Thursday, September 4, 2008

Kicked out.

Well, not really. But it's an interesting story. You see, when I went to church on sunday, I met a few people, one of who was a member of the bishopric. He said "Are you new in the ward?" and I replied "I don't know if this i the right ward, but..." and he interruppted, "What is your address?" And I gave it to him, adding "but...." And he interrupted again "that is in our ward. Welcome!" and he wrote down my name and adress and walked away.

Last night, he and another member of the bishopric showed up on my doorstep, invited themselves in, (in spite of the fact that I had barely walked in the door with cafe rio, which was gettin cold as they chatted.) They pestered my roommate, who works sundays and prefers to say inactive. It was embarrassing. They pestered her for 25 minutes before they talked to me again, and asked what callings I had held in the past. Finally given an opportunity to speak, I said "Before you get too far, I need to tell you that I am 31, and is that ok?"

They stopped. They stood up and said "you are welcome to attend our social activites, but for church, you need to go to a different ward. Have a good evening." ( I checked myself for leprosy later that night.)

Well, at least they didn't mince any words. I just wish they had let me find that out before I wasted another sunday and several social efforts on it. Besides the fact that it felt a little rude, abrupt, un-welcoming, choose an adjective.

I guess I really don't want to attend ward with that flavor anyways. My response to them, as they went out the door was simply, "Oh, thats ok. I don't go to church for the social activities. I prefer to go to church to worship. So, goodbye."

They just lost a damn good teacher.

3 comments:

Jessie said...

oh my gosh! what jerks! why can't some church leaders comprehend that it is more important that a person feels welcome to "worship how, when, and where they may" than being in exactly the right ward!?! When Bon and his family first moved out here, there wasnt a singles ward in their stake so he tried to go to one in the neighboring stake - not a big deal, right? well, apparently it is. the bishop threw a huge fit when Bon tried to explain things to him and he told Bon that he was not, under any circumstances, allowed to attend that ward. Gee, how Christ-like!

And any ward would be lucky to have you! (especially mine)

susan m hinckley said...

Damn right.

Jess said...

Hey, I got kicked out of a ward once, too. Actually, I was told I was unwelcome at their social activities, too. Dang it, how in the world would I meet my future husband?

Oh, wait, when I went to go complain to the Stake Pres about it, I met my future husband. So, there, silly Bishop who wouldn't let me into the meet market.

He was quite surprised to get a wedding announcement from me.

(This is my third attempt to post this comment. Apparently, I can't decipher those letters on the screen.)