Visitors' Perspectives: The Mormon Sacrament Service and Bishop Darren Proulx
By Jess Marquez and Prince Nesta
“We will now partake of the sacrament.”
From our position near the back of the church we watched curiously as the allocated members walked in and out of the pews, extending to each Brother and Sister trays of holy bread cubes and plastic shot glasses of water. The eyes of the church seemed to follow the trays, as everyone was gradually served in a continuous motion.
Suddenly the trays were extended to us. We felt the eyes turn into our direction, as we raised our hands in respectful rejection. The motion had been disrupted-- and it ended with two leftover servings.
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Just a few hours before, we were chuckling at the thought of us sitting side by side in the pew, hoping to snag an interview or two, the loosest definition of a Catholic in North America and an Anglican christian faithful from Kenya. Our contact had informed us in advance to dress in suits and act decently during the church service.
This was our first Mormon experience and we were slated to attend the service for young adults 18-31 years old living in the Sparks geographical area, in efforts to better understand their community here in Reno. It reminded us of a third-rate Pulp Fiction, although we were fairly certain there would be no recitations of Ezekiel 25:17-- at least we hoped.
We made our way into the hallway that was packed with congregants chatting with each other, ready for the service bound to start at 1pm. Most men wore white tops and were in suits. It looked like they were in uniform. Women wore long skirts or dresses. There were no harassers or obstructions, but walking into a room of eerily homogenous smiles can have a similar effect. Sometimes a “get out” is easier than “stay a while-- matter of fact, sit five rows up.” Because the Bishop, Darren Proulx, had agreed to a sit-down after the service, we settled in for the long haul, and given the number of greetings we had gotten, we reconsidered our earlier thoughts of Vincent and Jules.
One of the church members welcomed the congregation through prayers. Hymns such as “Count Your Blessings” were sprinkled intermittently throughout. It was quite low key compared to other Christian churches. Still members of the church seemed to have craft fully mastered the lyrics of the hymn without difficulties while hitting the high notes without difficulties at the same time. We were quite impressed with the Gregorian consistency of their combined tones. There weren't any crosses in the church and we quickly grabbed our notebooks and began to jot down questions.
The church congregation sings a hymn titled "Count Your Blessings" during service.
Bishop Proulx welcomed members joining the ward for the first time and led the church in prayers that were dedicated to church members being promoted to priesthood. There were multiple matters of “stake business,” and for each matter a vote was offered to the members, with constant raising of right hands in favor or against. All the propositions of the day were unanimously in favor.
Congregants later joined in the sacrament hymn. They sang as the sacrament-- holy bread and water-- was distributed to anyone feeling worthy. With the exception of the two of us, all members partook.
The topic of the day was on meekness, and there were a couple of members who spoke on the issue and what it meant to them, with scriptures quoted as evidence for these feelings. A young 27-year-old woman named Cassie offered her testimony first. Originally from California, she mentioned her love for dancing and Zumba. In her testimony, she linked meekness to being gentle, obedient and humble as she shared her personal experience on how, as a young child, she had to overcome social anxiety disorders. She ended her testimony by quoting Matthew 5:5: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
Another young man named Jordan from the Sacramento mission also spoke. He described meekness as a lifetime quest of submitting to the Father, being obedient and well trained. He talked of how his struggles adjusting to Native cultures here in Nevada was a valuable lesson for him.
Bishop Proulx concluded the service with a nostalgic and introspective recollection of his own process of joining the church 27 years prior. He spoke very softly. At that point, we had been there for a little over an hour and a half and we couldn’t help but recognize the all-too-familiar feeling of church restlessness. After the closing prayers were said and the service was concluded, we stretched ourselves out and snaked through the crowd to meet the bishop. Before we knew it, we were face-to-face in his office for a quick conversation.
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“So when did you join the church?”
“When I was really young my parents took me to another faith but I really wasn't raised in a religious house," he said. "I later came to realize that there was something missing in my life. A thought came to my mind that it was our savior Jesus Christ and I prayed for help and within a few minutes mormon missionaries were there and shared with me the plan of salvation, the reason I’m here and where I’ll be going when I’m done here. I officially joined the church in April 1991."
He talked about his passion for advising and encouraging 18-31-year-old youths who, according to him, are at a critical stage in their lives where they are trying to achieve their goals, find spouses to settle down with, and search for work, among other endeavors.
" Becoming a Bishop is an unpaid clergy calling," he said. "So, I don’t have any free time. I have 6 children, I do own 8 businesses and also sell mortgages as part of that business. But I do dedicate my whole Sundays and a few nights during the week serving the members of this congregation. "
When we asked the reason why the Mormon church didn’t have a cross, he took a deep breath and said:
"We focus on Christ’s resurrection and not the act of his crucifixion. That's the reason why we have a steeple but not a cross. There is no disrespect to any other religion. Most Christian religions are a reformation religion-- a break off from the catholic religion. The LDS is a restoration religion. We believe that Christ, the heavenly father appeared to Joseph Smith and restored Christ church again on the earth. “
Uniformity was an ever-present topic of our discussion, and it was established rather quickly that the nuances of the Reno community were perhaps not as present as we had thought, or hoped.
“What’s special about Mormons in Reno?” He took a few moments to gather his thoughts and said:
“I could better answer that question if it was ‘what’s special about Mormons?’”-- we sat back and accepted our fate from that point on.
“Mormons in Reno, I suspect, are very similar to Mormons in San Antonio, and Louisiana," he said. "They’re faithful. They’re kind. They serve others.”
Bishop Proulx describes Mormon.org, and how he gave a blessing to a skier who had recently suffered a major injury.
As our talk continued , we came to respect his diplomatic abilities. After we were done, we went through the exiting formalities-- thanks, goodbyes, handshakes, arm-folded small talk. Some final photos were taken and we snaked our way back through the crowd. We chuckled as we headed back to campus, spiritually and socially exhausted.
What an enlightening experience for both of us.
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