Some of the sweetest testimonies of Jesus Christ that I've heard have come from my Christian friends. I love their focus on the savior in their personal lives and on service to others. Because of this, I thought it would be a nice way to spend Easter by taking my teens to a non-denominational Christian church service.
I have attended one a few times over the last two years, the first time when my sister-in-law, who is active LDS, invited my teen daughters to go "church-hopping" on conference weekend. I had never heard of that but I wanted to go, too!
We went to a community church in Daybreak and were embarrassed to find ourselves the only ones dressed like LDS Church attendees. You do not have to wear dress clothes when you attend these churches. They are casual dress, which is actually quite relaxing. It is really difficult to get a large family ready in the morning for picture day and dress occasions, so I appreciate the casual dress.
We've been having a discussion with our friends about the different denominations. I have not really understood the differences, particularly between evangelical and Anglican, but I'm working on it. Even though they have differences, they recognize each other as "Christian" because they share a common belief in several things, one being the trinity. I consider myself Christian because I accept Jesus Christ as my savior. "Mormons" believe in Jesus Christ and the atonement, but not in trinity. We do believe in the "Godhead", which is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost as three separate entities. There are many other differences, as I am learning, but the trinity, and grace v. works are apparently at the heart of the "Are Mormons Christian" argument? I think it's fascinating.
My little daughters are excited about Easter, but more about getting candy and having a holiday. We had a family party yesterday and socialized, hid bags of candy-filled eggs in the backyard for the younger kids, then had to hide the older girls' bags, too, because they felt left out. My sister hid them very well; it took the girls forever to find their bags! They got some $ from grandma and grandpa, so they hatched a plan with their cousin who lives close by to see the new Hannah Montana movie with their loot. They liked the movie; one of my daughters has now seen it twice and plans to see it again. I thought Hannah only held appeal with my daughter Holly, but now my 4-year-old Vivi is flipped over her, and I guess the teens are Miley Cyrus's age, so...
There were some very happy Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus fans in Utah Friday when the popstar/actress and her dad Billy Ray popped in for a surprise visit at a Utah matinee screening of her new movie. The screening was held at the theater at The District, which is not too far from where I live. We go there occasionally, but mostly we try to see first run movies at the Carmike Theater on Redwood Road where prices are $4 per person matinee and $6 or $6.50 in the evenings (that's $1.50 cheaper than everywhere else), and if you buy a bucket of popcorn, you can refill it every time you come for only 50 cents. It's a lot cheaper for a large family on a budget! Or, we go to the Sandy Movies dollar theater, where every ticket is $1.50 for matinees or $2.00 for evening showings, with special rates for Mondays or whatever. Some movies I don't mind waiting for, and just aren't worth paying more than that!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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1 comments:
I've never liked referring to Trinitarians as Christians because that implies that I am not a Christian. I am a Christian whether they want to admit it or not.
If that sounds familiar it’s because you are a Mormon whether or not the LDS leadership wants to admit it.
As for the "Sunday Dress Code", I have long been in favor of casual dress for church. More than once I have been asked by some well meaning busy body why I don't wear a tie or why I might wear sandals. Always it's somebody that really doesn't know me and thus doesn't know my heart.
My response is "Unless this is a job interview or your funeral don't expect to ever see me in a tie."
It's a promise I have kept. A bishop that I loved very much passed away a few years ago. I wore a tie for his funeral.
As for sandals, they were good enough for the Savior so they are good enough for me.
We Mormons are well meaning when it comes to showing respect for the Lord on the Sabbath but do have a tendency towards pointless conformity with the whole white shirt and tie thing. I’d rather be thinking about the Savior and his atonement for my sins than fiddling with my tie because it feels like I’m being hanged.
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