…like Sending - And Receiving - A Message
Today - Sunday - in the (Mormon) religion of my benefactors was a special service, besides the regular Sacrament Service, called a Testimony Meeting. Familiar with it from ‘the old days’ as a member of the Church, I knew what to expect: The congregation is afforded the space to ‘bear their testimony’ on the truth of the Church. With quarantine measures in place from the coronavirus pandemic, they have been holding their Sunday services for the last couple of weeks in their front room. I have been invited to join them in that ritual, and I have accepted the invite. ‘When in Rome’ - to say, my attitude towards that sort of thing in their lives is that, as an extended member of their family unit, the least I can do is join them in some such of their Church activities (as I have done in the few months that I have been living her), and especially if it’s taking place right here at, er, home. And so I had joined them in last week’s Sacrament service in the front room (officiated over by the priesthood head of this household, and as joined in the blessing and serving of the Sacrament by one of his stepsons, whose family was visiting for a short while); and indicated yesterday that I would join them in their service again this Sunday. From what happened at this service, I am left wondering what would have happened if had told them that I wouldn’t be joining them this time. But to take this story one step at a time.
When the head of the household knocked on my door and told me that they were ready, and joining the group in the front room, I noted two things. One: the somewhat ‘black sheep of the family’ daughter of my niece was not present for the occasion. I had figured that that might turn out to be the case, since her political orientation differs - markedly - from that of (at least) her immediate family; and, because of the nature of that split, could as well encompass her relationship with their religion as well. And two: The head of the household was not sitting in his accustomed position in the room - directly in front of the TV. I remarked on it, and he and his mate/my niece indicated that I could sit there. ‘If I wanted,’ was the way it was put.
An omen?…In any event, I chose to do so. And the ‘session’ proceeded.
It opened with the usual: the serving of the Sacrament; the head of this household and the youngest son of the family - still living here, and going/commuting daily to BYU, a bit less than an hour’s drive away - officiating.. Next on the schedule, as was the case last Sunday, was a video, of one of the leaders of their Church giving a talk; this time on the subject of Gratitude, with the message of feeling gratitude in our lives for what we have, even with all else going on in them.
The head of this household opened the following sharing space with a touching sharing about his gratitude for having found my niece in life, after the breakup with his first wife, and how he loved all of his children, including those of my niece (five of them), whom he ‘inherited’ in the deal.(1) Who then shared her ‘testimony’ - first about her gratitude in return for her current spouse, and then, with a nod of acknowledgment to me, about how much she appreciated me, for my role in her early life, and that I had ‘chosen,’ out of all of her birth brothers snd sisters (three of them), to come live with her and her family; and then, almost seamlessly, she shifted into talking about Joseph Smith, and how supportive of him that she was, for all that he suffered for his ‘testimony,’ including, and perhaps particularly, for having seen Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in his First Version - er, Vision - and how she was, in effect, a ‘true believer’ of it, and of the Church as a whole.(2) (And if I didn’t like it,…???…) And then the space was opened for the rest of us to share/‘bear our testimony,’ and in particular regarding the session’s theme of Gratitude. Silence. She then asked each of her twin daughters in turn if they had anything that they wished to share (either on the theme of Gratitude in their lives, or on ‘bearing their testimony,’ or both subjects, was the unspoken offer). With a lack of response from either of them (half asleep in their respective positions in the room and its comfy sofas and lounge chairs) she then addressed her son Rustin, if he wanted to share anything. (Which he chose to do, in such a low voice - characteristic of him - that, even though he was sitting on the floor next to me I couldn’t catch most of it; which had something to do about his partner on his Mission for the Church in Japan, and how he didn’t like him at first.) And then it was, in effect, my turn.
I chose not to say anything. I had been mulling over the situation, and had been thinking of saying something like ‘I am just in a supportive position here, to this family. But I can share that I am touched by the sincerity that I feel in this room, from these sharings, and from that message about ‘gratitude’ from one of your Church’s leaders. I indeed experience gratitude, for having been accepted so openheartedly into this family’s space.’ Which attitude I perhaps should have shared, and especially because it was real But two things were ‘up’ for me at that point. One was that the lack of response from the twins had given me a sort of ’out,’ that I chose, in the end, to take. The other was that I was beginning to feel the setup of the whole thing. Being given the ‘prime’ seat for the session? Their choice of a talk (a number of years ago) on ‘Gratitude’ from one of the Church’s leaders?? And my growing suspicion that my benefactors had accessed my blog site, and had seen my recent posting on the founding of their Church, and were ‘sending me a message,’ to see how I would respond???
As if to say, ‘Well! The least that you could do in gratitude for our taking you in, in your time of need, would be to join our Church; or at least, don’t knock it. See, here’s our response, to your blog. - Oops…’ …
In the event, I first laid my hand on my niece’s hand and thanked her for her words, and then got up and walked over to her husband, who was putting some part of the Sacrament service on the kitchen sink shelf, and told him how touched I was by his sharing, and its sincerity. And then I went back to my room, and looked at where I had begun re-reading in a book from some years ago, during my time in retirement in Southern California by the sea. Having referred to it in these pages recently, it is called ‘The Christ Conspiracy,’ subtitled ‘The Greatest Story Ever Sold,’ by a woman (excellent) researcher by the pen name of Acharya S;(3) whose Introduction begins:(4)
“The history of religious belief on Earth is long and varied, with concepts, doctrines and rituals of all sorts designed to propitiate and beseech any number of gods and goddesses. Although many people believe religion to be a good and necessary thing, no ideology is more divisive than religion, which rends humanity in a number of ways through extreme racism, sexism and even speciesism… Religion dictates that some people are special or chosen while others are immoral and evil, and it too often insists that it is the duty of the ‘chosen’ to destroy the others. And organized religion puts a face on the divine itself that is sectarian, sexist and racist, portraying a male god of a particular ethnicity, for example. The result is that, over the centuries, humankind has become utterly divided among itself and disconnected from nature and life around it, such that it stands on the verge of chaos.
“More horrors have been caused in the name of God and religion than can be chronicled, but some examples can be provided, as well as an assessment of how religions function:”
And here she quotes an author on that subject; and then goes on:
“Even today [the book was published in 1999], when humankind likes to pretend it has evolved, battles go on around the world over whose god is bigger and better, and religious fanatics of any number of faiths repeatedly call for and receive the blood of ‘unbelievers’ and ‘infidels.’ Few religions of any antiquity have escaped unscathed by innumerable bloodbaths, and, while Islam is currently the source of much fear in the world today, Christianity is far and away the bloodiest in history.”
And the book goes into that atrocious matter in excruciating detail; besides delivering on her claim, as in her title, that Christianity is ’the greatest story ever sold’. As she delivers, as the man who penned her Preface claims and declares, on “(t)he thesis of her work, that Christianity was created artificially out of older religions to consolidate Roman state control over those religions”.
And which thesis is further developed, and rather definitively, in a book, first published in 2006, titled ‘Caesar’s Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus’ by Joseph Atwill. And whioh thus needs to be rejected. By all free-thinking people. As
not true.
Two things. One. I think that my days in this household are drawing to a close. I will continue to read the tea leaves. But I think that I was sent that idea as part of the Message that the joint heads of this household delivered to me today (whether wittingly or unwittingly). And two. Interestingly enough, I had just this past week begun to think of that sort of thing. That my time here was doing just that: drawing to a close. And in major part, because I am not of ‘the fold’ regarding their religion. (And thus, am not going to be succumbing to their somewhat subtle enticements to become so. All to ‘save my soul,’ of course. The good intentions of true believers.) What occasioned the idea was that a friend of mine, from my Findhorn Community days over in the north of Scotland, and who has been in fairly consistent contact with me, during my retirement period, from her now-home in Maine, mostly via email and sometimes by phone, forwarded me an email from a likewise former member of that community announcing that a big home that used to be part of the wider ‘spiritual community’ up there was now up for sale. Ker-ching. Now, wasn’t that an interesting idea. To go in with some other Ex-members of that Community. in our own small associated mini-community - with likeminded others, spiritually speaking. Which did not take the form either of the Christian religion or any other religion. Other than the general ‘religion’ of ‘Environmentalism’ - being good stewards of the planet. Our common Home. Gaia.
A religion that I could - would - be comfortable with.
The ‘practicing’ of which wouldn’t entail what is going on now in my life, of some degree of discomfort to my current benefactors…
But what about the quarantine circumstances, right now? Which preclude a soon move - back - to the north of Scotland.
And what about my deep passion for this country, and its role fin the transformation of the planet. Into a Golden Age…
Oh well, I thought to myself. AlI I need to do, at this point, is keep my eyes open.
And have ears to hear.
Such as
Messages.
And if Trump is right, about how this quarantine thing could be over by Easter………
…a time - according to many religions; and to pagan nature lovers; and to just observers of the natural scene around us - of
New Beginnings.
P.S. And speaking of: I may yet finish my ‘farewell address’ to this family thus:
‘But I am not of you, on the level of your religious beliefs. So, I’ll move on.
‘I have deeply appreciated your having shared your family space with me. Thank you.
‘People trying to do the right thing: Very touching.’
The bright side of Christianity…
Time will tell.
And soon.
On all of
the above.
—
footnotes:
(1) He even included me in his listing of gratitudes - and even used the word “even” me - for, as he said, my ‘different’ perspectives on life.
(Should I have known by then that ‘something was up’? in this setting??…)
(2) The thought occurred to me at that point in the ‘service’ - although it was set up by an inkling when the Church leader on the TV started talking about Gratitude, and I had ‘been put’ right smack in the center of the room for that ‘message.’ As though he were talking directly to me - that perhaps she/they had accessed my blog site - all unbeknownst to me (neither of them has ever expressed any interest in knowing about it, enough to the point of asking me what title I blog under. Perhaps because they already know???) - and knew of my recent blog regarding the - highly apparent - illicit founding of the Mormon Church, and they were sending me a message back, in inviting me to ‘their’ Testimony Meeting (complete with its added theme of Gratitude) and hearing their ‘response’.
(3) ‘Acharya’ means ‘teacher,’ but more strictly it means ‘preceptor’ - a headmaster or principal of a school. And this woman’s academic credentials cause her to be well identified with the title.
(4) After an opening quote from (the) Buddha:
“Believe not because some old manuscripts are produced, believe not because it is your national belief, believe not because you have been made to believe from your childhood, but reason truth out, and after you have analyzed it, then if you find it will do good to one and all, believe it, live up to it and help others live up to it.”
(I would say, rather: ‘Believe it if it is Truth - period.’ But then that’s just me.
I hope not.
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