In my new church home where I've been attending for a couple months now I've volunteered to be one of the greeters and ushers. Greeters hold the door and Ushers pass out programs, pass the communion trays, and the collection plates. I was more
full of joy and gratitude to serve today than I ever was in an LDS
setting. I loved serving in the LDS church too, but it being expected
and not really voluntary makes an interesting difference. I remember moving to different wards, and sometimes waiting months before getting to serve, and really wanting to but you aren't allowed to serve until you are given a "calling" and other wards where I barely attended a week before I was extended a calling and told what to do to serve. The waiting was always full of a certain amount of fearful anticipation wondering if I would get called to something I wasn't very good at or don't really enjoy. It was very much stressed that you shouldn't decline a calling, making one almost feel guilty if they didn't want to serve in the calling they were given. Serving to avoid a feeling of guilt is so much different than serving motivated by a real love and desire to serve. Often that love and desire are there too within the LDS setting, sometimes that comes after the service and often at such a time the person would then be released and called to something else. This expectation of service regardless of what that person really wants to do and what their gifts are makes the service feel less like a gift freely given and more like an obligation. Yet that
expectation of service prepared me to volunteer.
After not very long
attending my current church home I couldn't help but feel the need to make a
meaningful contribution to their services. I was grateful to the others I could see volunteering each week to watch my children, hold the doors, and other such services. I wanted to be involved in this community of Christians and not simply an observer of them as I came and went enjoying my personal worship of my Savior. Christ was a man of service and following His example to serve within the church greatly amplified my worship experience. Initially I worried that the time spent ushering I would miss out in singing and worshiping, and though I didn't sing as much as I did as a member of the audience the Spirit was over me and God filled my need to commune with Him so I really wasn't sacrificing anything that I thought I would be.
As I was greeting and ushering this week I was wearing my head covering. And two very interesting things happened. One lady talked to me about how to tie my scarves the way I did and said she wants to get scarves for cancer patients, but doesn't know how to tie them. I told her about the youtube tutorials I watched and to search for head coverings. I hope to see her again and see if this is something I could get involved in with her. Another lady asked me if I'm Jewish, and she told me she is a Messianic Jew, and talked about the women wearing head coverings at her synagogue. I told her I wasn't Jewish, and I wished I could have talked to her more. I would be very interested in visiting her synagogue if they would let me. These were both people I wouldn't have met had I not volunteered today. I hope to make the same connections next week and get to learn more about these women's journey.
