This post was originally written on September 27th, 2008, by Janet. I’m reposting it in honor of last night’s Relief Society Broadcast, which I thought had some really good messages of Christ and of service.
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Here in my stake, ’twas the annual free potato and salad bar capped off by two hours of addresses directed specifically to the women of the church. Whether or not starch came along with your viewing and/or listening pleasure, I imagine many of you had the opportunity to catch some of tonight’s conference. What did you think? Any particular high points or questions you wish to share?
I began the evening with high hopes, for Muffin kindly sat in his portable high chair obediently snarfing down carrots with quiet and happy relish. (That’s the “relish” of enthusiasm, not pickley bits of questionable vegetable–because how gross would carrots with pickely bits taste? Ugh.) He displayed such fine behavior that maternal love inspired me to generously share my slice of chocolate cake, and therein lay a large error in maternal judgement since the little feller turned into a sugar-fueled wind-up car of frenetic toddler nuttiness for the remainder of my evening. Thusly, the actual speeches found me engaged in the activity of trying not to flash everyone (short skirts and children don’t mix) while keeping a 16-month old from jaunting up the stand, pulling down the skirts of innocent bystanders (bysitters?), running rampant through the hallways, and turning in happy circles until falling on our heads during the hymns. Ok, I admit, I enjoyed and encouraged the latter. It’s one of my favorite Muffin antics.
Here’s some memorable bits from what little I heard:
President Beck calls for women to turn RS into a more powerful organization, one less centered on a Sunday meeting. My general impression was that she may not have fleshed this idea out with details, but since I heard little past the first paragraph, I could be wrong. Feel free to fill me in! I’d love a real call to power for RS, a full-hearted embrace of how we might better employ our minds, spirits, and bodies in making communities within and without the church stronger. How we might be as essential to the church-as-organization as is the priesthood, something else I’m pretty sure she said. You know, offering “Relief”! (Prescriptive linguistic sidenote: why is the word pronounced absent the “f”? Weird.)
Somebody–don’t know who, I was in the hall–sternly announces that those who don’t fit the “Married w/Children” mold are as essential to the power of RS as anybody else and that the organization shouldn’t have peripheries. I’m not sure if the paraphrase is accurate or not, but I hope it is. I got the vague impression that she may have then enacted the error of talking about how those folks are important only in regards to how they may *help women with kids and husbands*, but I’m hoping I heard wrong. (On the other hand, I’d love it if somebody would volunteer to help me with my kid during SM. I did it for years and should karma decide to help return the favor, hurrah.) But helping me corral the ever-cavorting Muffin is not a single or childless woman’s central role in the church. Surely the speaker didn’t imply that? Please tell me she didn’t. I’m hoping the crux of the message centered on all women helping all others come to Christ, in whatever form is needed.
Someone else (hall again) reminds us that small service in our immediate surroundings and to our neighbors constructs easy opportunity for offering relief, and that we needn’t go scrounging about for dramatic causes when our neighbors require a shoulder to sog upon. Surely far-and-away causes and helping the besogged lady next door needn’t be mutually exclusive. Still, I get overwhelmed with all the causes to which I want but cannot currently dedicate my time, and perhaps I’m not alone. A kick in the hiney reminding me that I can help without helping on a large geographic scale = useful. So long as it’s not taken as an excuse to be apathetic towards the suffering of those outside the boundaries of my vision and hands, that is–and seeing has how the speakers reminded us repeatedly that RS is a worldwide organization, I can’t imagine justifying such myopia.
Elder Uchdorf tells women to embrace their gifts and talents and stop apologizing for things already. Since the average Mormon female’s need to apologize for, you know, pretty much everything up to and including existing remains one of my pet peeves in life (especially since I do it, dagnabit) I rejoiced that a member of the First Presidency would tell us to cut it out. Plus, and you can all call me a sexist poo-head, I like looking at Elder Uchdorf. He is handsome handsome handsome and I bet he cut quite the figure in a flight suit. Mostly though, I’m glad he told us to stop apologizing. Hallelujah, amen and amen. And I hope that while his wife teaches herself how to stop apologizing she also teaches him how to cook something more expansive than toast and a fried egg.
The hymns. Excellent zesty hymns with actual beats, not sung with the metronome set on “dirge.” I’m a believer in hymns as intergral portion of the meeting, and since Muffin actually likes them, I got to hear them. Good hymns. Yay to whomever chose them.
Y’all?
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