Everybody talks

I nearly didn't write up my talk last week. Writing about preparing the talk got me thinking.

Part of it was what I wrote about not going on and on about trying to avoid the talk, and some of it was a conversation I had with another friend, but I am not sure that we fully realize how valuable it is. After all, I often tune out of talks, or something really irritates me and I write a whole post on it, like that Mother's Day one.

Let me get back to that first talk I gave on repentance. I was a week away from leaving on my mission, and it was my mission farewell, something that we don't really do anymore.

We controlled the program. In that case it meant that my mother and I spoke, and my sisters and the other young women sang "Have You Seen His Image In Your Countenance", and one of their fathers sang "Oh That I Were An Angel", and I believe I chose the hymns, which were "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" and "Called To Serve". We might have chosen the prayers too. The next week I spoke in the singles ward, and my older sister sang a song, but it was on a smaller scale.

At the time we did not think anything of it. I wanted people to feel the spirit and be missionary-minded, so that's how I was making those decisions, and every member of the family who was going to church at the time was involved. Those who were not active or members still came, and part of it for me was really hoping they would feel something.

There was nothing wrong with that, but my understanding is that there was the potential, and it did happen, that some people would get carried away, and make it too much about the missionary, and I suppose even if everyone was fairly grounded, in a year when a lot of missionaries went out that would be a lot of singing of "Called to Serve", which, incidentally, they will be singing a lot while they are in the Missionary Training Center.

When they started moving away from big farewells and big returns, I thought of it as something to reign in excess, that was perhaps natural for people who were really proud of their children. Putting it together with another change made me think a little differently though.

Once upon a time when a new couple would move into the ward the husband and wife would usually speak on the same day. The end result of that was that the wife would usually talk about their background and how they met and what children they had, and then the husband would give a talk with some doctrine and spirituality.

That doesn't happen anymore. In one way it is quite practical because you don't have a bench full of unattended children, but even better, clearly no one is up there just to do an introduction while the other person gives the real talk. We all give real talks.

So let's think about that. That means we believe everyone has something to say. Everyone has a right to a testimony that they can bear. Everyone gets responsibilities in the church that provide lessons and growth. We have adult Sunday School because we believe that we need to keep studying and learning the scriptures.

In a church with a preacher speaking every week, he is going to have a lot of influence on how that congregation feels and thinks. We pull from each other.

We do hear from the Bishop sometimes. He bears his testimony every three months, and we may hear from him every fifth Sunday, or it may be someone else. We may hear from him in ward conference, or if one speaker runs short, but he does not control the message, and in a few years it will be a different bishop anyway.

Yes, someone will ask you to speak and give you a topic, but consider testimony meeting where anyone can get up, and we do that once a month! In some respects that seems crazy, and we have all heard testimonies that weren't really testimonies so much as someone wanting to brag or complain or something, but great things happen to.

That may be the things that makes it most obvious that we are not a cult. There is no charismatic leader molding our thoughts - we all share what we have. At our best times we nourish and inspire each other, and if we do not always succeed at that, there is always that possibility as we become more humble, more pure, and more full of the Spirit.

I have been irritated lately with how a lot of conservative leaders are focusing on how important it is for good women to be quiet ones, and how so many minorities are being shouted down by purported progressives in the interest of not rocking the boat. That would be more frustrating, except it is put in some context by seeing that when you really get down to it those groups don't have a high opinion of white men either; that really they look down on humanity in general.

There are reasons to look down on humanity - I see them all the time - but that is not what we do. We believe in the potential for good as well, and we are constantly encouraged to share and uplift and teach. I won't try and avoid that, or make a joke of it. It is something good.