I will be basing my remarks on two sources. The first is a talk by Russel M. Nelson in the 2015 general conference, entitled “A plea to My Sisters”. For those of you who may be visiting or not familiar, Russel M. Nelson is the current president of our church, and we revere him as a prophet of God.
The second resource I am using is a series of talks from Sharon Eubank, who is currently the first counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, and the director of LDS Charities.
But first, a bit of history. We believe that when Joseph Smith organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints almost 200 years ago, he restored the true Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. Our sixth article of faith states: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church.” Some might infer from the biblical writings in our possession that in this church organization, positions of authority, of preaching, and of teaching are to be held exclusively by men.
We know by modern revelation that this is not correct. Core to our beliefs are the 8th and 9th articles of faith that profess our belief that the Bible is the word of God “as far as it is translated correctly,” and that we are blessed with continuing revelation from God. Therefore, at this distinct time in the unfolding of God’s kingdom, we can take council from the living prophets and church authorities. My aim is to highlight, through the words of our modern authorities, the increasingly important role that women are playing in the Church of Jesus Christ in terms of leadership, teaching, preaching the gospel, and generally working right alongside us, their brothers, to build the Kingdom of God.
Just three months after the Church was organized in 1830, Emma Smith, received a revelation that she would be ordained by the prophet to “expound scriptures, and to exhort the church, according as it shall be given [her] by [the] Spirit” (D&C 25). But in general, public speaking in the early years of the Church was primarily reserved for men. It wasn’t until 1842 that the women’s Relief Society was formed, which gave women the authority “to act in the name of the Lord”. Although women did not hold offices in the priesthood, this women’s organization was, according to Joseph Smith, organized “in the Order of the Priesthood after the pattern of the Church.” Joseph Smith said “I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time.”
Thus, beginning in the earliest years, we see that the intended role of women in the Church has been revealed gradually over time, line upon line, and by revelation. While proselytizing was carried out by both men and women from the early days of the Church, it wasn’t until 1898 that the first women (called “lady missionaries”) were set apart to be individual, full-time missionaries. Many milestones have occurred since then, and today, over 20,000, or more than one quarter of all missionaries are female.
Next month, my daughter, Abigail, will join the ranks of those missionaries. Just like early members of the Church would seek a revelation from God under the hand of Joseph the prophet, Abigail faithfully sought revelation from God under the hand of our Stake Patriarch. She was given a pure and personal revelation from her Heavenly Father. As our fifth article of faith states, she was called by prophesy and will be set apart by the laying on of hands to preach the Gospel. Just as the early Saints were commanded to gather in Ohio, where they would be endowed with power, in preparation for their divine mission to preach the gospel to all nations, my daughter was recently endowed with that same power in the Philadelphia temple. In a few weeks, she will be set apart with the authority to preach the gospel. She will be laboring in the Salt Lake City West mission, Spanish speaking. I am so proud of her, and very excited for her upcoming adventure!
Since making sacred covenants in the temple, Abigail is now among the faithful women that President Nelson referred to when he said: “It would be impossible to measure the influence that [covenant-keeping] women have, not only on families but also on the Lord’s Church.”
President Nelson goes on to say: “We, your brethren, need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices.” He continues, “The kingdom of God is not and cannot be complete without women who make sacred covenants and then keep them, women who can speak with the power and authority of God!”
Pres. Packer of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a similar sentiment when he said “We need women who are organized and women who can organize. We need women with executive ability who can plan and direct and administer; women who can teach, women who can speak out. … We need women with the gift of discernment ...” We have such women in our ward. We have superb teachers and leaders in the primary, sunday school, young women’s program, and relief society.
Now back to President Nelson: “We need women who are devoted to shepherding God’s children along the covenant path toward exaltation; women who know how to receive personal revelation, who understand the power and peace of the temple endowment; women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen children and families; women who teach fearlessly.” (I will add… women such as my wife)
Can you hear in those words, the power that God has bestowed upon women, not just as mothers and wives, but as direct participants in church leadership, teaching, and proselytizing?
President Nelson also encourages women to be more involved in family government. He said “we need each married sister to speak as ‘a contributing and full partner’ as you unite with your husband in governing your family.”
I believe that husbands and wives hold joint priesthood power in governing their families. One of my favorite primary hymns has the first verse traditionally sung by girls and the second verse sung by boys. But listen closely to the words of that second verse, and let’s see whether it is limited to men. “[Ours] is a home where ev’ry hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood pow’r, with father and mother leading the way, teaching [us] how to trust and obey; And the things they teach are crystal clear, For love is spoken here.”
Sister Sharon Eubank has raised some very interesting points about the language that is available to us, or not available, and how that influences our understanding of the role of women in the church and in the family. She told a story about a woman from Estonia who was assigned the task of translating the Book of Mormon into Estonian while her country was still behind the iron curtain. The Communists had stripped out of their books, dictionaries, and language many religious words, and she therefore struggled to find ways to talk about concepts such as the priesthood.
Similarly, since much of our church language derives from Biblical usage, which is mostly relating to men, we are probably missing important terminology, which makes it difficult to express ideas about the role of women in the gospel. For example, young men are ordained to offices in the priesthood… deacons, teachers, priests. These all have biblical references. The female counterparts of these roles are beehives, mia maids and laurels, which are not as clearly linked to scripture. Yet we know that young women are just as crucial to the building of the kingdom of God as their male counterparts.
Sister Eubank points out that we don’t really have a good title for “Mission President’s wife”, even though we know that her role in the church is of great importance. Fortunately, we do have a special name for the temple Matron, which is the female counterpart of the man who presides over our temple. Language makes a big difference.
President James E. Faust said: “Every father is to his family [is a] patriarch and every mother [is a] matriarch as coequals in their distinctive parental roles.” As a church, we have done a lot more exploring of the patriarchal order, and not as much exploration of the matriarchal line, or the word matriarch. Sister Eubank has encouraged the membership of the church to start trying to develop better language to describe the distinct, but equally important, role of the matriarch.
Here are some words from Gordon B. Hinckley, who was President and prophet during the first 13 years of my membership in the Church. “And so Eve became God’s final creation, the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before. Notwithstanding this preeminence given the creation of woman, she has so frequently through the ages been relegated to a secondary position. She has been put down. She has been denigrated. She has been enslaved. She has been abused. And yet some few of the greatest characters of scripture have been women of integrity, accomplishment, and faith.”
He then mentions, Esther, Naomi, Ruth, Sariah, and others. Of Mary, the mother of the Jesus, President Hinckley states: “She it was who carried the child Jesus into Egypt to save His life from the wrath of Herod. She it was who nurtured Him in His boyhood and young manhood.”
My family knows that I chuckle when I hear the Christmas song “Mary did you know?” Of course she knew! She knew before anyone else, because the angel revealed it to her. Afterwards Mary was filled with the spirit of prophesy, foretelling of the life and mission of our Redeemer.
Sister Eubank points out that while many churches teach that mother Eve was ‘weak and sinful, that she partook of the forbidden fruit and fell, and that she was punished for it’ (from a video), our Church does not teach that doctrine. Rather, we know that Eve was strong and courageous. She knew that the fall would be necessary ‘to open the door for all of us to come into mortality’, and she sacrificed a garden-of-eden kind of life. She had faith in Jesus Christ, that His atonement would redeem us and allow us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “I recognize that we have many wonderful women among us who do not have the opportunity of marriage. But they, too, make such a tremendous contribution. They serve the Church faithfully and ably. They teach in the organizations. They stand as officers.”
What a wonderful time to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Whether we are male or female, married or single, the Lord intends to endow us with power to assist in accomplishing His work. I want my daughters to know that they have just as much potential to move this work forward as do my sons, not just as mothers and wives, but as leaders in the Church and gospel. Elder M. Russell Ballard explained: “when men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which by definition is priesthood power.”
In summary, women are of utmost importance to the progress of the church. The roles of wife and mother have traditionally been most emphasized, and yes, these are perhaps the most sacred responsibilities of women, just as father and husband are my most sacred responsibilities. Yet, in terms of church leadership, and the roles traditionally and biblically thought of as male responsibilities, we are just beginning to explore the distinct role of matriarch as teacher, preacher, and leader within the church.
The Latter-day Saint woman has from the very early days of the church been endowed with great spiritual power, and has had an enormous, yet under-documented, role in the restored Church of Jesus Christ. It is exciting to live at a time when we are beginning to have the vocabulary to express the unique role of women.
I will end with President Nelson’s continuing plea to all the women of the Church. He says: “Take your rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God—more than you ever have before... And I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that as you do so, the Holy Ghost will magnify your influence in an unprecedented way!... And as one of His Apostles”, (at the time Russel M. Nelson was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), ”I thank you, my dear sisters, and bless you to rise to your full stature, to fulfill the measure of your creation, as we walk arm in arm in this sacred work.”
I will conclude with my testimony, that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. As we exercise faith and obedience, may we continue to gain a deeper and richer understanding of our relationship to our Heavenly parents, both male and female. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment