Out-of-the-Box in 2018

Last updated on: January 5, 2018 at 5:48 am by Gina Colvin

Out-of-the-Box in 2018 2018-01-05T05:48:32+13:00 Gina Colvin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last night as our family and some friends saw the New Year in, we talked about our worldviews and how over the course of 2017 they’ve been challenged and shaped. ‘Are we in the box or out of the box?’ was a question we passed around.

The box is the established order of things; The way things are or have become. They include our agreements, our beliefs, the prism through which we see the world and these are all supplied by those who have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. We all, therefore, have a relationship with the box. Take our family for instance.
I’m out of the box, but I like to know that the box is there.

Nathan is squarely in the box but pays attention to what’s going on outside of the box only because that’s mostly where I am.

Our eldest is out of the box and has a somewhat strained relationship with the box.

The second son is a Scorpio, he’s probably in the box but he wouldn’t admit that.

The third son is out of the box and doesn’t even recognise there is a box.

The fourth son is solidly in the box.

The fifth son is mostly in the box but when it comes to dressing himself he’s out of the box.

The sixth son is out of the box and if the box is going to serve any purpose he’s convinced that it ought to serve his.

Because I’m out of the box it’s made it easy for me to be religiously promiscuous over these last few years, spreading myself across different faith communities. More recently I’ve come to some rest in an Anglican parish led by a wonderful feminist priest. In this community, we acknowledge the box and respect the box, we even use some of the things that are in the box, but we never actually get into the box.

I share this reflection because yesterday I went to the LDS Church for the full three-hour block. At the LDS Church, I invariably find most people there in a similar relationship with the box. Like Nathan, they love the box. They find tremendous comfort from the familiarity of the box. Our Sunday School lesson was on the temple, which was essentially a discussion about all of the things that are in the box and have been in the box for all of the years I’ve been endowed.

As an out of the box person, I found this conversation troubling. I don’t ask for much. Even one minute in a quick dive outside of the box would have redeemed this long interminable stretch of monotony because it’s just dull for those of us outside of the box to be thrust into conversations about the perfection of what’s in the box.

I’m not suggesting that everyone ought to get out of the box and join me and others of our ‘out-of-the-box’ community. I’m suggesting that you are killing our souls with your insistence that everything in the box is the only world we ought to concern ourselves with when we come to church. I’m also stating emphatically, that you can’t make ‘in-the-box’ people from ‘out-of-the-box’ people. I’ve tried to be in the box but I can’t manage it. The box served me well for a time, but it’s not my natural spiritual habitat and it’s no longer where the Divine is located for me.

Having said that, I’ve decided to make a fist of Mormon things for the next year. I’m going to stump up, show up with more regularity and more commitment to my community – just to see what happens and to help me decide what I’m going to do with my Mormonism moving forward. But I’m not going back into the box because that’s not possible and it’s not faithful either. Nobody gets back into the box after getting out. I’ve seen people try and do it. They pretend they are in the box when they aren’t, and it makes them depressed at best and mean at worst.

I’ll be taking a lot of ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking with me to the LDS church this year and I’m realistic enough to accept that it may go badly (and that’s the reason I’ll continue gathering with my Anglican community). But, I’m going to give it a go because I think it’s worth trying in good faith, to set an honest intention to be my best ‘out-of-the-box’ self in a community that has spent too long worshipping the box and its contents. I love the church enough to give it that – at least for another year.

I’ll keep you updated!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 16, 2017

Cheating LDS Young Women - Again

Next Post

January 9, 2018 Revisiting Mormonism: Week One: On Certainty

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Thoughtful Faith Adultery Apostasy Brigham Young BYU Church Culture Church Leadership Clergy Sex Abuse Community of Christ Divorce Excommunication faith crisis Faith Development Heavenly mother Heresy Indigenous Mormon James Fowler Jesus Christ John Dehlin Joseph Smith Kate Kelly LDS Church Politics LDS doctrine LDS Essays LGTB Maori Mormon marriage and family Mitt Romney Mormon church discourse Mormon church history Mormon Conservatism Mormon corporate culture Mormon Cultural Identity Mormon feminist politics Mormon finances mormon matters podcast Mormon Political Economy Mormons feminism New Zealand and US Mormonism New Zealand Mormon Culture New Zealand Mormon Feminist Thought New Zealand temple Official Declaration Two Ordain Women Pastoral Theology for Mormons phillip barlow Polygamy Practical Theology Prayer Protect LDS Children Racism in the LDS church Sexual Abuse temple recommend temple recommend interview Temples tyranny of certainty Uncategorized why mormons leave

Select a Month April 2020 December 2019 March 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 June 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 March 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who interpreted dreams for a Pharaoh and a baker?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Daniel Aaron Moses