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I have a read articles supporting the idea the Mormon Moment for us is over. I concur that it is, one factor I hadn’t considered in the close of our moment, was the impact it would have on our interfaith relationship. THIS IS MY SPECULATIONLast night that idea hit me between the eyes. I am on the Stake day of service committee. I have been on it for a few years now. Our stake is super cool about it. From the get go they have worked to build a County Day of Service instead of a religious one. Our church doesn’t use it’s name, we use the County as our name, we have had fantastic days filled with tons of different service events that people from the community can do.
This year – it’s nearly dead. Yes it’s on the community calendar. The name is the same, etc. But our multiple activities are gone. Only 2 projects remain – ours and one being handled by the Baptist community. After months of working on this, we learned about this reduction last night. The brother who explained it to us is a long time friend of mine. I know his spoken and unspoken communication. In a nutshell everyone, including the Baptists didn’t want to engage with us. No one came to county meetings, the Baptist made it clear they were doing their thing and so on. Last night this brother suggested we might send some families over to ythem.
I drove home last night and wondered what had happened. For the past two years this has been a gang buster day. So much great community turn out. So much enthusiasm for the opportunities. Now – it’s dead as a door nail. The only thing I could come to was the Moment was lost for all of us. The conservative Mormon/Christian guy is off the radar now, our church has had some recent negative press – that others read,not just us.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope everyone was just busy for some odd reason. But the date and planning county wide has been on for months, the old players knew about it, they just didn’t want to do it. It’s sad to me. I will love our service day, but I grieve the extra joy the community day afforded.
It’s too bad when different faiths are unable to come together for something simple like service. It sounds like it had been a really productive project in the past. I’ve run into this many times myself in my community. Other faiths want nothing to do with us. Plain and simple. I’ve had them tell me directly that we’re not christian and therefore they will not corrupt their people by encouraging them to associate with us. They would not pray with us. They would not serve with us. They would not join our activities and would not allow us to join theirs. It’s sad to see that kind of Christlike love exhibited by other Christians. Our church has its problems too, but this always irritates me.
I believe this to be true and have experienced it first-hand. In a previous town, I persisted in wanting to participate in the quarterly Christian “sing-speration” despite being initially rejected as representing a non-Christian group. The pastor in charge even asked me why I kept coming back to participate as a spectator after they had refused to let me sing. I told him that I believed in what the event stood for to worship God as a community through song and put away our squabbles. By the time I moved, the “Mormons” were regular participants. OTOH, I have experienced it from LDS as well. When the congregation raised up their hands in worship – my LDS high councilman friend told me to put my hands down. My current place of residence has several community religious events. I have attended the community worship service, the live nativity, and the MLK commemoration. My LDS friends and neighbours do not participate. DW and I were called into our bishop’s office several years ago about our participation at other churches. We clarified for him that while we participate at other churches, we only attend the LDS church. We call it our “home church.” He gave as his opinion that there is enough to do within the LDS church to keep us occupied without going to other churches.
My own personal pet peeve is how insular we are within our own wards. I feel more comfortable attending the activities of another church than I do attending the activities of another ward – why do you think that might be?
Last month our ward had a potluck in the park to celebrate the 24th of July. We found out from some friends that their ward was likewise doing a potluck … on the same day… same time…at a park across town. Why don’t we pool our resources and have our celebrations together?
Please see the following article and thread for some really great insights into interfaith service.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/12/becoming-better-saints-through-interfaith-involvement?lang=eng Two-edged sword, as Roy describes. Too often we are out to convert others – or, at least, to be examples that will lead eventually to conversion; too often, other churches see us as non-Christian cultists and want no association with us. It takes patience and explicit emphasis on pure service with no ulterior motives to break down those barriers – and sometimes even that isn’t enough. Also, I never bought into the idea that there ever was a “Mormon Moment”. I have seen it, always, as a made-up thing – so I don’t see the end of something I believe never existed.
The mythical Mormon moment made so by Mitt. How’s that for alliteration? I saw an article somewhere, perhaps linked here, that talked about how the ebbing Mormon moment finally ended in the wake of all the press surrounding KK’s excommunication. Of course, like everything, it’s more complicated.
One contributor to what you experienced might be that our service often isn’t very altruistic. I imagine potential missionary opportunities is a big reason behind why church leaders want to get involved in interfaith service opportunities. I think the primary preconceived notion that people have about Mormons is that they are out to convert other Christians; that will make them hesitant to engage with us. The situation only becomes worse when other denominations overcome that concern and decide to reach out to us only to find that yes, we were out to convert them.
When most people hear “Mormon” they don’t think of KK or doctrine xyz, they think “guy in a white shirt and tie on a bicycle out to convert me” …well that and polygamy. This goes back to that talking point that often comes up here, what if a full time mission had a focus on service and less focus on proselyting? It would be nice if we could change people’s perception of us; when people hear “Mormon” they think “person who serves in the community” …that and polygamist (that one isn’t going anywhere). For that to happen we’ve got to let go of ulterior motives in our activities and in our service.
Roy wrote:DW and I were called into our bishop’s office several years ago about our participation at other churches. We clarified for him that while we participate at other churches, we only attend the LDS church. We call it our “home church.” He gave as his opinion that there is enough to do within the LDS church to keep us occupied without going to other churches.
Yeah, I imagine there’s just as much of that going on in other churches as well. Why are you participating in that LDS day of service? Ecclesiastical leaders leaving the 99 to protect the one.
There is enough to do within the LDS church to keep us occupied without going to other churches. I love that. So that’s the reason why we move from hamster wheel to hamster wheel in church.
:angel:
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