“here am I, send me.”

Among my peers are folks with many years experience with the same firm, doing the same job until their eventual retirement. Their persistence is certainly laudable. They do, however, often point with pride that it demonstrates unchallengeable knowledge of their particular area of expertise. There may be some merit to their allegation. Personally, I prefer to believe they have actually had one year on the job repeated forty or more times. That’s great as far as it goes but in the end the prize is more likely a secure retirement package than acquired knowledge.

You have read here many times that I and others have been in the church for forty years. You have also read, in my case, that earlier, the orthodox church was not available to me for many of those years. This means then, that my experience was highly varied. I did not enjoy the comfort of years of consecutive repetition of our simple rituals. I could not count on seeing the same elders on the podium year in and year out. I could not rely on the same hymns being repeated annually. Although a delight, I couldn’t have the world’s best chicken and noodles (if you disbelieve this, you have never been to our branch) prepared by the same sister every second Sunday. One does not worship Almighty God from a “rut” so I shall refrain from using that analogy. However, one does tend to settle in to the routine and not pay as much attention to the sermon locally or the happenings in the church in general.

This repetitive cognizance is very limiting. It was in this atmosphere that the apostasy and ultimate breakup of the greater body was accomplished. The membership gave complete trust to the leadership, enjoyed the basket dinner, praised the sermon, bowed during the prayers and we were blissfully unaware of the momentous developments in Independence. We, in our blind and misplaced trust, allowed false prophets to dominate and destroy that which we held so dear. Friends, I am willing to accept the blame, as should you if you are described in the above paragraphs. If you are ever alert and fully aware of those things which our leadership proposes and disposes, then you are not the villains. Otherwise, join me on the blame train.

Does this mean we can continue blissfully on? Should we conclude our former behavior was right for the church and the Glory of God? I think not. We must be ever questioning, examining and be in a relentless pursuit of truth and His will. But, you plead, they are doing their best and only seek what God intends. That being the case, they will welcome any inquiry. They will happily explain their actions and intentions for the body of believers. We establish validity in men at the time of their ordination that they are truly called of God. We support them with congregational acceptance. We are not always rewarded with actions which match our confidence. Dare we say it? Not only do we dare, we are required to do so. We are required as Saints to be ever on the alert for false teachings, doctrines and actions which are not supported by our scriptures and our prayers.

We only have one leader in this church. The sign says it all, The Restored Church of Jesus Christ. Even He says He is a servant. People asked Him questions and received answers. Although occasionally chided for the attitudes inherent in the questions, they always got a response. I really don’t believe that He equivocated and left people in the dark as to where He stood on a multitude of issues. Are we so busy, so important that we cannot emulate the Master? One doesn’t have to be able to turn water into wine to do this. All one has to do is tell the truth.

When I asked a member of the Peace and Justice committee about the necessity of apology to members of the Community of Christ, he did not really address the question but rather accused me of a lack of forgiveness. Does forgiveness entail suddenly agreeing with their current doctrinal posture? What really offended me was the glib action of turning my legitimate inquiry into a personal accusation. Are these the men who would lead? I have met outstanding men among the Saints whom I know have wisdom, faith and devotion to their Savior which transcends all personal goals and ambitions. The great puzzle to me is how we manage to keep their light under the bushel in favor of the ones we currently have.

This brings us back to the original discussion. This Restoration is going to require that we move from our comfort zone and into the arena to fight for those things which His church deserves. This means we must challenge false doctrine when we hear it. We must be on the alert to prevent that ennui which sets in from pew warming. We must recover our voice and share our strengths and our voice. We must renew ourselves as Christians.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon