Hey, Non-Mormon Friends, Come to Church With Me
Hey friend,
So, I know this is a bit strange, but I wanted to invite you to come to the Mormon Church with me this Sunday.
That’s kind of a scary thing for me to do, because religion isn’t exactly the most popular topic in the world right now. But let me tell you—it’s awesome. I mean, going to church definitely isn’t a party, but what Mormonism teaches is just incredible.
I know you have your own awesome beliefs, and that’s fantastic, but I want to help teach you about some of mine, too. Some of them might contradict what you already believe, but I think most of them will add to and support what you believe. You don’t have to like coming to church with me (even though I think you will), but I do really want you to come. At the very least it’ll be a cultural experience for you. At most, a life-changing experience.
Our full church service lasts for three hours, divided up into three one-hour-long increments. The first hour is called Sacrament Meeting. It’s definitely different from what you might be used to. The entire congregation is together in the chapel (crying newborns, sleepy senior citizens, the whole nine yards) where we hold this first meeting. We sing some piano-accompanied hymns (sometimes they use an organ, but personally I really wish they wouldn’t) and participate in the Sacrament.
The Sacrament, for Mormons, is similar to that of other Christian religions. Each member eats a tiny bit of bread and drinks a miniature cup of water to symbolize the body and blood of Christ. We members do it as a way to renew the promises we made when we were baptized (to be faithful, to remember Jesus, etc.) but you’re totally free to participate as well.
The Sacrament is by far the most important thing we do during the church service, but wait—there’s more! There are no paid pastors or teachers in the LDS Church. As such, volunteer leaders ask different members to teach from the chapel podium every week. It’s insanely cool. Even little twelve-year-olds get up and teach the entire congregation about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s truly a sight to see.
After Sacrament Meeting is over, we go to Sunday School. There are various Sunday School classes but they’re each much more personal and informal than Sacrament Meeting. It’s essentially just like a college class, but on the gospel rather than Medieval literature (even though I’m sure that’s wildly useful). We read read scriptures from the Bible and The Book of Mormon, and we also study the words of modern day prophets (yeah, you read that correctly. Message me and we’ll talk).
After Sunday School is over
