Offering Better Fellowship Within the LDS Church

My companion, Joette, and I sat at Darlene's kitchen table, as she reflected on the visiting teaching theme for 2007: becoming an instrument in the Lord's hands. Joette and Darlene each embody this theme as shining examples of faithful Latter Day Saint Women. "One thing about these lessons, they're certainly telling us that we're instruments," Darlene mused with a smile. Joette chuckled, "Yes, it seems so."

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we all do in fact act as instruments in someone's hands, unfortunately those hands are not always the Lord's.

In my spare time I visit a forum for Latter Day Saint mothers. The members of this community, like Joette and Darlene, truly act as the Lord's instruments. Through this forum, I have had many opportunities to participate in spiritual discussions, as well as to receive support from other LDS mothers. I have on several occasions been touched by the strong testimonies of these women and their unwavering support of those who are new or returning to the gospel.

Recently, as I scanned the forum posts I came across a message from a young mother who is a convert to the Church and has struggled with inactivity. My heart ached with disappointment as she related the following events. She explained that typically she and her husband only attend Sacrament meeting due to the difficulty of dealing with her two small children for three long hours. However, one Sunday, after a particularly spiritual sacrament meeting, they chose to stay for the first time in months. This was an important step for them.

They went to their Gospel Principles class and realizing that they had heard the same lesson several times before, they decided to attend a Temple Prep course instead. Shockingly, the teacher in the class told the couple that they could not stay, and that they needed to return to their regular class. The couple explained that they had heard all of the lessons in their Gospel Principles class and that they felt that it would benefit them more to move on to new material. They also mentioned their hopes of going to the temple soon, and that they felt they belonged in the Temple Prep class. The teacher laughed scornfully and told the couple that it didn't matter which class they attended because it would be at least 3 to 5 years before they could even think about going to the temple because their inactivity had made them unworthy of temple attendance. The couple stood their mortified as this awkward discussion took place in front of the entire class. Luckily their bishop walked in on the tense conversation and told the couple they could stay. After the bishop left , this teacher chose to begin her lesson with a comment about how irritating she found all of the noisy children in the congregation followed by a sideways glance at the couple.

I wondered, how could this happen in the house of the Lord? What could provoke this teacher to act with such a lack of charity? How could such a spirit of derision enter our Sabbath worship? How could someone called to teach others about the blessings of the temple turn away two of our Heavenly Father's children seeking those very blessings?

Instead of an instrument in the Lord's hands, this teacher became instead an instrument in the hands of the adversary. Satan, in his war with eternal families, recognized that day as an important stepping stone in the celestial journey of this family. Sadly, he found the perfect opportunity to attack their spiritual progress in the pride and hypocrisy of this Sunday School teacher's hard, judgmental heart. I'm sure he hoped that this woman and her husband would find this experience sufficient reason never to darken the chapel doors again.

Thankfully this dear sister possesses wisdom enough to differentiate between one imperfect person and a perfect gospel. Her only concern was about this particular imperfect person's comment about her inactivity holding her back from partaking of the blessings of the temple. Many women replied to her post, and most expressed horror at the behavior of this teacher. Some reaffirmed her welcomeness in any Sunday School class. Some assured her that her children did not detract from but rather added to the power of the Spirit in Sacrament Meeting. Most reminded her that Sunday School teachers have nothing to do with issuing temple recommends; that responsibility lies with the bishop. They all encouraged her and reminded her that the gospel is perfect, even though people are not.

Unfortunately, the misdeeds of flawed church members scatter too many sheep from the fold. We may not act as inappropriately as this teacher, but sometimes we commit sins of omission that allow us to unwittingly act as Satan's instruments rather than those of our Father in Heaven. Sometimes we allow our prejudices to interfere with our acceptance of others, and we allow our pride to prevent us from reaching out and offering true fellowship to those who need it most. Truly the choice of whether or not to take offense ultimately falls upon the individual, but can we live with not doing enough to enfold others in the shelter of the gospel?

Latter Day Saints should remember that our actions can effect the eternal spiritual course of our celestial brothers and sisters. We need to remember that each week when we partake of the sacrament, we take Christ's name upon us. That means that we are acting as representatives of our Redeemer and we should act accordingly. I sincerely believe that most members of the Church do their best to welcome everyone into the gospel with open arms, but sometimes we fail to do all that we can and our failure to act can make others feel unwelcome. For spirits that have not yet become firmly rooted in faith, it is easy to be swayed by the winds of adversity. Let us not be a source of adversity or a reason for our divine siblings to doubt the truth of the restored gospel. May we be a source of strength to them, rather than a weakening influence. Perhaps as you act as an instrument in the Lord's hands, you may even have the opportunity to undo damages done by the inadvertent blunders or blatant callousness of others.

It is up to each of us to remember that we certainly are instruments, and it is our choice whose instruments we will be. I sincerely hope that each of us will vigilantly guard ourselves against becoming servants to the wrong master.