Three Things We Should Also Ditch With The Name “Mormon.”

On an average week, my institute teacher catches himself 4-5 times a lesson referring to us as Mormons but then he corrects himself and calls us Latter-day Saints. He is taking extra effort to ensure he is following the prophet and not the culture. His actions got me thinking… Along with dropping the term Mormon and LDS to more closely align ourselves with the prophet and gospel rather than the culture, what other aspects of our culture could and should we correct? Here are three things we should also ditch with the name Mormon to more closely align with the prophet and gospel.

“Mormon Standard Time”

Anyone who has lived in the Intermountain West has hard the phrase “Mormon Standard Time.” It refers to the fact that it is almost an expectation that everything starts 5-15 minutes late. I have been part of ward councils where the Bishopric was consistently 15+ minutes late to the meeting! After a few weeks in a row of waiting for 15 minutes for the meeting to start, I started showing up 15 minutes late and was still ‘early’ to the meeting as I normally beat the Bishopric. Eliminating Mormon Standard Time starts with the leaders, it requires that meetings start and end on time, even if nobody is there yet. This is especially important in YSA wards as if you give them an inch they will take a mile. 

Now, I understand it is not easy to show up to church on time. Especially when you have 3-4 kids that are young that you need to get ready. But I think we can aim a little higher when it comes to showing up on time for our meetings or activities. My mom realized we were always 5 minutes late so she moved the clocks 10 minutes forward so that everyone thought we were running late but then we were on time. You don’t need to change your clocks, but maybe setting the goal to arrive at 9 am church at 8:45 rather than at 9 will help us be on time. This is so much more important as we have moved to the two-hour block and missing the first 15-20 minutes of church is now missing 1/6th of church!  Let’s make Mormon Standard Time a thing of the past.

“An occasional tardiness is understandable, but if the ox is in the mire every Sunday, then we strongly recommend that you sell the ox or fill the mire.” Jeffrey R. Holland

Mormon Khumra (Cultural Commandments).

The Khumra are rules put in place by Jewish customs to protect the Torah or Law, often referred to as the hedge around the law. This hedge is designed to prevent violations of the commandments of God. In our day we have our own Mormon Khumra, or cultural commandments as I like to call them. These cultural commandments often start with good intentions, like helping us avoid even the appearance of sin, but these cultural commandments are just that, commandments that originate from the culture rather than the gospel. These commandments make the gospel far harder to live for the vast majority of members. The cultural exception to keep all these cultural commandments is unrealistic. Here is a list of just a few cultural commandments:

• Thou shalt only go to church in your ‘Sunday Best’ and if thou seest someone not in ‘Sunday Best’ thou shalt inform them that they need to wear nicer clothes to church. 
• Thou shalt go to BYU or BYU-I.
• Thou shalt not drink caffeinated soda.
• Thou shalt not befriend the sinner or let thy children play with them. For if thy children befriend the sinner they might also start sinning!
• Thou shalt marry an RM.
• Thou shalt not forgive they brother till he has earned forgiveness and “shown he is sorry”.
• Thou shalt be married by the age of 25. 
• Thou shalt severe a mission at 18 or 19 for sisters.
• Thou shalt play a sport.
• Thou shalt play the piano.
• Thou shalt be clean-shaven. 
• Thou shalt walk to the front of the room to offer a prayer.
• Thou must wear a white shirt to bless or pass the sacrament.
• Thou shalt discourage young kids from getting their patriarchal blessing.
• Thou shalt tell him who smells of smoke at church that “we don’t smoke” to ensure he understands he is sinning.
• Thou shalt tell him that sittest in thy pew that it is your spot. 

Now some of these are tongue and cheek, but in reality, cultural commandments have good intentions of improving reverence, respect, and aid us in keeping real commandments, but often they miss the mark. I know people who did not go to church because they did not have Sunday clothes! I also know investigators who were confronted for smelling like smoke. I know people who were embarrassed by their like of cultural understanding of praying sitting down in a class before and being corrected for it. In Christ’s day, the Pharisees persecuted Christ for not keeping the Khumra. I honestly believe the same would happen with Mormon Khumra. Let us redouble our efforts to focus on following the prophet and living the gospel and sticking to the actual commandments and not the Khumra! 

Saying “No” to callings. 

A rather new trend within the church is members turning down callings. This stems from a lack of understanding of our covenants. In the temple covenant to consecrate our time and talents to the building of the Kingdom, when a Bishop extends a calling to you on behalf of the Lord he is simply asking, “Will you keep your covenants?” There is a false notion that callings should be convenient, or fit into our lives. That never has been, nor will be the case. Do you think it was convenient for the early pioneers who had just walked across the great plains to be called on a mission to the East Coast or Britan? Or for the Saints who had just settled in Northern Utah when the Prophet called them to the Cotton or Iron missions? Or to the colonies in Arizona, Mexico, or Canada? I can’t imagine explaining to a handcart pioneer who buried his wife and kids while crossing the plains to follow the prophet or Heber C. Kimball who left his wife on her deathbed to serve a mission why my situation was an exception on answering a call to serve. 

The notion that we have the right to refuse callings stems from pride. In Elder Uchtdorf’s Oct 2007 address, Lift where you stand he said the following: “Twenty years ago, President Ezra Taft Benson shared reports from bishops and stake presidents that some members “are turning down calls to serve claiming they are ‘too busy’ or they ‘haven’t got time.’ Others accept such callings, but refuse to magnify those callings.” President Benson went on to say, “The Lord expects each of us to have a calling in His Church so that others may be blessed by our talents and influence.” Let us ditch the trend to refuse callings, or not magnify them. Let us focus on making, and keeping our covenants, even, and especially when they are inconvenient! In the words of Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways, as we have covenanted to do, rarely come at convenient times. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants.”

A time for recommitting to live the gospel.

President Nelson is now known for the changes that his administration has made, but his focus is not only an effort to correct cultural inconsistencies, it is also streamlining church policy to more fully align with the mission of the church to proclaim the gospel, perfect the Saints, and redeem the dead. Every change has been to aid in one aspect or another of living the gospel by walking the covenant pathway to come unto Christ. Our prophet is leading this charge, and now we have a chance to recommit ourselves to following the prophet, and aligning our lives with gospel rather than culture.