I’ve been thinking about Andrew’s post on Seeing Mormon Faith Transitions as Social Class Movements over the past two months. As a quick summary here are the three different ways he identified that Mormons engage with their faith (but really this makes more sense if you re-read Andrew’s post. It’s really good.):
Physical – focused on doing and other physical acts: word of wisdom, chastity, moving people, etc.
Intellectual – focused questions of belief as relating to historical record; mormon studies, history, etc.
Relational – focused on development and preservation of relationships and interconnetedness
This month while I was sitting in sacrament meeting I was thinking about these differences and the scripture from Doctrine & Covenants 4:2 popped into my head:
Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
Perhaps we aren’t just supposed to engage with our faith in ways that feel most natural or easy for us. Perhaps we are commanded to engage in all three ways with our faith:
When we serve God with all our strength we use our physical bodies to do and act. While I think a Mormon faith solely focused on this aspect is empty and shallow, I believe it’s a vital aspect to keeping our covenants.
When we serve God with our minds study things we continually seek after learning. I think God wants us engaging intellectually with Mormon studies and history.
When we serve God with our hearts we value and nurture our family, neighbor, and ward relationships as part of covenant keeping; not only on a local level but how we relate to each other as covenant people of God (all sealed as one family) and to everyone as fellow children of God.
If one were to continue in all their might (effort) to serve God in these ways one would develop a mature faith, an unshakable faith. I’m grateful for my faith transition (when I bore my testimony I believe I was careful to say ‘I’m grateful my faith developed in a way that can incorporate all of these aspects’). I’ve never been so self-aware of my spiritual development. I’ve gained a new heart and new eyes and my perspective shifted to a bigger picture. And when integrating D&C 2:4, I think we’re supposed to be faith-transitioning for eternity, it’s what spiritual development is by nature.
I just was thinking about might. Will and power, too maybe? Exerting our influence in our respective stewardships? I need to think about this more.
Nicely said.
The LDS church doesn’t want all of my heart, might, mind and strength. They just want me to sit quietly in the corner and do a few time-consuming mundane chores and pay 10% and above all else KEEP MY BIG MOUTH SHUT and not ask any questions or stir anything up.
This is a highly-correlated church of mediocracy. Bro. Andrews misses the biggest group in faith crisis. Those on the path of boredom, dwindling, apathy.
Mike – for the most part I agree with you. My relationship w The Church is at an all-time-low. But it’s through The Church that I’m keeping my covenants in the Gospel.
So when I don’t drink coffee, when I go to church every week, when I just SHOW UP? It’s not because I’m giving back to them. It’s because I’m legit serious about keeping the covenants I said I would. And the third part of learning to love your neighbor/ward family/church leadership even when they are boring you to death and aggressively pushing you out? That is our refiner’s fire.
To break out of mediocrity and apathy you have to engage separately/individually and if The Church isn’t filling your bucket find something else that does. That is the intellectual/relational part of our faith.
Build your personal model of religion that can fit into the model of The Church if you want to stay. My personal model connects to the church at the basics and where I promised to do things. I’m going to keep those promises yet find my own way forward.
Kristine A, thank you.
I thank you for your advice. It is well- worth thinking about.
My age might not show but I have been in this dysfunctional relationship with the church for decades more than half a century. I can tell you what doesn’t work, more than what does.
Covenants: I see them in two categories and the distinction is not always clear.
1. Covenants with an institution that habitually lies and has repeatedly not keep its covenants with me are one thing. Coffee for example; I don’t drink it because I was raised that way. But as for close relatives who do, because they don’t think President Grant was speaking for the Lord when he defined hot drinks to include it, I don’t have a problem with them doing it. In fact I recently found out that one of the pillors of our ward (former RSP YMP PP you name it) drinks coffee without guilt and just keeps telling the bishop that she is working on it. She is nearly 90 years old! Not only am I not aghast, I think it is hilarious.
2. Covenants made before God with another person in the context of a imperfect church such as a temple marriage, I take those much more serious. There are only a few of them. Of course when my wife experienced a change of faith years ago, the local church leaders advised me to divorce her. That would snap her testimony back in shape. So much for keeping covenants to obey church leaders. So much for help from church during the darkest hours of my life. Many other examples come to mind and float hazily away.
More than love, I think one has to cultivate a habit of forgiveness for ward/church leadership. This is hard because I have to live with the unpleasant consequence of their wickedness on a daily basis for the rest of my life. The damage they do is real and lasts a long time. It is parallel to the guy who was shot and paralysed. The perpetrator served 5 or 10 years in prison while the victim serves the rest of his life in a wheel chair. Except in the case of the church leaders, the perpetrators are advanced and honored. This is the church that doesn’t even appologize (except rarely when they do).
The problem with finding something else is that Mormon society is so tribal, guilt-driven and all-consuming. You ultimately are forced to chose. For one example, LDS boy scouts or non-LDS boy scouts. It is impossible to fully engage in both troops. One exposes your son to incompetent or at worst insincere cheating leaders, the other to excellent men in excellent troops who are not of our faith. One excludes creative leaders and the other celebrates them. Then you wonder why your boy develops incredible strength of character and integrity that won’t allow him to compromise personal goals and values in order to serve a full-time mission.
Then there is the idea of tough love. Sometimes my blood boils and I want to stand up in testimony meeting and cut loose and really tell these people what I think. Then I remenber my coronary stents and leave it to another generation to deal with the morass.
I wish you luck with your effort to connect with LDS basics. (Not the basics of deceit, conceit, authoritarianism, judgmentalism.) My experience is that at best it is a hard road and not many walk it successfully for the long haul. Your own way will grow lonely and eventually diverge too far from the wide paths of mediocracy.
Love the application to a familiar scripture. I agree that, ideally, our worship should push us in each of those areas, not just the ones in which we are most comfortable. Can’t say it’s always pleasant… but there can be good outcomes.