First Presidency adjusts Sunday meetings for Easter, Christmas

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has directed adjustments to services and meetings to be held on Easter Sundays and Sundays near Christmas.

In a Jan. 26, 2024, letter sent to general authorities and officers; Area Seventies; stake, district and mission presidencies; and bishoprics and branch presidencies; the First Presidency — President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring — wrote that services and meetings should be limited to just sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday and on a Sunday either before or after Christmas.

When Christmas doesn’t fall on a Sunday, stake and district presidencies can determine if the sacrament-meeting-only adjustments will be for the Sunday before or after Christmas Day.

Also, stake and district leaders are allowed to consult with their bishops and branch presidents to determine if starting times for these Easter and Christmastime sacrament meetings should be adjusted to better accommodate the needs of members or of multiple units attending the same meetinghouse.

In recent years, the First Presidency has sent out instructions for each Easter Sunday and a designated Sunday near Christmas to direct that sacrament meetings be the sole meetings for those days. This latest letter is seen as giving similar directives for Easters and Christmases in coming years, not requiring First Presidency correspondence before each of the holidays, as well as allowing local leaders to make adjustments early as part of their annual planning and scheduling.