Community Of Christ Services?

[Saints Alive]

Out of morbid curiosity, and out of a sense of historical reconnection, I attended a Community of Christ sunday service (turns out they don't call it Sacrament Meeting because they only do sacrament once a month).

For those who don't know the Community of Christ is what used to be called The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They came mainly from "Saints" who did not believe Brigham Young was the next prophet but Joseph Smith III was supposed to be instead. They remained in Illinois and Missouri (their Church HQ is in Missouri) and spent the last 200+ years trying to distance themselves from the "utah Mormons"

The service I attended was akin to our stake conference (even though there were fewer people than some branches I have been to). It was a complete 180 degree difference from the LDS sacrament meetings I was used to. The main difference being the two female "priesthood" leaders. I never found out what priesthood they held but the older lady must have been at least a priest as she later blessed the sacrament. The younger lady (perhaps in her mid to late twenties) must have been a deacon or teacher as she returned to her seat when the sacrament was blessed. But, I am getting ahead of my self because another key difference was that sacrament was second to last.

The meeting began with an opening prayer, instead of an off the cuff prayer it was obvious that this prayer had been written out and was much more similar to a baptist or methodist prayer, modern language (no the, thy or Thou), and it started by addressing the Lord instead of Heavenly Father.

Next was a series of talks by the youth and one by the younger "priesthood" leader. The talks were pretty good and sounded similar to what you might expect. There was another series of hymns or songs, these songs were not the classic hymns I was accustom to, these were modern songs one might expect at an evangelical service. It was not to my taste but i cant say the songs were bad either.

The last thing before the closing prayer was Sacrament. The blessing of the Sacrament was identical except instead of saying "bless this water" they say "bless this Water or Wine" they also do both prayers at the same time. They had two people passing the Sacrament, The older lady and a man who appeared to be her husband. Despite my feelings about female priesthood holders there was something novel about a husband-wife couple blessing and passing the sacrament. Not only do they bless both emblems at the same time they pass them at the same time as well. I politely declined when the tray came to me but i did notice that they had both water and wine on the tray. They used a circular metal tray instead of the square ones I see every sunday.

After sacrament there was a closing prayer and a pot luck dinner. I skipped the pot luck but did say farewell to a few of the nice people I met. So if I still have your attention, have you ever attended a Community of Christ service? Would you have taken their sacrament? or do you have any questions about my experience?

[thesometimesaint]

Saints Alive:

Some what less than 200 years.

Anyway; Different strokes, for different folks.

[Storm Rider]

My aunt and uncle are members of the CofC. They are wonderful people, but I have never attended a meeting with them. I have talked with several historians within the CofC and also found them to be wonderful people.

The female ordinations did cause problems for their movement as well as some other things that have occurred.

Would I have taken the Sacrament? I don't know. I am not sure I would be completely against partaking of it, but it would really depend upon the Spirit and how it felt at the moment.

I was sick one time and my uncle wanted to give me a blessing; however, my wife called our home teachers and had them do so. Uncle got his feelings hurt and I have always regretted not allowing him to give me a blessing. I would have viewed it as a blessing of faith rather than a priesthood blessing.

[One Clear Voice]

My aunt and uncle are members of the CofC. They are wonderful people, but I have never attended a meeting with them. I have talked with several historians within the CofC and also found them to be wonderful people.

The female ordinations did cause problems for their movement as well as some other things that have occurred.

Would I have taken the Sacrament? I don't know. I am not sure I would be completely against partaking of it, but it would really depend upon the Spirit and how it felt at the moment.

I was sick one time and my uncle wanted to give me a blessing; however, my wife called our home teachers and had them do so. Uncle got his feelings hurt and I have always regretted not allowing him to give me a blessing. I would have viewed it as a blessing of faith rather than a priesthood blessing.

You simply stood by your own true beliefs. Your Uncle would understand as you would have respected his beliefs had you offered him the Elders to Bless him!

[ebeddoulos]

While I was in the Army, I made good friends with an RLDS member. Over the years I and my family have stayed in his home, worshipped at his church, and exchanged sets of scriptures with him. There were some oddities in both the similarities and in the differences. That said, I was not made to feel uncomfortable. My children thought it was fun and to this day still talk of it. Still, while is was somewhat close, it was not close enough.

[Calm]

You simply stood by your own true beliefs. Your Uncle would understand as you would have respected his beliefs had you offered him the Elders to Bless him!

Best solution....have two blessings, one from the family member and one from the Elders as both would have great value.

[Damien the Leper]

I have attended Community of Christ services on numerous occassions. I'm considering attending either their World Conference or National Conference in 2013 or maybe both. I'm not sure what the major themes of the WC 2013 but NC 2013 will deal with homosexual ordinations and full inclusion in Community of Christ. The purpose of the 2 separate conferences is due to the fact that some countries that have Community of Christ congregations have outlawed homosexuality.

Conferences aside, I have always enjoyed the spirit-filled services of Community of Christ. It is always difficult not to have a sense of nostalgia or loss when I have attended. I say this because I don't view them as 'apostate' or part of a different movement. I see them as part of the same movement with a different road for the journey.

I've also met their former apostle Dale Luffman. He was a fascinating and intelligent man. I was amazed at his knowledge of the Book of Mormon and its place in the Restoration Movement.

Overall....amazingly wonderful church with amazingly wonderful members. I am glad to call them brothers and sisters.

[Damien the Leper]

Best solution....have two blessings, one from the family member and one from the Elders as both would have great value.

Even better solution...have both priesthoods in on the blessing.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Valentinus

[Calm]

LDS generally view RLDS/CoC as nonmembers without the priesthood. I am assuming since women are not invited to partipate in priesthood blessings, that one has to be a priesthood holder to stand in when the blessing is considered an ordinance and not a blessing of faith. Perhaps a priesthood holder familiar with the rules and restrictions can clarify. I do know that a mother can participate by laying her hands on their child when the father is giving a father's/healing blessing, but I don't know if this is so when an anointing takes place where another elder is also participating.

[Sky]

The members of the Community of Christ strike me as good, decent, and harmless people. They also seem to have a respectful relationship with the LDS Church. And I hope I’m not out of line for saying this, but their organization has evolved to the point to where I wonder if it’s really what Joseph Smith had in mind (I know some people would say the same thing about the LDS Church). The CofC has become an interesting hybrid between its Mormon roots and its liberal Protestant leanings of today. But whatever Joseph may have had in mind, I don’t think he intended that there be two separate churches originating from him.

[ldsfaqs]

Breakaway sects are entirely their own religions, completely different than what Joseph established. They are now mostly Evangelical/Protestant/Mormon mixed hybrid religions. Basically they look like those who never really were fully mormon, who left the Church, and then over the years even more and more began to look like those of other religions rather than mormonism.

[Garden Girl]

Even though they look upon us as the apostates, I'm sure members of CoC are wonderful people, particularly if they follow their tenets faithfully. I would have an attitude about the same as if I attended a Methodist or similar Church... although I wouldn't personally partake of their sacrament any more that I would expect non-LDS to partake of our sacrament. But I would appreciate the fact that they worship Christ and look upon them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

I would probably feel a twinge of sadness that they had chosen to break away, but would try not to be condescending any more than I would any other Christian denomination but instead be happy about the common ground of being one with Christ.

GG

[annewandering]

I have talked to a few Community of Christ members as well. They seem very nice to me. One thing I do like about them is that they seem to be very non confrontational even when attacked. (not by me but others)

[cdowis]

For me the defining moment was when the church moved from a traditional leadership (a descendant of Joseph Smith) to a professional theologian, a graduate of a divinity school. Don't know much about him, but it is clear that he is pretty liberal in his theology and practices. I'm sure he was enjoying himself moving this church from their traditional roots to something "more enlightened" in the modern age.

I understand that Joseph Smith has become de-emphasized, along with the BOM, along with the name change. I wonder if they really care anymore about the temple property in Independence, except for its historical significance.

[Stargazer]

On my mission in Germany in my first city, my companion and I tracted into several RLDS households on the same block (they were all relatives), and while friendly they weren't interested in talking much except for one woman who invited us in for a conversation. She told us that she didn't really believe in the RLDS church, though the rest of her family did, which led to us urging her to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon, which she said she had never read. That was the last of our contact with them all, and though she seemed open enough, she didn't really want to get into any kind of conflict with the rest of her relations by having lessons with the Mormon missionaries. We left it at that.

Interesting incident. My companion, a farmboy from Malad, Idaho, was astonished at running into RLDS so far from the USA.

[Thunderfire]

Even though they look upon us as the apostates, I'm sure members of CoC are wonderful people, particularly if they follow their tenets faithfully.

I wanted to jump in here as say that as a member of the Community of Christ (and from my experience), we do not see the LDS as apostates. From our perspective, we are happy when anyone seeks out or pursues our Eternal Christ.

Always before us is the image of the kingdom, even Zion the beautiful. Many see themselves as part of something much bigger than an earthly denomination. They see themselves as part of the Church of the Firstborn. For instances, we do not believe those of the Church of the Firstborn call themselves RLDS/Community of Christ, LDS, or see themselves by these limited terms. Rather, they see themselves as members of the Church of the Firstborn. So if this is the case with them, when be begin to see ourselves as those of the House of Israel and Church of the Firstborn, concepts of being in apostasy due to denominational membership makes no sense if our loyalty is in Christ Jesus.

Anyway, just my thoughts...

[Damien the Leper]

I wanted to jump in here as say that as a member of the Community of Christ (and from my experience), we do not see the LDS as apostates. From our perspective, we are happy when anyone seeks out or pursues our Eternal Christ.

Always before us is the image of the kingdom, even Zion the beautiful. Many see themselves as part of something much bigger than an earthly denomination. They see themselves as part of the Church of the Firstborn. For instances, we do not believe those of the Church of the Firstborn call themselves RLDS/Community of Christ, LDS, or see themselves by these limited terms. Rather, they see themselves as members of the Church of the Firstborn. So if this is the case with them, when be begin to see ourselves as those of the House of Israel and Church of the Firstborn, concepts of being in apostasy due to denominational membership makes no sense if our loyalty is in Christ Jesus.

Anyway, just my thoughts...

Amazingly well said, Thunderfire. I have never heard a member of Community of Christ make a statement that the LDS is apostate.

I cannot, however, say the same for a local Restoration Branch. I don't mean anything negative because even they have differing attitudes. Some of their congregants take the hard line and see other groups, Community of Christ included, to be apostate. Other congregants take a different position and see others on a different path toward the same destination.

Come to think of it, many of my LDS friends don't consider other Restoration groups to be apostate either. I never have.

[LeSellers]

I wanted to jump in here as say that as a member of the Community of Christ (and from my experience), we do not see the LDS as apostates. From our perspective, we are happy when anyone seeks out or pursues our Eternal Christ.

I can't really speak about anything regarding this today. I know only one RLDS family (neither the husband nor the wife remained in the CoC after women were ordained—the wife is now LDS, her husband has joined an offshoot of the Reorganization).

However, my parents vividly recalled and recounted their memories of RLDS missionaries in Utah and Idaho in the 30s and 40s. If they had merely called us apostates, it would have been a major improvement compared to what they actually said. Mom told my that she had never heard such language, not even from her totally inactive, Navy-employed father nor her Disabled Veteran brother (who lost both feet in Korea, c.1952).

The rhetoric was probably returned (I know Joseph Fielding Smith had no great respect for his cousins), but the language employed was not equivalent.

Lehi

[Alan]

I am a former member of the Community of Christ. It's a long story.

I am of course familiar with the typical worship service, though they do vary. There are still congregations which, quite deliberatley, have no female priesthood - though not many. The sacrament prayers can be either the ones you experienced or the traditional ones ie. the same as ours. It is up to the local leadership.

One thing is for sure though (and this is true in every CofC congregation I have been in) they sing better than us! They're nice people but overall the church is dying on its feet. In an attempt to disinguish themselves from us and their Mormon roots they have become increasingly liberal in belief and practice. This has resulted in the more conservative element leaving in droves and establishing independent Restoration Branches, or new church's altogether.

With regard to history, one slight correction. The RLDS church was organised mostly by former and therefore disillusioned Strangites who had very little initial interest in Joseph Smith III but were united in their dislike of Brigham Young.