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Really – Ordain Women again? Seriously. I am not trying to soapbox on this, but an event from my youth came back to me and has offered me some perspective. I wanted to share it with my online ward. To begin – I have struggled with the style of the churches response toward the OW group. The dump truck pulled up to the tabernacle, the media dismissal, etc. In my fantasy world – the church and it’s leadership should be the cutting edge of courtesy. It hurts when my fantasy doesn’t play out. Though I struggle with Kate Kelly’s choices at moments, I expect the church to be the adult and lead by amazing example.
This is where the memory kicks in. When I was 12 or 13 – Sonja Johnson made her stand in General Conference. It was impactful. We didn’t watch GC because we couldn’t, but we could and did listen on side band radio. We heard the event. We heard the women shouting, the rumble of wonder and aghast through the audience, and the scramble on the stand to address the outburst. At the time, it was a million miles away in Utah.
A few months later it was Stake Conference in my area. We had a visiting General Authority. At that time the church was still small enough, the visiting General Authority often meant a member of the 12. In my mind it was Elder Thomas Monson – I am almost sure of that. Our stake had asked all the Young Women to be in a choir for the Sunday service. I was among them, we were sitting on the stand, waiting for our two songs. The opening prayer had been said, a few introductions spoken, then came the sustaining of church, officers. The first read was Prophet, Seer and Revelator – Spencer W. Kimball. All in Favor. Hands raised. All Opposed.
At this moment 3 women in the congregation jumped up hands in the air, and simultaneously shouted, “No – It is against ERA policy. No”. They were spread out around the chapel. The message was loud and clear – and a near repeat of the response from the General Conference a few months earlier happened again. The women were escorted out. It was quite an disruptive few minutes. It felt like a car collision. You should just sort of shook. I admired one of the women very much and it really shocked me to see her this way.
The rest of the sustaining’s were read without incident. But the palpable tremor was still in the room. The next thing on the program was our first song. I believe it was “I Heard Him Come”. As we continued to sing, the mood in the room changed, calm took over and life would move forward.
Why this came back to me today, I do not know. I have not thought of it since my youth. And I am a half a century old. But it is that half century mark that makes the difference and I think is imperative to my understanding of the present situation. Kate Kelly is younger than I. I don’t know all the ages of the profiles for OW, but I imagine my generation is less linked to it. I would imagine that many in OW were never around when the first experience happened. But current LDS leadership was. They are older than I am, many of them were the Jr. leaders coming up. Whether they live with the memory of the first experience or not, it had impact. It created fear. All men live by fear. Which may explain why dump trucks were pulled in, why press was banished. Why words such as protest were used. The past laid an ugly scar that is still impacting responses today. I don’t think OW was a protest, I do think it was a request. By the end it became a protest – a bit on both sides. What also has sunk in from my memory is the impact of a Savior. The hope of becoming a more mature church, person and people lie in the example of a Rabbi from Nazareth.
I have hope of a more mature church as well Mom3. I joined the church shortly after Sonja Johnson was excommunicated but I did read her book From Housewife to Heretic.I made reference to this without naming names before, but I believe if the OW movement had occurred in the same era as Sonja Johnson they would be excommunicated as she was. I think even 10 years ago (as in the September Six) the leaders of the movement may have been excommunicated. From that perspective I am seeing a maturing in the church. (Yes, having read her book I know Sonja Johnson had other issues and was an apostate – but I also believe her apostasy was fueled by the responses of the church.) True point DJ – the church hasn’t held courts or excommunicated these women. I need to remember that, for it is growth and maturity, as well as the willingness to let the OW and Pants to Church movement, influence other changes such as prayers in GC, Women’s Leadership Pictures in the Leadership Hall, even the women having a more prominent seat in GC. I guess I better be mature if I want them to be so. I am a member after all and I should represent what I claim to believe. 🙂
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