October 2015, Sunday morning session
My favorite quote of the talk:
...we need women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ and who will use that understanding to teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation.Consider reading all the footnotes as you are preparing to discuss this talk. President Nelson has put in a lot of study helps and extras to help us understand what he is saying and to give us further insight.
As I read, I made a list of traits and qualities he honors in women. There are a TON! Women are truly valued in this Church. There may be individuals (of both genders!) who don't understand this, but the Apostles certainly do! Women have an amazing potential. Here is the list I made. Comment with any I missed:
serenity
filled with love, truth, pure faith
radiating peace
tranquility
angelic
devotion to Lord and husband
strength
courage
covenant-keeping
exemplars of faith
devout defenders of the faith
righteous
articulate
distinct & different - in happy ways
vital associates
virtue
light
love
knowledge
character
conversion
leadership
wisdom
have voices
speak with authority
organized/organization skills
executive ability
directors
administrators
teachers
speakers
doers
discernment
shepherds
revelation-receiving
morality-defending
understand temple
know how to call upon powers of heaven
teach fearlessly
life-changing influence
vision
grit
inspired prodding
impressions
insights
inspiration
contributing, full partner
united with husband in governing family
distinctive capabilities
special intuition
unique influence
detect deception
expression with confidence and charity
bedrock understanding of doctrine of Christ
use understanding to raise a sin-resistant generation
courage and vision of Mother Eve
converted, covenant-keeping
Ok - let's get into the talk. President Nelson starts by welcoming the three new apostles, and gives a little tribute to the late apostles. He says:
I had the privilege of being with all of these Brethren during their final days, including joining members of President Packer’s and Elder Scott’s immediate families just before their passing. It has been difficult for me to believe that these three treasured friends, these magnificent servants of the Lord, are gone. I miss them more than I can say.I love that he misses his brethren. A quorum is a family. How are our wards and quorums/relief societies like a family?
As I’ve reflected on this unexpected turn of events, one of the impressions that has lingered with me is that which I observed in these surviving wives. Etched in my mind are the serene images of Sister Donna Smith Packer and Sister Barbara Dayton Perry at their husbands’ bedsides, both women filled with love, truth, and pure faith.While the apostles are the face of Church leadership, how different would they be without their faith-filled and covenant-keeping wives?! How does our faith influence our husbands (where applicable)? Or (if you're a husband...) how does the faith of your wife influence you?
Through their husbands’ final hours and continuing to the present day, these stalwart women have shown the strength and courage that covenant-keeping women always demonstrate.The footnote here reads: "This includes tears—in keeping the commandment to weep for those we love when they graduate from this life (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:45)." Did you ever consider weeping as a commandment? What does that mean to you? Do you have an experience of this principle you feel inspired to share? (Comment below!)
It would be impossible to measure the influence that such women have, not only on families but also on the Lord’s Church, as wives, mothers, and grandmothers; as sisters and aunts; as teachers and leaders; and especially as exemplars and devout defenders of the faith. (Emphasis added.)I love that immeasurable and more important than our familial roles are our example and defense of the faith! It doesn't matter whether married or single, young or old, our example and defense of the faith is the most especial/important influence that we have.
This has been true in every gospel dispensation since the days of Adam and Eve. Yet the women of this dispensation are distinct from the women of any other because this dispensation is distinct from any other.4 This distinction brings both privileges and responsibilities.The footnote 4 mentions that "this dispensation will not be limited in location or time. It will fill the world and merge with the Second Coming of the Lord." We will not terminate in apostasy, but grow and lead to the Second Coming! What do you feel are some of the privileges and responsibilities he's talking about? (Pres. Nelson will also mention more as we go on)
President Nelson then quotes President Spencer W. Kimball in 1979:
Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world … will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world.What are some "happy ways" we can be "distinct and different?"
My dear sisters, you who are our vital associates during this winding-up scene, the day that President Kimball foresaw is today. You are the women he foresaw! Your virtue, light, love, knowledge, courage, character, faith, and righteous lives will draw good women of the world, along with their families, to the Church in unprecedented numbers!How do you feel to know that we are these women? What gifts has God given you that you can use in the Work? Or if you're male ... how can you partner with and/or support the faithful women in your life to fulfill this destiny?
We, your brethren, need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. 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!7Here is Footnote 7 associated with this quote:
7. President Joseph Fielding Smith told sisters of the Relief Society, “You can speak with authority, because the Lord has placed authority upon you.” He also said that the Relief Society has “been given power and authority to do a great many things. The work which they do is done by divine authority” (“Relief Society—an Aid to the Priesthood,” Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1959, 4, 5). These quotations were also cited by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in a conference address, “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 51.A careful reading of the footnote here teaches (or reminds) us that we have divine authority. We do not need to be ordained to the priesthood to have the power and authority of God! I don't think we fully understand the extent of our priestess-hood. Any comments or testimony on these principles?
President Packer declared:
“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. …It sounds like there is a place for everyone!
“We need women with the gift of discernment who can view the trends in the world and detect those that, however popular, are shallow or dangerous.”Anyone have examples of shallow or dangerous trends you have discerned? I thought immediately of some of the many false traditions and trends which de-emphasize the importance of the family. There is the trend of children born out of wedlock, there is the trend of elective abortion for casual reasons, there is the trend of cohabitation and devaluation of marriage.
Today, let me add that we need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith and who are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world. 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 love this. How much good can we make happen? How many souls can we nourish and bless? Do we take the temple endowment to heart? Do you feel the power and peace of the temple? What are your thoughts?
My ears especially perked up when he said "women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven." What do we know about the "powers of heaven?" I did a search in the scriptures for this phrase and was not disappointed. We know for example, from D&C 121:36 "that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven," and from 3 Nephi 28:7 that Christ "shall come in [His] glory with the powers of heaven," and from 3 Nephi 20:22 that in the New Jerusalem, "the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people..." Adding these together makes pretty strong implications for our role and potential in these days.
Next, President Nelson shares the heart-wrenching story of some unsuccessful heart surgeries he performed on two young children.
Fifty-eight years ago I was asked to operate upon a little girl, gravely ill from congenital heart disease. Her older brother had previously died of a similar condition. Her parents pleaded for help. I was not optimistic about the outcome but vowed to do all in my power to save her life. Despite my best efforts, the child died. Later, the same parents brought another daughter to me, then just 16 months old, also born with a malformed heart. Again, at their request, I performed an operation. This child also died. This third heartbreaking loss in one family literally undid me.
I went home grief stricken. I threw myself upon our living room floor and cried all night long. Dantzel stayed by my side, listening as I repeatedly declared that I would never perform another heart operation. Then, around 5:00 in the morning, Dantzel looked at me and lovingly asked, “Are you finished crying? Then get dressed. Go back to the lab. Go to work! You need to learn more. If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know.”
Oh, how I needed my wife’s vision, grit, and love! I went back to work and learned more. If it weren’t for Dantzel’s inspired prodding, I would not have pursued open-heart surgery and would not have been prepared to do the operation in 1972 that saved the life of President Spencer W. Kimball.9I love that she "lovingly asked." She gave an "inspired prodding." She didn't nag and she wasn't rough or insensitive. We must follow the Spirit to know what to say and how to inspire and when to say it! If we are following inspiration, it will always be the right thing.
Next, he shares of a stake council:
A superb stake president told me of a stake council meeting in which they were wrestling with a difficult challenge. At one point, he realized that the stake Primary president had not spoken, so he asked if she had any impressions. “Well, actually I have,” she said and then proceeded to share a thought that changed the entire direction of the meeting. The stake president continued, “As she spoke, the Spirit testified to me that she had given voice to the revelation we had been seeking as a council.”It seems to me that the idea of working in councils is becoming more prominent in the Church. It goes for family councils as well.
My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils. We need each married sister to speak as “a contributing and full partner”10 as you unite with your husband in governing your family. Married or single, you sisters possess distinctive capabilities and special intuition you have received as gifts from God. We brethren cannot duplicate your unique influence.Do not be afraid to speak up when you receive an impression, insight or inspiration. Our intuition is a gift from God to benefit all in our callings and other spheres of influence. I love that. I feel like in the effort to have equal standing as men, our society has largely forgotten and undervalued qualities and capabilities such as intuition which are more unique to women, and need also to be nurtured, exercised, and strengthened.
We know that the culminating act of all creation was the creation of woman!11 We need your strength!Footnote 11 has some beautiful quotes:
11. “All the purposes of the world and all that was in the world would be brought to naught without woman—a keystone in the priesthood arch of creation” (Russell M. Nelson, “Lessons from Eve,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 87). “Eve became God’s final creation, the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Women in Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2004, 83).Any comments on the importance or value of women? How do these beliefs help us respond to those who would have us believe that we are oppressed or inferior?
Attacks against the Church, its doctrine, and our way of life are going to increase. Because of this, we need women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ and who will use that understanding to teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation.12 We need women who can detect deception in all of its forms. We need women who know how to access the power that God makes available to covenant keepers and who express their beliefs with confidence and charity.Here we have a warning: Attacks are going to increase! President Nelson says that the answer is to "have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ," and "use that understanding to teach and help raise a sin-resistant generation." Wow! That last turn of phrase sounds Millennial with a capital M. What is the doctrine of Christ? How can we use it to raise a sin-resistant generation? What does it mean to be a sin-resistant generation?
We need women who have the courage and vision of our Mother Eve.What would you say is the courage and vision of our Mother Eve? Courage to be Mother? Having joy in redemption? Teaching our children?
At the end of the talk, President Nelson alludes back to the Spencer W. Kimball quote. He says:
My dear sisters, nothing is more crucial to your eternal life than your own conversion. It is converted, covenant-keeping women—women like my dear wife Wendy—whose righteous lives will increasingly stand out in a deteriorating world and who will thus be seen as different and distinct in the happiest of ways.
So today I plead with my sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to step forward! Take your rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God—more than you ever have before. I plead with you to fulfill President Kimball’s prophecy. 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!I thought this really brought the talk full circle. He then ends with a testimony of Jesus Christ and an apostolic blessing:
I bear witness of the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His redeeming, atoning, and sanctifying power. And as one of His 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. Together we will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. Of this I testify, as your brother, in the name of Jesus Christ [emphasis added]One thing I truly believe is that we are not just a do-good-feel-good Church - yes, it's important to obey the commandments, serve our fellowmen, and walk in righteousness - but our Church also has the commission to help prepare the world for the Second Coming. Zion must be established to receive her King. How can we help cultivate Zion more in our hearts, our homes, our wards/branches, and communities?
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