Part of my church calling is to visit ward conferences. Since we have twelve wards in our stake, there's one ward conference per month. I get to hear a lot of different speakers and teachers present their thoughts, and there are some very dynamic teachers out there. Today, one of the other ladies in the Stake Relief Society Presidency leaned over to me during the Relief Society meeting and whispered, "This ward is always interesting to visit." We had enjoyed a lively discussion during Sunday School discussing Section 46 of the Doctrine & Covenants, and in Relief Society, we were talking about a General Conference talk by Elder Hales entitled "Being a More Christian Christian." Many of the women shared ways in which we LDS people can interact with our neighbors and friends.
In Utah, there are a lot of LDS people (Mormons). That's a fact. And with so many LDS people living nearby each other in neighborhoods, it often seems to the non-LDS neighbors that the Mormons are snobby and clique-ish. While there are always people in any group whose behavior makes you positively cringe with embarrassment, most LDS people don't actually intend to be snobby. We are busy, like everyone else, and as a result of our callings within our congregations, we often interact more with other LDS neighbors and not as much with the others. We know those members we see at least once a week at church, and that makes it easier. But then we often don't take the time to get to know our other neighbors. Or we're shy. Or we're afraid they won't like us because we're LDS. Or for whatever stupid reason, we never really follow up on our intentions to invite them over and get to know them.
On either side of me, I have non-LDS neighbors or neighbors who are baptized members but who don't attend church. I'm happy to say I know all of their names and we all get along fine with each other. But I have never asked them to dinner because I'm always aware of the fact that my house isn't exactly how I want it to be. Why I think they expect perfection from a woman with six kids and half the neighborhood hanging out in various rooms of the house at any given hour, I don't know. I have never forbidden my children from playing with non-LDS kids, but I haven't invited their parents over because I'm tired, the house is not tidy, and I get too stressed out about making everything lovely and perfect. What a sad excuse.
I grew up in Northern Minnesota, where LDS people are few and far between. I had friends who knew nothing about my church or who had very odd ideas based on rumors and myths they'd heard from uninformed people. Most of the kids I went to school with were Catholic or Protestant or Jewish or didn't affiliate themselves with any religion in particular. If they had questions about what I believed, I had no problem answering them. It never occurred to me that they would be offended at my beliefs, and they never were. Puzzled, maybe, but not offended. It was great to go to church on Sundays and worship with people who believed like I did, but I was not afraid of people who were not LDS.
I'm not afraid now, either. I'm tired, though. And lazy. And busy. And so I probably seem snobbish and clique-ish to my neighbors, even if I wave and smile at them or share a few comments about the weather or the one neighbor's amazing home-grown tomatoes.
Anyway, we had a very interesting discussion in Relief Society, and yes, that ward is always fun and interesting to visit. You never know what's going to happen or what someone's going to say. I love that. It was a great day at church and I felt spiritually fed. Maybe one of these days I'll feed the neighbors.
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