41 – I’d Rather Be Excommunicatedfeatured

Shortly before my membership was revoked by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the Church changed the vernacular from excommunicated to “Withdrawal of membership”. Church Handbook 32.11.4

I will confess that at first, I felt a slight relief that I had not been “excommunicated”. Still, I did have a few people hurtfully at that time point out that I was still excommunicated, and they were correct.

The dictionary.com defines excommunicate as:

1. to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence.
2. to exclude or expel from membership or participation in any group, association

I have been excluded from partaking the sacraments of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I no longer have membership in the Church. According to the English language, it seems I am excommunicated.

I find it of note that the word did not exist until somewhere between 1375 and 1425 and comes from Latin and Anglo-French origins. It seems to be of Catholic practice and found its way into other religions as they broke away from the Catholic Church or started new faiths.

Still, as I started this blog I used the newer Church definition of “withdrawal of membership”. Then one day I found myself in an online conversation with someone who interpreted the phrase “I had my membership withdrawn” to mean that I chose to have my membership removed from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I did choose to sin, and the consequence included the Church withdrawing my membership, but that was not what I wanted.

While I respect the agency of anyone who chooses to have their membership removed from the records of the Church, I do not want to be identified as one making that decision. The wording the Church now chooses to use seems to cause a muddying of interpretation between the two.

Perhaps the changing of the vernacular is intended to lessen the harshness of the blow to you and me. It feels to me a little like a government changing the name of a bridge or road to heal wounds. It is just a name change.

Being excommunicated hurts. But I brought it on through my actions and I accept that. As much as it hurts, I would rather be known as one who had to change – and the Church felt that needed to be through being excommunicated – and that I chose to work my way through. I do NOT want to be thought of as one who willingly chose to walk away from the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ with all of the beautiful doctrines understood better through revelations to modern prophets. I want back in!

I choose to identify as one who was excommunicated because it makes it more clear that I am experiencing the love of God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that is an amazing kind of beautiful!