Primary, Citizenship, Service, and More...

Once in a while, I read a great thought/post written by someone else and I think "woohoo, they have done the work for me!!" When I can borrow from someone else (with their permission of course) it makes my day just a tad easier. I came across this little gem of a thought about a week ago and just now got around to sharing. It talks a bit about church but shouldn't make anyone's head explode. As always, some of you will scoff and be upset but that's cool, that means I have done my duty for the day :)

Here goes...

The Primary Program and Citizenship, an odd connection. 

For my many friends who attend other faith communities, or none at all, I am going to talk about an LDS thing here. But, it has little to do with questionable and disputable doctrine or practice. Rather, we are talking about little kids and turning them into real adults. Also, the LDS local congregation, the ward, is entirely lay run and led (we sorta do it ourselves). This is not unique, but not common either. I am going somewhere with this…so, be patient.

This lay approach has two impacts. First, with no professional clergy, this leads to an almost rigid adherence to the form of the meeting. This consistency, while sometimes meaning we could miss out on some good and spiritual things, is necessary, since an entirely new group of leaders may be in charge next week. The regularity of form allows for stability and continuity. Second, your neighbor is going to be up there making all those decisions and delivering those sometimes boring or incoherent talks-something you will eventually be doing yourself. The impact is to make us forgiving and supportive of good intentions imperfectly executed…a good Christian behavior.

Sunday is the only time I am not running in circles…on Sundays, I merely walk those circles. Today was the traditional LDS Primary program. This is where all the little kids from Sunday School sing and read their way through 35 minutes of a program. Today, there must have been 80 kids up there, ages 4-11, with their adult teachers sitting amongst them. As I was sitting through this fall tradition for at least my 15th time, I sinned and let my mind wander. You see, I teach history in a public school, so patriotism and citizenship responsibilities are something we talk about, and I teach music, where the principle of daily practice to create default settings of good habits is paramount. Well, these three things began to come together in my head.

One of my growing frustrations is the growing passivity of kids. They are not bad or evil, but there seems to be a growing assumption on their part that someone else will be “taking care of things”. The janitors will pick up the garbage we drop, the teachers will figure out a way to work it out when we don’t do our work, and our parents will take care of all our physical needs, then the government will take over. Somehow, someone will get me to college, pay for it and get me through, and then someone else will give me my deserved job. We see this passivity in most Western countries now days. I am not debating the causes of this passivity, just noting its presence from firsthand experience. I did get to wondering where we teach the old idea of citizenship…teach it, and then demand it as a price for protection and inclusion.

For me citizenship is really best expressed at the local level. I have proactive responsibility to think of the welfare of my neighbors. How did John Winthrop put it…oh yeah, we are to be “knit together”…what a great metaphor. We are both the Queens and the Pawns, depending on what needs to be done.

So, back to little kids singing at various levels of quality and reading prepared scripts they seldom understood. We have one of those great ladies that make the LDS run, Sister Mathews, and she has done more primary programs than anyone else….I don’t know how many purple hearts she has…but I know her real heart is gigantic.

Well, after she had rehearsed everybody on Saturday, had every chair placed in its proper location so that the program would run flawlessly, had the cordless mic ready to be passed around as every one of those children got the opportunity to read, things were as ready as well-meaning human beings can make it.

Then, 10 minutes in, the mic just up and quit. I taught Show Choir for so many years, I would have pretty much expected a fatal technical flaw as a matter of course.  Then something amazing happened. With hardly a blink, and certainly no stress or government program, Sis Mathews quietly moved among them and changed the entire process…on the fly, with quazillion squirrely kids. She created a Plan B on the spot, and the program proceeded with hardly a bump. This required having every one of those kids move, in an orderly fashion, to the podium mic. Without a blink and no kiddie breakdowns, each adult teacher moved the kids to the podium and helped the little ones with the steps and their lines.

On the surface, you may say, Big Deal. But it was. Here we are, 80 kids, in front of an entire community, without a glitch… they simply cooperated and did something else that worked. Each child, without fuss, took care of their responsibility, led by adults, all of which were in their own primary programs decades ago, who quietly took care of business. The community, congregation, waited with patient smiles, the leaders, two small businessmen and a retired elementary school principle, waited and watched with confidence, knowing a few adults and 80 kids would successfully do what needed to be done.

Where is citizenship practiced and taught today-certainly not in public schools, where it is hard to enforce anything that could be construed as a value. Certainly not in the contentious political process we have to witness now days as leaders exaggerate their n own virtues and the failings of their opponent’s to the point of lying…and vice versa.

I would suggest that churches are teaching more about the behaviors of good citizens.. a proactive responsibility to think of the welfare of my neighbors. I know this is true in any of the church families I have been part of. The LDS folks have actually institutionalized citizenship training. Beginning at nursery age, then progressing as you get older, you are asked, taught, encouraged, then expected, to serve your neighbors. You are asked, without pay, and most time, without choice, to help your neighbors in any number of ever changing capacities. Someday, you get to have the responsibilities of leadership, then later, the responsibilities of being a worker bee. Here you learn to support your leaders out of empathy, rather than compulsion. You respect your neighbors because you have invested in them, and they in you. There are some you may not like to hang with, some you may not ever wanted have to a party, and some that may cause your teeth to grind. But when they face illness, you are there at their door with meal and words of comfort….just as they will be at your door when that inevitable day comes when you need help. This is citizenship. We need to all be like Sis Matthews…..Primary is just another place to serve….our neighbors, and, by His own Word, God.

G. Johnston