Its no secret that I think LDS leaders are treated as demi-gods. They are disconnected from the general population of their church. They sit in ivory towers as their church’s members eagerly wait to hear them speak anything.
I have been studying Community of Christ, which has been very interesting. Its similar to the LDS church because they share a history, but it is radically different. They have women leaders, continually add to their Doctrine and Covenants, and their leadership are an active part of their church.
I went to a digital CoC get together last week. There were 4 or 5 of us that attended. I knew a couple of the people on the call – one was the pastor of Southern Utah and another the host of the largest CoC podcast (Project Zion). There were some people I didn’t recognize, a techie guy and a woman who looked like she was in her late 20s/early 30s (who I’ll call J). During this get together we all just talked about how we were doing emotionally during the pandemic and quarantine. It was good to emotionally validate and be emotionally validated. I told them that I was pretty new to, but was loving the community. They were excited that I was excited, and were eager to help me feel like I AM a part of the community. One of the people asked me for my address and told me he’d send me a hymnal as a present. I thanked them and said that I would accept the gift, but also told them that I wasn’t very musically inclined. They said it didn’t matter, and they wanted to give it to me.
A couple of days later I got the hymnal in the mail. I saw that J had sent it, and she wrote a sweet little message to me. She also left a business card in there. It turns out that she is a seventy.
I have been addressing a lot of the Christian baggage I have because of the LDS church. Seeing just how egalitarian and focused on peace and friendship the people of Community of Christ are has made it infinitely easier. It is such a breath of fresh air, and it feels good to be welcomed to be a part of it.
So, what was the hymnal like? I definitely am not a musically inclined person, but my wife happens to be a music major. We sat down at our piano and thumbed through some of the hymns. Some of them she recognized, like “I danced in the Morning/Lord of the Dance“, and noted that she loved how happy it sounded. I told her that LDS hymns seem to always sound very solemn, and she was surprised by this; the hymns she sang growing up always gave her a feeling of celebration. Some of the hymns I recognized like “The Spirit of God“. I told her I always liked that song because it was so classically Mormon and it gave kind of an epic feeling that the story of God is still unfolding and we’re still a part of it. I was reminded of and my wife of an experience from the LDS hymnal that I always thought was funny: When I was growing up, if I didn’t want to sing I would always advocate for us to sing the LDS hymn “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow“, which is only 2 lines. Sure enough, in CoC’s hymnal I found “Eat this Bread”, which is also only 2 lines long! We both really liked “We are children of creation, star-flung bits of living fire”, because it talked a lot about us being star-dust – it sounded as if Carl Sagan wrote it. I was also particularly struck by “Left over people in left over places“, which talks a lot about how God cares most about “leftover people” like the poor, disabled, and those addicted to drugs and advocates for us to love and help them. “Circle Round for Freedom” advocates for protecting freedom, peace, the planet, everyone alive today, and future generations.
Overall, I am very thankful for the gift that my Community of Christ friends have given me. I was able to share a wonderful and meaningful experience with my wife as we explore spirituality a bit together.