The Official What happened at the Memorial thread

by truthseeker 91 Replies latest jw friends

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  JustHuman14

  I went to the Memorial this year(just to get rid my mothers complaining that I didn't attend)I feld that I wasted an hour. Same old yada yada. I just can't get it how we are getting benifit from Jesus sacrifice by just attending there!!!I mean will this "ceremony"would make Him happy, seeing all those attendants just passing by the Wine and the Bread?

  And another thing, since I'm Greek: How can they translate Jesus words "touton estin" THIS IS, to symbolize. Jesus said THIS IS MY BODY AND THIS IS MY BLOOD, there was no symbolical meaning to this words. That is why for the Orthodox Church the Holy communion is consider to be one of the Mysteries of the Christian Church.

  Any how I saw some old friends(that I couldn't talked)and the persons who talked to me were some 'wordly" friends that they happened to attend.

  JustHuman14 formely known justhuman
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  BluesBrother

  We went too.

  Same old talk, same old routine. When I was young, the memorial had a buzz of excitement and anticipation. I know that I was motivated then, but still, the atmosphere of a special occasion was undeniable. In those days the hall was always packed to overflowing, it was decorated with flowers and the speakers could generate a feeling that this was a special night.

  Today the talk is matter of fact, the emblems pass and everybody goes home again...dubby family say the same. We did not get a letter read or a special announcement . They had more than usual at the meeting but the hall was not full up . I had to reach over empty seats to pass the emblems on.

  We did see a glimpse a large full moon between the clouds, so I guess they got the right night.
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  sacolton

  My inactive JW wife soon-to-disassociate and I went to eat Mexican. Before we left, the doorbell rang and she looked at me and said, "If that's someone inviting me to the Memorial - tell them I'm not interested." It was some sales guy. We jumped into the car and partook in the chips and salsa.
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  Mary

  Last night was the first year in my entire life that I did not attend the Memorial and to my surprise, I did not feel the slightest bit guilty. It's quite ridiculous when you think about it: Attending an event and then not being allowed to participate. If you were invited to a wedding feast but refused to eat the dinner, I'd say the host would be greatly offended.

  Instead, I stayed home, had a glass of good red wine, and watched The Ten Commandments.
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  V

  Quick report:

  Same outline as previous years.

  Made a point of mentioning the exact 2008 partaker count as comparison to the millions who did not partake, of course no mention that partakers increased almost 10% over 2007.

  Enjoyed the ceremony of passing the wine/bread to the speaker, then the speaker has to pass the emblems back to the attendants (who have been passing the plates and cups for 10 minutes already). Why the formality?

  Had an a-ha! moment. What if you, not of the "anointed," were sitting at the end of an aisle. Could you just refuse to handle the emblems and let the person next to you ritually relay them back to the attendant? You are not partaking, you are just "respectfully observing" according to the WT.

  Basically: why do any with the earthly hope have to touch the emblems at all? Especially the speaker or persons standing in the hall.
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  truthseeker

  What's interesting is that after the emblems were "served" the speaker made a jibe at those, who are inactive should get over themselves and come back to the Kingdom Hall.
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  Finally-Free

  Enjoyed the ceremony of passing the wine/bread to the speaker, then the speaker has to pass the emblems back to the attendants (who have been passing the plates and cups for 10 minutes already). Why the formality?

  Once when I was going to be running the sound at the memorial there was a meeting of all involved a week ahead of time. Half of the meeting was spent on discussing the manner of passing the "emblems" from the speaker to the servers and back again, how it would change hands, etc. They wanted to ensure that everyone was "served" as if that was the most important thing at the memorial. It seemed odd to me at the time. I guess they wanted to make sure each individual had a full opportunity to reject the emblems.

  W
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  penny2

  V, I'm surprised that you went. Actually, I'm having a bit of a chuckle over it!

  penny
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  ex-nj-jw

  I haven't been to a memorial in over 26 years. Sounds like the same 'ol clap trap as usual.

  I had a wonderfull steak dinner with several glasses of wine and it had nothing to do with jesus, god or religion

  nj
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  TIMBOB

  I was going to make it my first year of not attending. Then I was supposed to go to was the late one at 9 o clock. Got a text from my sis making sure I was going. We had a little tiff and she almost kind of threatened me. Said I needed to think real hard about my decision not to go. I never told her I would go, but I went ahead and went cause I didn't feel like having "that conversation" with her yet. We all know the witness world, news probly got to her that I was there by the first song.

  It was ok, a bit weird. The first time I had been to that cong. since the last memorial. I kinda purposly forgot to shave, so I was sporting an early beard.

  I got tons of huggs. Tons of "so glad your here". Tons of "its so good to see you". It wasn't horrible. It even brought back a few good memories.

  I did notice the 9000 comment. We actually had someone partake. It was funny cause I don't remember her ever partaking before.

  I loved the letter though. No matter how moral of a person we are, we were still handed sin by adam. Then it went off on the things we need to be doing. Then it came back to we need to turn our lives around and get baptized and dedicate our lives to Jehovah. My thought, if we were already living moral lives, what are we turning around from. I also love how they say all and everything but, you have to become a witness if you do not want to die.

  I know I would not have gone if my sister hadn't put me through a guild trip. So, this whole ordeal just makes me realize I am going to have to talk with her and tell her my true feelings.