This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the October 2004 Conference.
This week I was struck by two descriptions of what Priesthood Quorums and Relief Societies are supposed to be. About Priesthood Quorums, Elder L. Tom Perry said,
I wish the feeling and respect we have for our Council [of the Twelve Apostles] could be transported to every quorum in the Church…In our Quorum, we have a special brotherhood. We are there to lift, inspire, and bless each other with the spirit of our calling. When one is burdened, there are 11 others anxious to help lift and share that burden. At times we rejoice together in feelings of accomplishment. We weep together in times of sorrow. We never feel as if we are facing a problem alone! There is always the counsel, support, help, and encouragement of our Quorum members.
It sounds amazing to be part of that quorum. But I think it's so hard for most men to ever find this kind of friendship and support! At least it has been for Sam. So many men have golf buddies or sports buddies or whatever, but this deep, true brotherhood seems really rare. I wish we could achieve it more often in the church!
Women, maybe, have an easier time finding sisterhood. I've definitely felt love and friendship in Relief Society, in several different wards. But President Hinckley (quoted by Sister Parkin) had a higher vision there too:
Relief Society has blessed my family and the family of my dear wife for some seven generations. Since the earliest days of the Church, our mothers and daughters have been taught of their obligations to those in distress. They have been schooled in the finer points of homemaking, encouraged in their spiritual development, and guided in the realization of their full potential as women. Much of this has taken place in Relief Society and has then been brought home to bless the life of each member of my family.
I love that ideal for my daughters—not only to find friendship (which is wonderful) but to truly learn gospel service, and to love homemaking, and to feel what godly womanhood really is. I would love to feel like we were learning in Relief Society how to create the kind of home our Heavenly Mother made for us! And I love the idea of men and women working together rather than subtly competing with each other. I hadn't ever heard this story before, but I loved it:
The year 1842 was extremely difficult for the Prophet Joseph Smith. Former friends had turned on him. Other enemies wanted to abduct him from Nauvoo and blunt the growth of the Church. That same year he organized the Relief Society to care for the poor and needy and “to save souls.” President J. Reuben Clark Jr. observed that amidst these trials, Joseph Smith “turned to the sisters for the consolation, for the uplift of which he stood in such sad need at that time.” This is a moving and humbling thought: a prophet of God seeking the solace of his sisters—women to whom he had given the charge “charity never faileth.” To me this has echoes of those women who mourned with the Savior on Golgotha.
I realize that there's a lot more I could do to contribute to an "ideal Relief Society" in my own ward. It's hard to feel as connected when I'm serving in Primary, but I think that's partly my own fault. And getting to know other sisters through ministering is something I can always do better at. I'm sure the same is true for Sam in his Priesthood Quorum.
Anyway, it's nice to see this vision and to think that these ideals really are possible—Jesus Christ wants us to achieve them, and has set up the church so we can achieve them! In some places, maybe this Zion-like society is already beginning. I know I've seen glimpses of it here and there. I hope it can grow in my own life too!
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