Easter-less Message

[græy]

I received a distraught phone call from a woman my wife and I have visited many many times over the years. She is not active in the church due to health issues, but is believing. That said, she also lacks what many might call a "basic" understanding of certain church teachings. She does not 100% follow WoW. She does not pay tithing. All of that aside, when she was healthy enough, she would come to church and participate, and she does frequently reach out to many members of the ward to wish them happy birthdays, or just to let them know she was thinking of them. She has also taken it upon herself to be the ward's resident baby-welcomer by knitting/sewing custom blankets for each baby born into the ward.

Shortly after the pandemic started and everything was locked down, she called me in tears, worried that the end of the world was imminent. Part of her reasoning included the fact that a sister missionary she knew decades ago had received promise in her patriarchal blessing, that she was be alive for Christ's second coming. That missionary is now ~55 years old and not incredibly healthy herself.

I chatted with her on the phone for a good 25 minutes, trying to be as faithful as I could, while telling her that patriarchal blessings are not always to be taken literally. That there are MANY reasons to be optimistic about the world, and that the end was not coming just yet. She brought up herself that every generation since Christ has believed theirs was the last. I pointed out that the only thing every profit who has ever taught the second coming was imminent had in common, was that they were all wrong. She laughed at that.

Long story-short(er), this past Easter Sunday, this sister was again saddened by the fact that our church did not have any sort of large scale Easter presentation they she could view on TV or online. So, feeling like she needed something positive beyond reading her own scriptures by herself, she tuned into another church's broadcast. She called afterwards to tell me how uplifted and positive she felt after that church's broadcast. In her words, "Once church's start meeting again, I think I'll take a few Sundays to go see this church for myself."

I told her that the message of Christ is to be hopeful. If she got that message from somewhere else, then that was a good thing. I told her to let me know if she needed anything else in the meantime, and to keep me posted if she did go to the other church group. I did not ask her to come back to our ward as soon as possible.

Good times.

[Wonderment]

You did an excellent job in counseling this sister, and clearly, your words provided comfort and reassurance to her. From experience, I know that counseling others can be exhausting, but I think this work exemplifies the meaning of Easter more than what is said in a lot of church meetings. - Wndr.

[Hagoth]

I like to imagine a church that has as its only goal to encourage and uplift people. One where you come away feeling genuinely inspired. It would only meet a few times a year (so you don't hear the same damn stuff over and over again) and put all of its resources into a message of hope and encouragement without an underlying agenda or manipulation. Problem: not a viable business plan.

[Jeffret]

I like to imagine a church that has as its only goal to encourage and uplift people. One where you come away feeling genuinely inspired. It would only meet a few times a year (so you don't hear the same damn stuff over and over again) and put all of its resources into a message of hope and encouragement without an underlying agenda or manipulation. Problem: not a viable business plan.

After many years as a NOM, when I finally left the Mormon Church I attended our local UU Church for most of a year. This congregation was pretty much like that. They do meet every week, but I never experienced the same stuff over and over. Always something new and thoughtful. When you've got the whole of human experience before and aren't constrained to a small set of approved leaders, there are plenty of things to discuss. This UU congregation, at least, was very encouraging and uplifting. Not just of people like them or their congregation, but everyone. Social improvement for everyone, everywhere is a big deal there. They don't meet in the summer, because everyone is so busy.

It's hard to get rich from the UU, though. They got enough in donations to keep themselves going and pay the people who devote significant time to the organization.

I also attended a local Unity Church a couple of times. Their tagline, "A positive path for spiritual living", was pretty accurate. Very uplifting, affirming, and inclusive. My wife and I visited for their pre-Christmas service. Their band did a great rendition of Dar Williams' The Christians and the Pagans.

[Hagoth]

After many years as a NOM, when I finally left the Mormon Church I attended our local UU Church for most of a year. This congregation was pretty much like that. They do meet every week, but I never experienced the same stuff over and over. Always something new and thoughtful. When you've got the whole of human experience before and aren't constrained to a small set of approved leaders, there are plenty of things to discuss. This UU congregation, at least, was very encouraging and uplifting. Not just of people like them or their congregation, but everyone. Social improvement for everyone, everywhere is a big deal there. They don't meet in the summer, because everyone is so busy.

It's hard to get rich from the UU, though. They got enough in donations to keep themselves going and pay the people who devote significant time to the organization.

I also attended a local Unity Church a couple of times. Their tagline, "A positive path for spiritual living", was pretty accurate. Very uplifting, affirming, and inclusive. My wife and I visited for their pre-Christmas service. Their band did a great rendition of Dar Williams' The Christians and the Pagans.

Thanks Jeffret. I have attended the UU once and I keep meaning to go back but between the Oasis non-religous Sunday community I found and alternately attending Sacrament Meeting to support Mrs. Hagoth, I haven't made it back. Everybody meets at the same time!

The Unity Church sounds very interesting (and I loved the song) but I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring them out. They're homepage describes them like this:

Unity is for people who might call themselves spiritual but not religious. It is for those who sense the depths of their own being and celebrate the awareness of a power greater than themselves.

The teachings in Unity bring together ancient wisdom with new interpretations of what it means to be alive and human. Unity inspires different ways to think about the force of love and intelligence that many people call God.

But their local Salt Lake branch's description sounds quite a bit more Christ oriented:

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to Christianity based on the teachings of Jesus and the power of prayer...

Regardless, I won't be sitting down with any of them until the apocalypse ends. Maybe I'll sit in on one of their virtual meetings.

[Jeffret]

Keep in mind that outside Mormonism, individual congregations within a denomination can vary widely. Even Catholic parishes can have quite a bit of variation, though the basic structure is pretty well set. They can be quite different in different parts of the world, though.

The UUs have Seven Principles, which provide some common beliefs, but these are very general and can accommodate lots of individual variation. The congregation here may be different from those in other places. The members and leaders of this congregation were familiar with Mormonism and told me that some Mormons attended their meetings. They said that for some mixed-faith marriage families the UU congregation offered an accepting place for the whole family. I found UU meetings far more intellectually stimulating and motivating than I had at a Mormon meeting in a long time.

The local Unity Church is definitely spiritual -- more touchy-feely and not as intellectual. Being that they've grown out of a Christian environment, they have a bit of bias, at least in terms of symbols, with Christianity. They say, "Unity encourages the exploration and application of spiritual Truth, to allow the Christ consciousness to be revealed through you, in you, and as you. We come together to celebrate the practice of the presence of God." That's a basic spiritual approach, represented through some Christian metaphors. In "The Christians and the Pagans", they identify with the unity of both. I'm sure they have both Christians and Pagans in their congregation.

The local UU congregation had some specifically Pagan SIGs.

[Wonderment]

t's hard to get rich from the UU, though. They got enough in donations to keep themselves going and pay the people who devote significant time to the organization.

I also attended a local Unity Church a couple of times. Their tagline, "A positive path for spiritual living", was pretty accurate. Very uplifting, affirming, and inclusive. My wife and I visited for their pre-Christmas service. Their band did a great rendition of Dar Williams'

Agreed. Both UU and Unity place emphasis on an uplifting, inclusive, and positive messages which focus on spiritual awareness, love, and service to to others. I have found their messages to be comforting and enlightening. --- Wndr.