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Show 55 I am back in Pleasant Grove and back in church. The sacrament has been passed and this week the main speaker is a recently returned missionary who served his mission in New York. I rum my head to look at the clock every minute and swear that the big hand is moving backwards. Well played, God. After trying to read the hymn book for a while, something the returned missionary says catches my attention. "Even though I think these members had good intentions, I think it is important to remember that where we choose to put ourselves does make a difference. And while it might seem okay to go to bars as long as you aren't drinking, or to be in a casino as long as you aren't gambling, ask yourself: do you think the spirit is waiting for you there? Spencer W. Kimball said: 'Stand ye in holy places'..." I think about Jacob's dilapidated warm-up room and wonder whether it qualifies as a holy place. "Temples and churches are holy-even our homes should be holy," the missionary says. And he loses me. The answer is church? That gets you three hours a week. What am I supposed to do when I'm not in church, just stay at home all day praying and hope it's holy enough? I start to wonder about how I want to define my holy places, where they are and how I can find them. I don't feel different having taken the sacrament. I want something like a scar, something to show that I am here and that I'm doing something. I start to wonder if bread and water can ever stand in for body and blood. |