Latter-day Saints worldwide flocked to church last Sunday, greeted by a new year, a new curriculum and, for the first time in nearly 40 years, a new worship routine.
The result: new energy, a new vibe and some new challenges and new kinks.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in October that starting in 2019 it was shortening its three-hour block of Sunday services — in place since 1980 — to two hours. No longer would there be a 70-minute sacrament meeting, followed by Primary for children, Sunday school for adults and youths and then, in the last hour, priesthood (for men and teenage boys) and Relief Society and Young Women (for women and teen girls).