They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
https://biblehub.com/matthew/23-4.htm
It is interesting to read Christ’s criticism of the religious structures of his day.
He did not counsel disobedience as he counseled:
So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.
https://biblehub.com/matthew/23-3.htm
After a long discourse on pride he then stated:
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
https://biblehub.com/matthew/23-11.htm
This came to mind when I was cleaning the chapel one week and found myself cleaning with a member of the stake presidency. The area president I knew cleaned his chapel as well.
- What examples can you think of where people have been true to this scripture’s intent?
- When have they not?
- What parts of this sermon (Matthew 1:14) resonate most with you?
Footnote:
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Wheat & Tares 
This is a fantastic example of leadership. Leaders should be found cleaning chapels and raking leaves right along with the rank and file.
Unfortunately, the trend among younger leaders is in the opposite direction. They sit around and have meetings about people and service projects, rather than meeting with the people and serving with them in the projects.
It does no good for leaders to meet “about” people unless they are going to then meet “with” those people. The people need examples of work, not ego. I’ll take a leader with dirt under his fingernails who works over a figurehead in an Armani suit every time.
JCS you are coming around with less bombshells.
I disagree that “They sit around and have meetings about people and service projects, rather than meeting with the people and serving with them in the project”
One problem inherantly with correlation mormonism is that the older generations mostly have instituted meetings, to plan for a meeting for the next meeting. My younger self commented this and was met with steading the arc comments.
If mormonism does not shift its focus from meetings and worthless time fillers to true christian service it will be a very small church with large bank account.
As missionaries we tried to do service and were told we are not in mission to make friends but to baptize.
The church as a whole talks of service but fails miserablly at it because they want measureable , quantifiable data ….which true service never will show.
The only true service as an instutiution are the rare kind bishops of the church wgho organize a ward event….however they are never promoted to SP or GA status.
When i was in leadership, and assigned to arrange chapel cleaning. Several of the clique leadership would refuse to clean the bathrooms and reassign themselves to other chores. But then would lecture others in obedience.
Cleaning the chapel is not true christian service. True chrstian service is donating to bountiful children foundation, or what many of us have done with helping indivuduals. But the lds instuution truely fails true chrstian service. Its mission is $$$ and obidience not helping our neighbors.
Fairly consistently, the Church makes an announcement that the GAs recognize the burden that is placed in young families. They announce that because of this recognition, meetings will be reduced. But the reality is that this announcement is ignored and nothing changes.
There are too many administrative meetings and they are not efficient. People show up to ward council or presidency meeting with no idea of what the meeting is about, so they cannot prepare or think ahead about the issues. Then, there is alway the “going around the circle” when everyone feels compelled to bring up some inane item just so they can make a comment.
Faith is right that too many meetings are simply about planning the next meeting. This must change if the Church is going to accomplish anything, to say nothing of retaining the interests of its younger members.
Last year the Elders Quorum President asked me to meet with him to report on my ministering so he could complete his report. I told him that if a report was involved it was not Ministering. The only way to track Ministering is to ask the Bishop how he feels about Ministering in his ward and hopefully he is in touch enough and has received inspiration that he can answer the question.
When “prophet, seer, and revelator” is a title. When you do not have to do any of it to achieve the title, or maintain it. When getting the top job is not merit, but outliving others.
While cleaning the chapel (and classrooms and bathrooms) may be humble, I place it in the same category as cultural influences who tell their followers to make their bed or wash their face.
It’s small, basic, and can help with starting the day off right. BUT it’s performative. It doesn’t do real good for the real needs in our families, communities and world.
I have a friend who lives in the same ward as a high-level politician who does help clean the church. (The ward has some diversity.) BUT this person has wealth and power that could be used to effect real change, but instead furthers policies that entrench wealth disparity, and minimize accountability of corporations.
Exponentially lost opportunities.
When the lds church used to hire people to clean church buildings, it provided employment. Now it’s another instance of exploiting free labor.