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Sometimes I'm known here for being extremely critical of certain aspects of the church.

Today, I can say I'm proud to be part of my ward. We're having a community clean up day today. The Mutual is at the home of a widowed sister (and cleaned up all her heavy stuff outside), Primary is picking up the trash on the main street of our village, the Elders Quorum and High Priests are moving from neighbor to neighbor, cleaning up debris and such, and the Relief Society is helping a sister who is in treatment for cancer by cleaning her house and washing her windows. The missionaries are at a nonLDS widow's home, raking her leaves and pruning her roses.

I'm lucky enough to have a dozen of them here right now, using a huge loader to push down my dead trees and pick up 15 years accumulation of heavy debris. Because I am resigned to using a cane now and cannot negotiate uneven ground, I cannot go out and help them, but it is my privilege to have them here. They're leaving now, after 2 hours, and will go on to the next neighbor on their list, after doing amazing things that I would never have been able to accomplish.

Would they do this, if we weren't members of the church? Yes, they would. Would they do this, if they weren't members of the church? Maybe, but it's the organization (and the willingness of the members) that makes it possible today.

thanks for sharing that, harmony. Knowing that religion provides an organization and impetus to encourage human beings to behave altruistically is definitely one of the pluses, in my opinion. A couple of years ago one of my nephews, married with three children and a fourth on the way, was called up to Iraq (he joined the national guard after 9/11). At that time, no close family member lived near enough to help out during his absence, and the ward stepped up in a truly noble fashion (as well as people who worked with him).

While religion isn't required to motivate human beings to form such organizations and ties, it does seem to be more effective at that motivation.

Though I am certain you did already, be sure to thank the people who participated for their efforts and make sure they know you are not lazy and taking advantage of them.

Even though service projects are typically done with a good spirit of service, there is in all of us something that questions 'why can't this person do the work themself?'. I've done many projects when I did not know the person who I was helping or their specific problem - I don't really ask that. So those thoughts kept in my mind while I was working, and the person we were helping never bothered to show their face or thank me or the group. Though, had they showed some appreciation, those less charitable thoughts would have subsided.

So make sure you show appreciation and give them some indication about your circumstance so that those thoughts don't pester them :)

quaker wrote:Though I am certain you did already, be sure to thank the people who participated for their efforts and make sure they know you are not lazy and taking advantage of them.

Even though service projects are typically done with a good spirit of service, there is in all of us something that questions 'why can't this person do the work themself?'. I've done many projects when I did not know the person who I was helping or their specific problem - I don't really ask that. So those thoughts kept in my mind while I was working, and the person we were helping never bothered to show their face or thank me or the group. Though, had they showed some appreciation, those less charitable thoughts would have subsided.

So make sure you show appreciation and give them some indication about your circumstance so that those thoughts don't pester them :)

Thank you notes are already in the process, and a public thank you is already in the ward bulletin. And that's a good reminder, Quaker. Thanks.

Were they wearing t-shirts or tabards or anything else identifying themselves as members of the Church? Or was it service for its own sake?

In either case, I'm glad you and your community benefited from their efforts.

Dwight Frye wrote:Were they wearing t-shirts or tabards or anything else identifying themselves as members of the Church? Or was it service for its own sake?

In either case, I'm glad you and your community benefited from their efforts.

They were wearing work clothes... gloves and coats and hats and work boots and jeans. No one would wear a nice new tee shirt to pick up trash or wash windows. We are a bit more practical than that.

Wonderful to hear!

Dwight Frye wrote:Were they wearing t-shirts or tabards or anything else identifying themselves as members of the Church? Or was it service for its own sake?

In either case, I'm glad you and your community benefited from their efforts.

While I don't really have a problem with t-shirts letting the world know that those hundreds of people you see cleaning up or placing sandbags or painting or otherwise performing service are Mormons, it does raise interesting questions in light of these teachings from the scriptures:

Matthew 6

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Dwight Frye wrote:Wonderful to hear!

Besides... everyone knows who is what here, so I'm pretty sure the ward wouldn't spend the budget to buy shirts for everyone. And Lord knows the teenagers would never wear them again!

cinepro wrote:While I don't really have a problem with t-shirts letting the world know that those hundreds of people you see cleaning up or placing sandbags or painting or otherwise performing service are Mormons, it does raise interesting questions in light of these teachings from the scriptures:

Matthew 6

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

I think for my ward, it more like one of those old-fashioned barn raisings, where a lot of work was accomplished in a very short time because so many hands were willing to put in a few hours on a Saturday morning. And then they all went home to lunch and back to work on their own farms.

A good time was had by all.