We have two wards in our city and about a third of our city is zoned to attend a church building in a smaller community about 10 miles away. Interesting tangent that the LDS church can supplement this smaller city's ward by forcing people to drive an extra 10 miles each way to attend church on Sunday. Anyway, the two wards in our city that share a building have been struggling and it was ultimately decided to disband our ward and fold it into the other ward.
This means that the ward is somewhat larger and this has made it easier for us to be unnoticed and relatively unbothered in our smattering of church attendance. This also means that we have a new bishop and he recently reached out to our family to meet with my newly turned 17 year old son. We gave my son the option of having one of us go in with him but he opted to go alone. I prepped him for what I assumed would be mostly TR questions.
The actual interview actually turned out to be more of a "get to know you chat" than I had given the bishop credit for. In talking to my son afterwards he shared with me that the bishop told him that the Word of Wisdom is a commandment only given the members of the church to set us apart from the world and there is no sin for non-members to partake in these things. That seemed like a fairly novel approach. What truly blew me away was when the bishop told my 17 year old that religious proselyting missions aren't for everyone. (my son is on the autism spectrum - so that may enter into what the bishop said)
I'm hopeful that this indicates a more compassionate, more member centric local ward administration.
New Ward, New Bishop
New Ward, New Bishop
"It is not so much the pain and suffering of life which crushes the individual as it is its meaninglessness and hopelessness." C. A. Elwood
“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
"I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene" Heber13
“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
"I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene" Heber13
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TinSoldier
- Posts: 41
- Joined: 25 Jan 2020, 01:51
Re: New Ward, New Bishop
Sounds promising so far. I sincerely hope your experience in your new ward remains positive.
Re: New Ward, New Bishop
Bishop started F&T meeting by saying emotionally that his former bishop and two good friends from his previous ward have left the church (I thought at first that someone had died by how emotional he was getting). He framed it as how we all need to be careful because if it can happen to these fine individuals, it can happen to anybody. Still, this is yet another data point that my new bishop may be a little more compassionate on individuals going through a faith crisis.
"It is not so much the pain and suffering of life which crushes the individual as it is its meaninglessness and hopelessness." C. A. Elwood
“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
"I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene" Heber13
“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
"I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene" Heber13
Re: New Ward, New Bishop
<shrugs>
My husband is practicing being more nuanced, teaching our youngest how to be a more nuanced community member, and we are in the "differentiation" phase (mostly) again/still. He made conversational space for those who don't necessarily believe in Jesus Christ but do believe in "Faith (in outside of themselves), Hope, and Charity" in Sunday School 2 Sundays ago [referencing my faith transition]
NOTE: I am glad that he put my faith transition in such a common ground way because that means that he sees it that way (finally). I am uneasy about "church activities 2024" because people might remember what he said and judge me if I was to show up. I "show up" with my boundaries where I decide to do so - so I can totally do the work to show up in those activities if I decide to do so - it's just a tad more daunting.
There are a lot of victories in those statements though.
I am genuinely happy that my husband is going back to church and doing faithful practices to sustain himself instead of leaving it up to chance, or creating "emotional labor" for me to figure out what he needs and prompting/motivating him to get it.
"It could happen to anybody" is still fear-mongering in my book though:)
My husband is practicing being more nuanced, teaching our youngest how to be a more nuanced community member, and we are in the "differentiation" phase (mostly) again/still. He made conversational space for those who don't necessarily believe in Jesus Christ but do believe in "Faith (in outside of themselves), Hope, and Charity" in Sunday School 2 Sundays ago [referencing my faith transition]
NOTE: I am glad that he put my faith transition in such a common ground way because that means that he sees it that way (finally). I am uneasy about "church activities 2024" because people might remember what he said and judge me if I was to show up. I "show up" with my boundaries where I decide to do so - so I can totally do the work to show up in those activities if I decide to do so - it's just a tad more daunting.
There are a lot of victories in those statements though.
I am genuinely happy that my husband is going back to church and doing faithful practices to sustain himself instead of leaving it up to chance, or creating "emotional labor" for me to figure out what he needs and prompting/motivating him to get it.
"It could happen to anybody" is still fear-mongering in my book though:)