A New Tradition

I'm a Mormon.  I love being a Mormon and I'm always going to be a Mormon.  However, here's the problem with a lot of Mormons:  they're really into missionary work.  This isn't inherently a bad thing; if Mormons really believe they have the best stuff, why not share it?  The problem is that Mormons just kind of expect everyone to drop everything and come learn about the Mormon church, but Mormons aren't expected to even try to learn about the faiths of those whom they're trying to convert.

I want to change this.  I want to shed this insular reputation that Mormons have in regard to other faiths.

So I'm starting a new tradition:  Alt-Service Sunday!

Today is Stake Conference in my church (basically a gathering of all the smaller congregations to have one big meeting), and, for various reasons that don't really fit in this particular blog post, I don't really want to go.  And Stake Conference isn't like "real" church because there's no Sacrament* and that's really the only reason you're supposed to have church anyway.**  So I'm going to skip Stake Conference (and maybe all future Stake Conferences) to go to a non-LDS service.  I did this once in Honolulu when I hated my singles' branch and went to a Unitarian service for Easter and it was amazing, and people were so nice!  Boston has no shortage of diverse and interesting churches, and I'd like to see what they're like.***

I'm hoping to gain the following things from this tradition:

• Learn about the teachings of other religions.
• Find similarities between the teachings of other religions and mine.
• Strengthen my testimony of the Gospel of Christ by adding depth to it.
• Get involved in the community by meeting people outside of the Mormon Microcosm.

Even though Stake Conference is only twice a year, I'd like to do this more than twice a year.  This won't be too difficult because 1) other churches don't have three-hour-long services (ugh...Mormons), 2) other churches have Saturday services!  Anyone reading this (who lives in Boston, of course) is welcome to join me, or suggest places I should visit.  I also plan to blog about what I learned at each service, so stay tuned.

*Sacrament:  the Mormon term for Eucharist, Communion, etc.
**This is probably debatable, and probably going to get me yelled at by people who really enjoy all three hours of church, but I'm going to stand firm that Sacrament is the most important part of church.
***Not to mention a lot of them are in really awesome and beautiful old buildings, which is also kind of a secondary reason that I'm doing this.