Back to Basics

While visiting Vilnius, Lithuania we had a chance to attend church. By some stroke of luck we happened to be visiting on the day of District Conference. All the saints in the entire country gathered to hear from the Baltic Mission President/Matron as well as an Area Seventy from Russia. It was the best ‘in-the-flesh’ church meeting I’ve been to in many years--and most of it was translated into English from Lithuanian or Russian. 

It certainly didn’t take long for us to be noticed, or to be welcomed. I didn’t know this young missionary or the Lithuanian brother that he grabbed when I offered to email his picture to his mother, but the look in his eye is something rare and beautiful. One week earlier we were speculating about which of 15 capable guys in the ward would be the new High Priests Group Leader, how much the Friends of Scouting assessment for the ward would be, and when the Ordain Women movement would be creating their next spectacle.  Talk about first-world church problems! Meanwhile, in Vilnius, the saints worked like dogs to keep their beautiful branch afloat.  Their love for the missionaries, the Brethren, the gospel, and the Lord was almost overpowering. It made me miss our Branch in Boston where we were so small, so vulnerable, so over-worked but so in love with one another and with the gospel.

We would all do well to take a moment and go back to the basics, and rediscover the beauty and power of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in it’s pure and simplest form. I really didn’t know what I expected to find in Eastern Europe in a former Soviet state, but it wasn’t this. 

Empty Calories

Both faith and testimony are living things that require nurture and care or else they will decline and eventually fade away. We could no more sustain our bodies by intermittently eating or drinking than we can sustain our faith and testimony with sporadic spiritual nourishment. Yet frequently we do so  through laziness, distraction, pre-occupation or being over-committed. 

I recently got sucked into a 5-book, 3800 page series on Genghis Kahn. It's not exactly the kind of stuff that fortifies faith, but very interesting none-the-less.  For a couple of weeks, I read little else. I have also enjoyed reading blogs full of insight and commentary by clever members of the church. But once again, I've noticed that this material doesn't always leave me embiggened or inspired. 

There is merit in being aware of, and enriched by the world we live in. I’m a big advocate of being well-read. But recently it dawned on me that although historical fiction and the witty commentary from the bloggernacle is indeed tasty, it has limited nutritional value from a spiritual perspective. You simply can't consume enough of it to be spiritually nourished. Paul's description of people that were "ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7)" somehow seems relevant in this regard.

By contrast, I can't remember an occasion when I wasn't inspired and uplifted by the scriptures or a General Conference talk.  Accordingly, I set Genghis down and picked up the scriptures and noticed an immediate difference in how I felt. I also went through the 'blog's I'm following' list and deleted a bunch of stuff.  My snark coefficient is high enough as it is. I found a lot of it was simply bringing me down, and adding no nutritional value--spiritually speaking.  

Let's face it:  junk food is in no danger of going extinct in both a literal and metaphoric way. I just need to use a little more moderation in how much I consume in one setting.  Genghis Khan and his exploits will still be there tomorrow or even next week.