For the past six years I've attended church in a ward that had exclusive use of its building.  I have just moved into a different ward that has three congregations sharing the same facility on a rotating basis.  That means the time of day that I go to my meetings will switch every year.

I am accustomed to going to church in the morning.  That works for me.  This year will still do that.  Next year I will get bumped to the afternoon schedule.  Harrumph!  Grumble!  Drats!  I get it that change is a part of life, and I get it that we live in a dynamic, evolving faith.  But for crying out loud, this disruption of my routine seemed to serve no real point.

I was whining a bit to my husband about not looking forward to having to change schedules year after year.   Just when we get ourselves adapted to an AFTERNOON way of worship, then it will switch again.  Lamenting this fate, I said that I wished they would just assign us all a particular time and then STICK WITH IT.   I wouldn't even care if I got put in the afternoon slot, which to my way of thinking is less desirable.  I wanted something that would stick.

My husband is the kind of guy who does not question and does not complain when it comes to church matters.  He accepts whatever comes down the pike with absolute trust and faith.   Me, I question gravity.  In the end I accept whatever it is that the prophet and the local leaders ask.  But whether it is the suggestion to wear only one pair of earrings or shifts in how we conduct ourselves during temple ceremonies, I am forever speculating why things are done this way or that.  Over the years my husband and I have had our share of interesting discussions from these two different approaches.

So when I was challenging the policy of alternating time schedules, my beloved patiently explained that the reason for this was to be fair to everyone who shared the building, so no one group got stuck with the early or the late shift.  I balked.   Disrupting lives is equity?  I don't think so, I insisted.  In EVERY ward there will be people who, like me, prefer mornings and others who would rather go in the afternoon.  But does it serve anyone well - particularly families with young kids-to continually be changing the routine?   Besides, I declared, if they REALLY did it out of "fairness" then EVERY ward should change times, even if there is only one ward in the building.  He rolled his eyes and said I was just being silly.  Maybe I was.  But does the time change really  make building use more "fair"?

The reason I can accept it is that I know we are members of a GROWING, LIVING, CHANGING faith.  In small ways and big ways I understand that "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Article of Faith #9)

Still, I do not think this musical chairs time of meetings has anything to do with inspiration or revelation.  I think it is tradition, and not one I appreciate.  I accept there WILL be changes in my church.   But for crying out loud, why do I have to keep getting used to a whole new Sabbath routine every year?  Maybe I'm just whining because I don't want to give up my Sunday afternoon nap,

But what it did raise for me was the whole issue of splitting hairs between what parts of the LDS way of life are DOCTRINE and therefore NOT open for debate and what parts are simply TRADITION.   We live in a world church.  Jesus Christ is the Savior whether you are LDS in China or Chicago.  Thomas B. Monson is the Prophet whether you are in Newark or the Netherlands.  The Book of Mormon is True every bit as much in Ghana as it is in Kalamazoo.  But there are some practices and policies and ways of doing things that I suspect have a lot more to do with cultural traditions than what God sees as the right way for us to live.  Those are the areas where I have no qualms about challenging with questions.  But how does one really tell which is which?

I am reminded of the the verse in the D& C that says:

"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law  which was temporal neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created. "  (D&C 29:34)

Maybe I should just put off the natural man and quit my whining.