Ordinary lives among ordinary families

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the October 2007 Conference.

I have no memory of ever hearing President Packer's talk in this session, but I loved it! It was a very personal talk, and I always like hearing people's stories, but I also just liked the reminder of how the power of the church really does come from so many ordinary individuals all just trying their best! Of course it doesn't always work perfectly because we don't work perfectly, but just imagine how amazing it would be if you could duplicate this in any other organization:

Once the gospel is preached and the Church is organized, there is an inexhaustible supply of faithful brothers and sisters who have that testimony and are willing to answer the call to serve. They commit themselves to the work of the Lord and live the standards required of them.

Members have had the Holy Ghost conferred upon them after their baptism. The Holy Ghost will teach and comfort them. They are then prepared to receive guidance, direction, and correction, whatever their position or needs require.

That self-teaching, self-building, self-correcting function that the Holy Ghost serves for each calling is so amazing! I can learn how to teach a bunch of teenagers about Jesus, or how to help a group of children learn songs about the gospel, or how to inspire a group of ladies to dive deeper into the scriptures—even when I have no experience, no real aptitude, no leadership skill—I can learn all of that anyway, step by step, from the Holy Ghost! It's a miracle, and one I've actually experienced multiple times.

President Packer then tells this story:

Forty-six years ago I was a 37-year-old seminary supervisor. My Church calling was as an assistant teacher in a class in the Lindon Ward.

To my great surprise, I was called to meet with President David O. McKay. He took both of my hands in his and called me to be one of the General Authorities, an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

A few days later, I came to Salt Lake City to meet with the First Presidency to be set apart as one of the General Authorities of the Church. This was the first time I had met with the First Presidency—President David O. McKay and his counselors, President Hugh B. Brown and President Henry D. Moyle.

President McKay explained that one of the responsibilities of an Assistant to the Twelve was to stand with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as a special witness and to bear testimony that Jesus is the Christ. What he said next overwhelmed me: “Before we proceed to set you apart, I ask you to bear your testimony to us. We want to know if you have that witness.”

I did the best I could. I bore my testimony the same as I might have in a fast and testimony meeting in my ward. To my surprise, the Brethren of the Presidency seemed pleased and proceeded to confer the office upon me.

That puzzled me greatly, for I had supposed that someone called to such an office would have an unusual, different, and greatly enlarged testimony and spiritual power.

It puzzled me for a long time until finally I could see that I already had what was required: an abiding testimony in my heart of the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that we have a Heavenly Father, and that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. I may not have known all about it, but I did have a testimony, and I was willing to learn.

I just like that so much. Even though I know objectively speaking that "church leaders" aren't some special class of people (and obviously I have seen church leaders be all-too-human in certain situations, and have been an all-too-human leader myself)—I still find myself thinking, "Well, the Seventies, though! And the Twelve Apostles! They really are a special sort of person with a special sort of testimony." And of course in one sense that's true. They are experienced and wise. They have special keys. But for some reason it just seems so powerful to me what President Packer says here, that anyone might have what is required to be a special witness of Christ: "an abiding testimony…of the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that we have a Heavenly Father, and that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer." I guess it's powerful to me because I DO have that! And just like Elder Packer was, I am willing to learn! And that is really enough to serve in any position God requires!

President Packer continues:

As General Authorities of the Church, we are just the same as you are, and you are just the same as we are. You have the same access to the powers of revelation for your families and for your work and for your callings as we do.

It is also true that there is an order to things in the Church. When you are called to an office, you then receive revelation that belongs to that office that would not be given to others.

No member of the Church is esteemed by the Lord as more or less than any other. It just does not work that way! Remember, He is a father—our Father. The Lord is “no respecter of persons.”

We are not worth more to the onrolling of the Lord’s work than were Brother and Sister Toutai Paletu‘a in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga; or Brother and Sister Carlos Cifuentes in Santiago, Chile; or Brother and Sister Peter Dalebout in the Netherlands; or Brother and Sister Tatsui Sato of Japan; or hundreds of others I have met while traveling about the world. It just does not work that way.

And so the Church moves on. It is carried upon the shoulders of worthy members living ordinary lives among ordinary families, guided by the Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ, which is in them.

I love that, and it inspires me to do a little better in my little part of the church, wherever I am and whatever my calling is!