Call from the Stake President

Best of luck, cwald. Will the SP be sitting in on your lesson? Maybe the spirit will soften his heart, should such things be in order. 🙂

Let us know what parts of the StayLDS Bible are most useful to you? For me, the hardest things would be to try and keep any defensiveness I might feel in check and to remember that his intentions are good.

In the words of the immortal band (whom I don’t really like much, actually):

Whatever will be, will be.

If he asks you why you aren’t in a white shirt, just tell him that you didn’t expect to get asked to administer the sacrament, given your beer-drinking tendencies. 😈 On second thought, don’t say that!! 😆

cwald… been thinking about you today.

I hope all has gone well for you.

Hugs.

Well good evening all and thanks.

My interview with SP never happened. It was suppose to be a “routine meeting” and the SP asked to meet with me during church – which I declined because I was teaching youth SS and combined PM/RS, so we had a very informal conversation on the church steps. I did not get fired – yet. Things were relatively civil, even though it was tense. It had more to do with my lesson than with my TR status.

I went over the speech Concern for the One. I know you folks here think I exaggerate the church experience and the culture and that I am bias against the leaders cultural mormonism, but I tell you, for EVERY comment I made during this lesson and being concerned for the one, there was a statement and quote that countered it. I talked about accepting those who are different and referred to tattoos and earrings. Someone talks about how the prophet told us to do this and this we need to follow the prophet. I talked about being weary in church and “doing less to do more.” Someone countered about not fulfilling callings, and how if we will seek the Lord’s help we can magnify our callings the way we are suppose to do. I talked about how some have strayed because they doubt and don’t believe some of the doctrine — and made the comment that we don’t have to believe every sentenced uttered from the pulpit and bible to be faithful church members. This is the one that got me in trouble. Someone mentioned that their brother quit going to church because he doesn’t believe the Noah and the Ark story. I, in my stupidity, made the comment that, “I don’t believe in it either, nor do I believe that Jonah got swallowed by a fish, but I still come to church. There is too much good in the church to quit just because one thinks differently and doesn’t believe in all the minutiae. “

You could have heard a pin drop. The SP took over the meeting from there. He bore his testimony that the Jonah and Noah stories were historical, factual and literal events, that Jonah did in fact get swallowed by a whale, and that Noah fit every animal on the ark and only 8 people were left on the planet and that god had prophets write these events and stories in the bible to teach the people and test their faith…and that we should be careful of those who would tell us differently,”

After church in my informal meeting, the SP counselor chastised me for my lesson, and told me there was great danger in picking and choosing the stories in the bible I believe, and that if I am picking and choosing which bible stories to believe, that I am probably start picking and choose what I believe from the Apostles and Prophets, local leaders and church manuals. He made mention to my blue shirt. I tried to explain that I was only pointing out that folks don’t need to leave the church just because they don’t believe in some of the informal doctrines and traditions. He also made the comment, in a semi joking voice that, and I’m not exaggerating here, that the church might not be big enough for me and my beliefs. I asked him flat out, “so, are you saying I have to believe that Jonah got swallowed by a fish to belong to this church?” By this time I was getting upset. The SP stepped in and tried to referee – but I was pretty well done with the conversation by this time.

Anyway, by this time, there was really no time to talk about TRs and why I don’t have one.

Anyway, I was sick about it. I just couldn’t believe that such a good message got so screwed up. Of all the things I’ve said in church, I never would have thought THIS would have been a catalyst.

Yeah thanks Doug. I was as politically correct as I could ever be in church — but I’m afraid it’s not enough.

Interesting, my daughter was in the class today, and was quite appalled at some of the responses. She said that she LOVED the lesson and the message, until the whole Jonah conversation.

I feel so bad for you in your situation Cwald, it just makes me ache to hear about your experiences like this. The people in your branch are missing out on a really important experience — YOU! FWIW, you just might be more hardcore and crazy than me . That kind of stuff would wear on me after a while, and I am often too much of a free spirit for my own good.

You were teaching a lesson from one of the apostles of our/their church, and they couldn’t even stop their pattern of thought to listen to his words and just consider them…

There is room for us. There must be.

There is room for us. In all candor, there may not be temple recommends, callings, or (in the extreme case) membership records for us. But there is room. “It’s my church too, and I’m here to stay for now.”