I spent most of the weekend in Melbourne at an SES Unit Controllers' Conference. I had some time spare on Sunday and so I went to an LDS Church service in Wantirna South, not far from the conference venue. I hadn't been to one before and it seemed a good opportunity.
 |
| LDS Temple, Wantirna South, Victoria, Australia (Image from here) |
 |
| In my Sunday best. |
I think I was allowed into the third part of the service - the Priesthood Meeting - as a favour. It sounds terribly catty to say it (and I only mention it because it's a strong recollection) but it was at this point I realised what I could smell: soap. Every man present was not only clean shaven but seemed clean enough to be performing surgery. This was appropriate: the discussion finished by noting elderly and infirm members of the congregation who needed help in one way or another. Everyone was genuinely keen to see that these people were safe, looked after and cared for. The outer cleanliness matched inner goodness.
The church seemed (I don't say it lightly) like a little vision of heaven. It was clean. It shone. The people genuinely radiated the love believers are called to have for one another and for God. This fitted: the more I learn of Mormon doctrine, the more I find in it which approaches perfection. And I think this is why, right now, I doubt it's for me. I don't belong in heaven, or at least in its earthly analogue. Everything I know about serving God and loving my neighbour I've learned giving quick and dirty advice in a free community legal centre, or tarping rooves in the rain, or extricating casualties from wrecked cars. The only things I do which are good involve dirty hands and cut corners. I think that's why I love Pope Francis' call for the church to be a field hospital. One columnist has put it particularly well -
One of Pope Francis’s gifts as a communicator is a peculiar feel for the memorable image: .... The most striking analogy in the interview is this: “I see the church as a field hospital after battle.” No doctor doing triage on a battlefield is going to be fussing about his patients’ cholesterol or blood sugar levels. He is going to be treating major wounds and trying desperately to stop the bleeding.
I think my place is to be where people hurt and where I can help them, and where everything is imperfect and shopworn and down-at-heel and damaged. I don't think I can serve God and neighbour as well anywhere else as I could do where I am.
I have arranged, despite all of this, to speak to the missionaries in Shepparton next week. At the very least one should put the question to them and hear their side of the matter. They're such plainly good people that it would be a sin not to hear them out. In the end, one must find the best place to serve God and neighbour and act accordingly. Everything else is details.
-----------------------------
* I'm endebted on this point to Camus -
They have wagered on the flesh, knowing they would lose. ... These men have not cheated. They were gods of the summer at twenty in their thirst for life, and they are still gods today, stripped of all hope. I have seen two of them die. They were full of horror, but silent. It is better that wayAlbert Camus, 'Summer in Algiers' (transl. E.C. Kennedy) in P. Thody (ed.), Lyrical and Critical Essays (Vintage Books: New York, 1970), pp. 81, 91-2.
This is a great article, thank you for your honest review. Us Mormons can sometimes be a bit peculiar, but even if you don't intend to convert, I hope you find some of our more unique doctrines such as continuing revelation and the Plan of Salvation to be spiritually enlarging and worth your study. Truth can be found in all religions, and I am grateful you are happy in yours. I'm also grateful you are happy to note that there is truth in ours as well. God bless, brother.
ReplyDeleteI really am enjoying discovering it. There's a lot of very good things to be found in the Mormon Church; so much so that I haven't completely discarded the idea of coming across. Certainly I wish many of the people in my church were more like the people in yours!
DeleteI understand your feeling about Mormons seeming too perfect. I put them on a pedestal, in the beginning. I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the age of 35, after having been. Catholic all my life. It wasn't an easy decision. Like you said, it kind of seemed like cheating. But the trurj is, as long as you are worshipping God and Jesus Christ, the Lord will be ok with it. I have learned for myself that noone in our church is any where near perfect. We all have flaws and struggles and we are all sinners, but We know that trying to become like Jesus is a process, and some of us are farther along than others. Good luck in your journey. I'm glad you are meeting with tje missionaries. There is awesome doctrine you might like to know about. Though it might not look like it, our church is a hospital too. Everyone is happy to be there because we learn how to be healed and we grow to love one another like we are family. It is the best decision I made to become a member.
ReplyDeleteWell said brother. It's indeed a hospital in our church. When you are sick and need a physician or hospital it would be the best of the best in treatment & facility etc. The Saviour was among all groups of people yet mingled mostly with the most afflicted. And he did so with cleanliness in both outward &inward appearance. We actually strive to do all of what the Saviour taught us and be diligent labourers in the battlefield or compassionate physicians in a hospital. For these are the essence of our religion. We roll up our sleeves when we go to work. And we look our best when we go to worship our Maker.
DeleteThanks so much Julie. I might have been too hasty to assume it's not for me, and so I'll keep exploring. Whichever way it goes, I can tell you I'll emerge from it with a much deeper regard for the LDS Church than I ever had before.
DeleteTrue enough, Anonymous. And something I probably should pay more attention to. I know God doesn't look down His nose at someone in work clothes (He was a carpenter, after all!), but I think maybe I've gotten a bit sloppy and disrespectful in how I dress for church.
DeleteWonderful article! I'm so glad you enjoyed attending The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, and that our members were kind and welcoming. We do love each other, and try to help those in need, but we are FAR from perfect. We all sin and come short of the glory of God, but because Jesus Christ stoned for our sins, we have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven, and become better people.
ReplyDeleteThe kindness and welcome is the thing I can't get out of my mind. Truthfully, I'm rather sorry quite a few Catholics act like tools towards Mormons (pamphlets like "Questions to stump Mormons" are a disgrace): I can't think of many other denominations we can learn so much from.
DeleteI LOVE this article! If I may extend the clean/dirty metaphor, I would say that Monday-Saturday are for getting your hands dirty, doing your good deeds, serving others and really living your religion. Sunday is for proverbially washing your hands, feeding your spirit, communing with others and learning the gospel, so that you are ready to go back out again on Monday and start it all over again.
ReplyDeleteThat's a sound insight Ronald, and surely one for me to think about a bit. Thank you for sure!
DeleteI want to respond to the ´dirty´ part. I loved your review of your visit. But please don´t think that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are all cut out of the same cloth. Professions of members are as diverse as rag sellers to brain surgeons. I, personally, am one who gardens. I love to have my hands in the dirt. I don´t love to get dressed up on Sundays, in fact, I don´t dress up for anybody but God. I have felt very strongly God´s love for me as an individual, that he knows we are all different and each of us is valuable in his Kingdom. I know he knows and values you and the way that you already serve him, dirt and all.
ReplyDeleteFair warning: Your blog post has been shared to a primarily-LDS facebook group called "1 Million Mormons Devoted to Christ." As a consequence you can probably expect several well-meaning Mormons like myself to come comment on it. >:D
ReplyDeleteI was very interested by your clean/dirty metaphor. The honest truth is that I wish more members of the LDS church had your attitude. The New Testament has all kinds of things to say about going out and serving people in non-ideal circumstances; that's essentially what Jesus did through His entire ministry. He also encouraged His followers to do the same, as in Matthew 25 (sheep and goats). So does the Book of Mormon, for that matter; see for instance Mosiah 4, which has an extended passage on why you should not make excuses to yourself and just give money to beggars. Unfortunately, I think this passage is often ignored by many of our members, myself included, because it's very inconvenient (also, judging by your page count, you've just read it).
One more thing is that, while we all try to appear our best on Sundays, I bet 95% of the people in that congregation, as well as anywhere, are there because those heavenly doctrines you referenced, as well as their personal relationship with Jesus Christ, were the ONLY things that got them through some of the worst parts of their lives. That's a major reason I go, and it holds true for as many of my friends as I'm close enough to for them to share those kinds of personal details.