A Woman’s Place in the Church
Background:
Question about a woman’s place in the church. We are moving at a decent pace about the understanding of women and priesthood. However, an ongoing question is, what is a woman’s place? Many struggle with the answer, and our Clarus members should be able to help answer this question.
Discussion:
“My job is to support my husband’s priesthood” may not be the woman we are discussing. We are talking about women in the church who know they have priesthood power and authority but don’t know their place in the church.
Maybe, but once the woman who believes her only connection to priesthood is through her husband has an absorbed knowledge of her priesthood power and authority, the next logical step is how to use it and how she fits into the organizaiton of the church. It’s the whole educational process from “I support my husband’s priesthood” to knowing they have the same priesthood.
One member of a ward Relief Society believes the YW should know how to “support the priesthood”—not to know they actually have priesthood power for themselves. This is a problem.
We should use examples and experiences of using this power and authority to help others recognize it in their lives.
Some women don’t acknowledge their power because they consider it an additional responsibility.
One member of the discussion said it was rewarding to work as a partner with her husband when he was a mission president and she was a mission leader—it was life changing for her but some missionaries could not process that her role had priesthood authority
We should consider adding the word power, authority, or keys when using the word priesthood to be more specific
Remove the word “the” before priesthood so that it doesn’t sound like a male entity
“I ask myself, "Well, why do I want this responsibility? Why do I want authority? Why do I want power in the priesthood?" Because I do. And it's not about me. It's about my children, it's about my students, it's about my friends. I want righteous influence in this world. I want to make a difference for good, and that's what the priesthood allows us to do, and that's what makes it worth it to do whatever we can to make and keep those covenants, to read the scriptures, to pray, to establish a personal deep relationship with God and His Son and the Holy Ghost so that we have the power in our lives to do the things that matter most to us. I think that's what it's all about.”
It would be helpful and educational to others if we discussed this topic more in mixed companies, such as Sunday School, and not just in Relief Society.
It’s not just our religion that struggles with this and we have more expansive roles for women than most any community
Some men, especially in leadership callings, presume to know what women think and then tell them how to handle a given situation - this is not a helpful practice
Priesthood power is what brings us into the presence of God and is expansive, not restrictive, beyond what we have ever considered in bringing others into the presence of God
Why can’t a woman hold her baby for a baby blessing - some wards/stakes allow that to happen.
Talk about priesthood authority and power as a given—a fact. We all are to do this.
Sometimes it feels hopeless - extreme beliefs on both sides - Barbara Morgan Gardner relies quite a bit on what the brethren says, and some need that validation to know it’s true -
Knowing we have priesthood power and authority seems entry-level knowledge—it is a given. We have been talking about this since 2013. It is time to move to the next level of having confidence in articulating our place in the church.
This is it in one succinct statement:
Richard Bushman - “The priesthood had one purpose in every age: exaltation. Rather than being a governmental hierarchy or a corporate organization, the priesthood held the sacral power to bring people into the presence of God.” Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 205
(Sacral: of, for, or relating to sacred rites or symbols.) Look for this truth in Doctrine and Covenants 88.
President Freeman’s recent conference talk helps us to overcome and to become
Priesthood power - Holy Ghost - Spirit of God - All the same power to bring people to Christ
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