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Thank you Ann, You have remarked on it before and quoted smaller parts, but never the full paragraph. It resonates deeply with me. I read it twice to make sure, but I am nearly positive – it is a similar personal envision-ment that keeps me staying connected.
I believe or have faith in the “city on a hill” “candle on top of a bushel” idea. I think I have my whole life. I have never been a proselyter. But the hope of a more generous God, an emotional as well as physical binding up of families, peoples, so on. These I love. I love that I chose this life – that my choice here affects tomorrow – and the tomorrow doesn’t need to be nebulous.
I am copying this one and keeping as my personal motto. Thanks.
Whenever I have the opportunity, I make that basic point – that, in many places, we are beyond the proselyte stage and in a situation where we need to focus on true service and establishing Zion (a community of acceptance and love). I really do believe in the principle of, “If you build it, they will come.”
MY ward is ALL about this as well! :think: :think: In fact, WC meetings is a great big missionary discussion.
Absolutely no calendering can be discussed (I tried…repeatedly to bring up calendar issues and was shot down each time).
We may have the occasional welfare need…as it relates to missionary work. lol.
I will say that in the beginning, HtW sounded a bit exciting. i mean, what could possibly be about to happen that we need to “hurry”? And…not a whole lot is about to happen, so I think many members who were expecting something great and exciting are now feeling a little deflated.
In our ward, we meet twice a year to go over the ward roster (well, when I was in a position of leadership) and each time we meet, we discuss the. same. people. And each time “someone” makes notes to send their records to SLC or to visit them and ask about their interest level. And each time “someone” failed to do it before.
Our WML says (and I actually agree), if someone is antagonistic or doesn’t even remember being baptized, remove their names from the church records. Bring them a letter to sign that says, “Get me the heck out of this organization.” and simply be done with them. They know were we are if they change their minds, but after 50 years of yelling at ward members who approach their door, it’s time to cut the line.
Alas, our kind bishop says that we need to keep them in the flock. So we talk about them twice a year in a wasted meeting.
But, to answer your question again, the focus IS very much on missionary work in my unit as well.
I do hope it’s a “fad” and fades soon.
I like the idea of focusing on charity.
Maybe if we start to teach doctrine/principles like charity, missionary work will likely follow.
I had my meeting. I hate to even report but at the same time I do feel that open discussion is often cathartic. I mentioned my concerns that it felt like we were perhaps making HtW too much of a focus. How I really felt for our investigators and worried about what their perception of the church might be when they visit and the sole focus appears to be motivating members to do missionary work. I then sat back and listened, more to the feelings that I was receiving rather than specific things that were being said. An attempt to reconnect to the spirit.
I have to confess, I felt like I was missing the charity that was evident in the comments being made by my peers but I have a very different opinion of missionary work than that of the church. The response I got back was unified, namely HtW is motivated out of love for others. It was an interesting experience. From the perspective of a strict TBM I saw how these bretheren felt love toward people in the work they were doing. At the same time I don’t feel the love when the conversation veers into the realm of metrics and how we can ensure that goals are being met by church members.
Things that made me a bit uneasy:
Share the gospel knowing that people will not be able to see the face of their heavenly father if they do not receive the ordinances. I’m not particularly worried about such a thing. I was put in my place in that meeting, I knew I lacked love, at least on some levels, and I with my deficient love would never reject a child over such a simple thing. If a father in heaven has perfect love, why would he? Besides, if ordinances are that important they can take place at
any time. - HtW is the biggest thing to happen to the world since the first vision. I looked this up afterwards. The actual quote was fairly close:
L. Tom Perry wrote:This is the most remarkable era in the history of the Church. This is something that ranks with the great events that have happened in past history, like the First Vision, like the gift of the Book of Mormon, like the Restoration of the gospel…
I needed to regroup and rediscover my path after that experience. Am I simply missing charity in my life (regardless, I know I need to work on this) or is my charity simply different than that of a TBM? I feel like in some ways I love people by leaving them alone or by allowing them to continue in what makes them happy without trying to convince them that we have some monopoly on happiness.
Make no mistake, they are truly great men. No arguing that at all. The experience left me with lots of questions. Does the church produce men like this or is it just the case that men like this can be found in any walk of life? Do I want to follow their example? Would the church help mold me into a man like that? etc.
After the meeting I was feeling a bit strange so I did something that I probably would have voluntarily committed myself over just a few short years ago. I left the meeting and went to the temple. I just sat out in front. I wanted to feel the pain of the bitter cold so I didn’t bring my coat. I sat directly in front of the temple, reminding myself of the warmth and comfort to be found inside. I wanted to create temporal discomfort and juxtapose it with spiritual discomfort and let the symbols and meanings flow. They did.
Fascinating – and it’s a really good reminder that people feel love and motivation in different ways. Don’t worry as much about being like anyone else as about really expressing love in ways that are authentic to you. One of my favorite quotes is:
Quote:You were born an original. Don’t become a copy.
Thanks for that reminder Ray. I often lose sight of that. I went back to re-read the thread to make sure I could live with what I had posted in it and ran across this again: QuestionAbound wrote:Our WML says (and I actually agree), if someone is antagonistic or doesn’t even remember being baptized, remove their names from the church records. Bring them a letter to sign that says, “Get me the heck out of this organization.” and simply be done with them. They know were we are if they change their minds, but after 50 years of yelling at ward members who approach their door, it’s time to cut the line.
I think this directly relates to the sentiments I had coming out of my meeting. I’ve made comments like that a few times now and every time I’ve been met with what amounts to “we just need to love these people more.” To some degree I believe that’s what made me come out of the meeting feeling like I am deficient (and I know I am BTW, I haven’t perfected love yet). I had subconsciously received the message that I was “giving up on someone” because I didn’t love them enough.
Something for me to ponder.
My wife pointed out to me that our stake was fasting to “hasten the work.” I asked, “What does that even
mean?” She replied, “I don’t know.”
Shawn wrote:My wife pointed out to me that our stake was fasting to “hasten the work.”
I asked, “What does that even
mean?” She replied, “I don’t know.”
It seems like if the work is going to ‘hasten’ it’s going to ‘hasten’ on the Lord’s timeline and not ours. His ways are not our ways, after all. So go ahead and get yourself some Cheetos.
As I’ve come to understand it through several discussions in various meetings in church: Quote:Behold,
Iwill hasten my work in its time. It’s been pointed out that we aren’t the ones hastening the work; the verse says I, meaning the lord, will hasten the work. Again this is how it’s been presented, the revelation portion is limited to the phrase “in its time,” which has been interpreted to mean right now. Then we go about things as if we’ve been told that
wewill hasten the work. I get the it… the lord is preparing people at an accelerated rate and we have to step up our efforts to keep abreast.
Joni wrote:It seems like if the work is going to ‘hasten’ it’s going to ‘hasten’ on the Lord’s timeline and not ours. His ways are not our ways, after all. So go ahead and get yourself some Cheetos.
nibbler wrote:Quote:Behold,
Iwill hasten my work in its time. It’s been pointed out that we aren’t the ones hastening the work; the verse says I, meaning the lord, will hasten the work. Again this is how it’s been presented, the revelation portion is limited to the phrase “in its time,” which has been interpreted to mean right now. Then we go about things as if we’ve been told that
wewill hasten the work.
Yeah, I’ve thought of this, too. It’s up to the Lord. Doweeven have the right to attempt to hasten the work? On the other hand, the Lord accomplishes his work through his servants, so he could be inspiring leaders to promote this campaign. Just sayin.
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