to pefection in the sacramental prayer is something I cannot figure out.

I could imagine the outcry where I live if a kid struggled like that and the Bishop gave him the proverbial "thumbs up" after his first try despite it not being perfect.

When I was a kid one of my older brothers was doing the sacramental prayer with a kid from an inactive home. I still remember after the fourth or fifth mistake, this was back when the Church was even truer than today and perfect meant perfect and not fixing your own mistakes like our bikini wax religion of today if it meant the congregation sat with you until midnight by damn!,this kid whispered "shit" into the microphone a wee bit too loud. Great stuff....

Well I think it's a good lesson for him to learn that he needs to buck up and do it right. I understand that he has gone to some effort to memorize it, but that's hasn't solved his problem.

I guess I shouldn't be harsh on the Bishop, I assumed it was just out of the kid's capacity. I can understand lessons of bucking up, I just tend to think the Chapel is not the best location for a struggling kid to learn that lesson.

Our bishop used to demand absolute perfection from the priests and it got to where many in the quorum refused to bless the sacrament or just ditched the meeting altogether. The YM president at the time had a chat with the bishop and asked him to lighten up. And he did.

I think a kid should get a couple of tries, letting him and the audience know that the prayer is an important one. But after two it's a lesson in humiliation that nobody needs.

My old bishop used to tell the story that he attended a for bishops only special sacrament service in Salt Lake temple with quorum of 12 and first presidency. There was a blunder on the prayer by on the of the 12 or 1P and they let it go to show respect to the person giving the prayer. Now I'm doubting whether this was first hand live or a story that was told in the sacrament service about a previous meeting, but that was how it went down.

I have heard that Elder Ballard gave a talk recently to bishops where he told them to lighten up.

and what if he wants to correct it? some boys actually want to persevere and get it right. I assume you woudn't want to step in, and tell him "stop saying it".

Or would you?

I don't have a problem with a Bishop making an on-the-spot judgment based on the circumstances, but all you who would follow Adam's rule: You misjudge young men.