Back in May I devoted some of my personal study time to the Essays:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/essays?lang=eng
That is a collection of writings from around 2013 that gave more information -- perhaps clarification -- on various Gospel topics.
I had glanced at them when they were newer, but I saw things that I already knew or was pretty sure about. Sometimes they were from things Seminary class, so part of normal church instruction, while some were more from secular study. I thought they were kind of weak, honestly.
Some people were very disturbed by them, especially if it tied into existing doubts. People are imperfect, and that includes early church members. It may be more obvious when looking at the early church, because they are still learning how to do things. Sacrament starts with wine, and then switches to water before the Word of Wisdom, so that's not a big disruption. There are still people from my parents' generation who remember spiked punch for the adults at church functions, which would not happen now.
That is perhaps a digression, but one that can come up a lot. We need to hold grace for each other and ourselves. That is worth many reminders.
The reason I mention the Essays now, though, is because of one thing that did surprise me in May:
During the 19th century, women frequently blessed the sick by the prayer of faith, and many women received priesthood blessings promising that they would have the gift of healing.
That sent my thoughts in two directions.
I was reminded of a talk by Elder Matthew Cowley, "Miracles":
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/matthew-cowley/miracles/
The talk is from 1953, but on my mission I came across a cassette tape of that and "Earning the right to brag". They stuck with me.
Part of what stuck with me is that when we administer to the sick, we often don't really do it with much faith. I worry that we are selling ourselves and others short.
It was interesting to me that people used to call for the sisters. Was that a time of more faith? It would be interesting to know more stories about that.
When I have written about women not holding the priesthood in our church, I pointed out the usual things: priesthood is for service, not for self-glorification, so there are ways in which it shouldn't matter, except that in the way people perceive its meaning, it can matter a lot.
In my youth, the common thing you would hear is that women don't need the priesthood. Hearing about women being called to pray for the sick seems to reinforce that.
I also recall some "jokes" about it that -- though I did not realize it at the time -- indicated some discomfort with it.
We are not great at dealing with discomfort. I think the Essays were an attempt to be better at that.
Here's a bit more on that topic:
Women’s participation in healing blessings gradually declined in the early 20th century as Church leaders taught that it was preferable to follow the New Testament directive to “call for the elders.” By 1926, Church President Heber J. Grant affirmed that the First Presidency “do not encourage calling in the sisters to administer to the sick, as the scriptures tell us to call in the Elders, who hold the priesthood of God and have the power and authority to administer to the sick in the name of Jesus Christ.” Currently, the Church’s Handbook 2: Administering the Church directs that “only Melchizedek Priesthood holders may administer to the sick or afflicted.”
Of course, women are still responsible for any cooking and cleaning and child care to help the sick.
I can't help but notice that change would have happened around the lead-in to women getting the right to vote. There had been a world war and sickness and changing fashions and things... that will often lead people to be more conservative.
I can also see one good potential reason for preferring calling the elders, that relates very much to the possible interpretation of men having the responsibility to lead because they are less likely to do it on their own. Maybe men needed the experiences, but they were busy or unmotivated so the women kept doing it.
That is just speculation, but if we are facing situations like that, where women keep doing the majority of the preparation, with men technically in the lead but not rising to the occasion (yet perhaps still taking the credit)... that could be the kind of situation where we do not exercise enough faith and sell ourselves short.
Related posts:
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2014/03/women-and-priesthood.html
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