Week 5ish: The Community of Christ (RLDS)

This past Sunday I attended the Cedar Rapids Community of Christ congregation. The Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) has its roots in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830. I've long had an interest in the Latter Day Saint movement, and have been looking forward to attending a Community of Christ service.

A (Very) Brief History of the Community of Christ

In 1827, Joseph Smith Jr began translating a set of golden plates he claimed he retrieved from Hill Cumorah in New York after the angel Moroni revealed their location to him. These plates, which he said were written in "Reformed Egyptian," purportedly contained writings of ancient Jewish peoples who traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas and the societies that resulted from them. It also contains an account of Jesus visiting the Americas sometime after his ascension and sharing many of the same teachings their that he did in the New Testament.

In 1830 Smith formally organized the "Church of Christ." This church went through several name changes during Smith's life, eventually becoming The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Smith claimed that this church was a restoration of the early Christian church, which had apostatized. He was held to be a "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator" by his followers, and church theology grew more sophisticated, complicated, and controversial throughout the remainder of his life. In 1844, Joseph Smith Jr. and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob while they were being held in jail in Carthage, Illinois. 

Succession Crisis

Smith's death resulted in a crisis as to who should take his place as President/Prophet of the church. The majority of Latter Day Saints accepted Brigham Young as Smith's rightful successor, eventually moving west to what would become Utah and becoming the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Other prominent members claimed they were the rightful successor and had their own smaller followings. 

Many people rejected all of these claims and opted to stay in the Midwest. Among them were Joseph Smith Jr's widow (and first wife) Emma Hale Smith, as well as their children. Eventually these groups asked Joseph Smith Jr's oldest son, Joseph Smith III, to be their leader. He at first declined, before accepting in 1860. The church viewed the time between 1844 and 1860 as a period of "disorganization" for the church, and eventually added "Reorganized" to their church name to reflect this.

Until 1996 all of the Presidents of the RLDS church were descendants of Joseph Smith Jr. and in 2000 the name of the church was changed to the Community of Christ.

Beliefs

It's important to understand that many of the beliefs of the Community of Christ are similar or identical to those of mainstream Christianity. For example, they believe in both the divinity of Christ and the Trinity. The beliefs below are only some of the things that distinguish them from mainstream Christianity and the ones that I find most interesting..

My copies of some
Community of Christ
scripture

• Scripture: Three books of scripture are accepted - The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Belief in the Book of Mormon is not necessary for membership in the church, and as far as I can tell the church as a whole seems to be de-emphasizing it. Doctrine and Covenants mostly contains revelations given to Joseph Smith Jr., Joseph Smith III, and subsequent presidents of the church and is added to regularly. They also make use of the "Inspired Version" of the Bible, also called the Joseph Smith Translation. 
• Continuing Revelation: The current president of the church is also regarded as a prophet. Because of this, they have an "open-canon" of scripture which can be added to.
• Priesthood: There are two priesthoods-The  Melchisedec Priesthood and Aaronic Priesthood. Within each priesthood are specific offices. The Aaronic Priesthood contains the offices of Deacon, Teacher, and Priest. The  Melchisedec Priesthood contains the offices and specialized offices of Elder, Seventy, High Priest, Evangelist (formerly called "Patriarch"), Bishop, Apostle, and President. According to wikipedia, 10% of Community of Christ members are ordained.
• Sacraments: The church practices 8 sacraments
• Baptism is by immersion and can be performed by those who are 8 years old or older. They recently began accepting baptisms from other Christian denominations, so if someone converts they do not need to be rebaptized. I am not sure if this includes people who were baptized younger than age 8, however.
• Confirmation 
• Lord's Supper/Communion is practiced once a month using bread and grape juice.
• Blessing of Children gives children under the age of 8 the opportunity to be brought before the community and blessed.
• Ordination is offered to men or women who have been properly called.
• Marriage, including same-sex marriage in some areas
• Administration to the Sick with oil
• Evangelist's Blessing, formerly called a "Patriarchal Blessing." Individuals can request this blessing at important moments in their lives, and it can be received more than once. Families and congregations may request the blessing as well.
• The modern church places a huge emphasis on peace and justice. There is a daily prayer for peace in their Independence Temple, focusing on a different country each day. 
• Speaking of the temple- Both the temple in Independence and the temple in Kirtland are open to everyone. 

Cedar Rapids Community of Christ

*Note* They live stream their services. If you're interested in seeing the service I was at, click here.

The church itself is small. Even though there are are two large doors facing the street, the entrance being used was around back in the parking lot. The door had one of those numbered locks on the handle which made it look kind of weird. If I hadn't been following someone else in I wouldn't have thought that was the entrance.

The sanctuary area was simple. The podium was centrally placed and there was a really neat looking large cross that looked like it was inlaid with several smaller pieces of wood. On the upper-center of the wall was a projector screen that was displaying announcements. I counted around 50 people there altogether. Being Memorial Day weekend probably hurt the numbers, and looking back at past live streams it does look like there are normally many more people. Also, from past live streams, it looks like the section below the screen comes out and becomes a window to the baptismal font, which is neat. 

The Service

Before the service officially began the pastor came up to give announcements. One of them was inviting a woman to speak who was again organizing the congregation serving meals at a trailer park over the summer. When she asked if there was anyone who would like to help this year about a third of the congregation raised their hands, which was impressive. My experience with church volunteering has always felt like people were begging for people to step up to help. For so many people to be willing to help was astounding. 

The service itself began with the pastor reading from Isaiah, before the congregation sang "I, the Lord of Sea and Sky." I'm not really a fan of that hymn, but it was nice to sing something familiar after so many weeks of unfamiliar music. I was impressed by how well the congregation sang. I don't necessarily mean the quality, although it was good, but that you could actually hear people singing. My experience in congregations without a choir has been that people barely whisper the words to themselves. Not the case here.

There were a few prayers followed by another song, based off of the prayer for peace attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.

Following that was a testimony given by a young man (also an ordained elder) who was probably close to my age. I'm not sure if the pastor knew what he was going to say beforehand or not, but he spoke about his doubts and struggles with his faith and asked everyone to pray for him. Certainly not a testimony in the traditional sense, but I made sure to thank him afterwards. Having doubts and struggling with faith can be a lonely experience that people are afraid to talk about. Hopefully his openness inspired people who may be struggling themselves.

Following that a woman played "On Eagle's Wings" on her guitar. Once again, I was happy to hear a familiar song. 

Before the offering a woman gave a short talk. She talked about how it feels like people are always asking for more and more, and we only have so much to give that it can be annoying and overwhelming. But then she remembered all of the things she took for granted in life, like nice bed sheets, and that encouraged her in her giving. When the deacons came forward she offered a prayer and they passed the plate. This reflection on giving seems like a weekly occurrence. It puzzled me at first, but upon further reflection I think it's a nice addition to the service. Collection plates are so often passed around that it becomes mechanical. Having a reflection each week gives people the opportunity to look at their giving in a fresh way and reminds people about why it's important. 

Another woman gave her testimony about how God has been with her in her life. It was a very sweet testimony of her experiences with medical problems and how she knew God was with her. There was yet another song after this.

The pastor then shared a "spiritual practice" with us that she encouraged us to use, the Examen developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The program didn't put the "St." in front of his name, and no mention was given of him being the founder of the Jesuits. It felt odd. I feel like if you introduce a spiritual practice you shouldn't divorce it from the spiritual tradition from whence it comes. 

The service was over after one more song and prayer.

After the Service

Several people introduced themselves to me and said hi after the service. The pastor introduced herself and when I said I had questions introduced me to a man to help answer them. He told me he was an evangelist and that many people in the congregation were ordained to one office or another. We talked a bit about the Book of Mormon. He explained that its purpose was to bring people closer to Jesus, but because for some people it might actually be a stumbling block the church didn't require anyone to have any specific belief about it. It definitely raises some interesting questions about Christianity in general.

I did try to ask if he felt like the Book of Mormon was literally (historically) true. I was trying to ask it delicately and am not sure if I got my point across, but he seemed to say he thought it was. 

I asked him a couple of questions about being an evangelist. He mentioned that the name was changed when women were admitted to the priesthood, as "Patriarch" doesn't quite work for them. He also said that in addition to having open communion, evangelists's blessings were open to non-members. Definitely different from the Utah-based LDS church. He did mention that they were "bi-vocational," and as I was talking with him the pastor zoomed by saying she had to get to work. I don't believe ministers are normally paid at the local level. 

This was the first time I've felt free to ask questions with someone at a church I've attended, and it was nice to be able to have such a discussion.

Final Thoughts

I honestly had a great time going to this congregation. The people were incredibly nice and welcoming, without being overbearing. It's great to meet people who genuinely want to live out a mission of promoting peace and justice in the world. The service itself seemed kind of choppy. It felt like there were a bunch of different things just thrown in there, with music breaking everything up. It felt like it lacked a "flow." I think most of their services have a sermon by an ordained member, so it could have just been the unique nature of this week's service that made it feel that way.