Well, it's that time of year again. The Memorial season is upon us and JWs the world over are getting ready for the celebration which this year falls on 17 April. For the first time since 1975, Yours Truly will not attend and I couldn't be happier. Let me explain further.
I was disfellowshipped in September 2005 and the year that followed was emotionally and spiritually difficult, as many of you would understand. But I hit a low point in 2007 when the Memorial arrived. That night I limped into the Kingdom Hall parking lot with a flat tire. Seeing how I was routinely shunned whenever I attended a meeting, I wondered how I was going to deal with this problem. When I walked into the Hall, the elders treated me like the Invisible Man, so I knew I would get no help from them. However, I did find one man who did help. He himself was also disfellowshipped. When the "celebration" was over, he helped me change the tire and followed me home to ensure my safe arrival.
Only one brother offered to help us, and he was in no physical shape to do so. Nevertheless, he stayed with us and gave encouragement until the tire was changed and I was on my way. Other people saw us in the parking lot, but not one offered any help, encouragement, or assistance. I didn't realize it then, but that was the night the clock began ticking the countdown for my permanent departure. It took me three years to make the final decision to never return, but I haven't looked back.
In the years that followed, I always found the night of the Memorial to be the one I hated going to the Kingdom Hall the most. This is supposed to be the holiest night of the year, and you would think that a wayward and lost sheep as I was supposed to be would be welcomed with open arms and warm words of love and encouragement for coming. Instead, I was shunted off into a corner and coldly ignored through the whole meeting. I wondered why I had put myself through such abuse and how could a "Christian" congregation behave so. But then I remembered there was a time when the Society actively and firmly discouraged disfellowshipped persons from attending the Memorial celebration at all, so the treatment I got should not have been so surprising.
I wonder what others' experience has been in this respect. If you are disfellowshipped, disassociated, or just an infrequent meeting attender, how have you been treated on "most sacred night", as one of the Kingdom songs calls it? And if you are an active Witness, I have this additional question for you. Since Paul wrote at 1 Corinthians 11:26 that the Lord's Evening Meal was to be celebrated only until the Lord arrived, why is this still going on? After all, if the Lord arrived in 1914 as the organization maintains, then that should have been the last year of observing the Memorial shouldn't it? Any observance after that year would be in direct contravention to this clearly stated condition. With the Memorial season now upon us, I think this is a pertinent and very relevant question.
Quendi