NOM

So this past Sunday I visited church. My son who is 13 had an event and I went to support him. It was surprisingly upbeat. There were multiple scriptures that were read...they were all from the new testament. The singing was upbeat, not a funeral dirge pace, and all of the messages were about Jesus, loving one another, bearing each other's burdens, and being honest about where we are as individual people and as a church. It centered on how do we make the world around us a promised land here and now instead of hoping for something in the future.

There was no talk of Joseph Smith, or regurgitated conference talks by Oaks or Nelson. It was actually quite pleasant. I left feeling uplifted, motivated, and inspired. The people were friendly.

Of course it was the local United Methodist Church and not the CJCOLDS. Who knows...I might even go again.


-lost

lostinmiddlemormonism wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:47 pm Of course it was the local United Methodist Church and not the CJCOLDS. Who knows...I might even go again.

I thought it sounded too good to be true! Two whole hours without mentioning Joseph Smith OR Russell Nelson? Impossible!

late edit: without. I meant without.

That was great. You had me for a minute.

Ha ha! I was, like, where is this magical progressive ward? Somewhere in Seattle? Antarctica? Mars?

FWIW, Sundays were sometimes sort of close to this in my non-student Provo wards, except for the bits about where we were as a church. (It's great! All is well in Zion!) And the fact that the church did its usual insert self between believer and God thing. I wonder, though, whether having a broad political spectrum in the wards where professors lived had something to do with the positives. Maybe political diversity offers some protection against fundamentalism.

Methodist... hmm. I wonder if there are any of their churches nearby.

Forget to add....it was a woman <gasp> pastor. She was great.

-lost

lostinmiddlemormonism wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:28 pm Forget to add....it was a woman <gasp> pastor. She was great.

-lost

You had me going pretty well in your first message, and now you drop this bomb. I hope you are "enjoying" the sign of the Great Apostasy as much as I am enjoying hearing about it.