As I sat in fast and testimony meeting last week a sister in the congregation got up and talked about what it means to be set apart as a missionary. Converts to Mormonism certainly recognize that membership in the LDS Church comes with a language, or a vernacular, and idioms all our own.

We use all kinds of words and expressions in discourse that have specific meaning in a Mormon context, and often need some explanation for those outside of or new to the faith. For example, what is a high priest, what is Zion vs. the mission field, what is gathering? We do work for the dead, do endowments, do visiting teaching and do home teaching. We set apart those sustained to various callings in the church (and what is meant by a calling?).

Each of these terms has a clear and specific meaning in "church talk"; however, because we bandy them about often, their meanings and the power inherent in that meaning is often lost on us.



This was Gwen's point in her testimony. We hear the phrase "set apart" so often that we sometimes either ignore what it means to be set apart or else we let those words become meaningless to us. I want to consider the terms "set apart" and "calling" in the hopes of revitalizing and stimulating our spiritual understanding each time we receive a calling or are set apart in the church.

Just as I always remind my students when they hear the word "faith" spoken in a spiritual context they should add in their minds "in Jesus Christ" -- "faith in Jesus Christ" -- because considering definitions and implications of words and phrases improves and empowers our understanding of them.

What does it mean to be extended a calling in the church? In this context the dictionary defines a calling as "summoning or alerting someone by means of a formal request." Do we recognize that when we are given a calling in the church that it is the Lord who calls us to serve him and to serve others? As he said, "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." Do these words alert us to the sanctity and seriousness of each and every calling that comes to us in the church and remind us that we are accountable to the Lord to "do" that calling to the best of our ability under the inspiration of the Spirit?

Similarly what does it mean to be set apart? Synonyms include "sanctified," "blessed," "made holy." To be set apart means "to make someone conspicuous or different." When we associate these terms with being set apart we better understand what the Lord expects of us. President Spencer W. Kimball declared, "The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal, apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap or vulgar; (it is to be) set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity."

Perhaps a simple food analogy will also help clarify what it means to be set apart. There is always one problem with serving a pie: there are so few pieces that if you do not physically remove that extra piece, put it on a plate and "set it apart" from the rest it will most likely be eaten before you return for seconds. In this sense to be set apart might suggest the safety that comes when we physically refrain or remove ourselves, when we set ourselves apart, from certain practices and activities.

We can better conceive the spiritual and literal requirements when we think of a missionary being set apart for her mission. For a year and a half she commits to refrain from the influences of Babylon (more great "religious speak"). She commits to set herself apart from the things of the world by giving up watching television and movies, listening to most music, dating, etc. Instead she commits to immerse herself in scripture study, fervent prayer, service and bearing testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. She distances herself from worldly enticements and devotes attention to the things of the spirit.

In a sense this might also be what it means to be set apart in a calling in the church. We put our duty in that church job above the things of the world and it becomes a primary concern. We commit to set ourselves apart from sin, from that which demeans, and to set ourselves in a spiritual place far removed from the sordid and base things of this world.

Everything the Lord did in his life, everything he does in his church today serves a significant purpose. When we pay attention to the language of gospel we find that even it abounds with meaning.