Why I Stay in the Church and How “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” Solidified My Choice
The day after the US presidential election I blogged about my sadness in a post titled “The Election Makes it Clear: I don’t share values with most Mormons.” Some of the comments on the Instagram post surprised me because they seemed to assume that I have left the church. To be clear: I’ve never left the church and am actually fully stereotypically active in the church. I wear garments, have a temple recommend, serve in the Relief Society Presidency and do all the “things.” This isn’t to judge anyone who has left the church, I just want to say where I’m coming from.
It feels like there’s a very small sliver of people who fall in my category of someone who is fully active but still willing to talk about problems in the church. I feel like the general consensus may be, “So why does someone like me stay in the church?”
There are a million reasons that go into any decision for any person. But since it’s Christmas season, and since I loved the new movie that came out this season, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” let’s talk about just one of those reasons.
For those who haven’t seen the new movie (or seen the old one or read the book), the story is about a family of children living in poverty. It’s clear the children have experienced lots of adverse childhood experiences and the town folk see the kids as the “bad troublemakers.” When the kids show up at the community church, everyone there wants them to leave. However, there’s one mom who lets them stay and be in the Christmas pageant (even though all the other moms want her to kick the “bad” kids out).
The other moms are horrible. They are gossipy and rude and have absolutely no ability to be loving to these children who need community so badly.
If I were in that church community, I could see myself wanting to leave those gossipy women behind and find somewhere (anywhere!) else to go. But the main character stays. And she’s the only one who has the heart to love these kids. She’s the only one who is a true Christian for those little kids.
To be clear, I go to church with a lot of people who share my values and my situation is nowhere as extreme as the story I watched on screen. But I am still often sad by how many people in my religion do not share my values. The week of the election I was particularly sad about that. But that week, I sat in the audience of the “Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and thought to myself, “I choose to stay.”
My faith community is important to me and there are kids in it who need to be loved by people with my value system. Perhaps staying is how I ensure that can happen.
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Author’s Note: Sometimes it can be lonely walking this space of full activity in the church while being willing to discuss problems in the church. If you’re in this space too, please let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear that I’m not the only one.
Also, check out the trailer to the movie if you haven’t seen it. I highly recommend the movie!
