Sacrament Talk: Sustaining Our Leaders

Joseph Smith said that, “By proving contraries, truth is made manifest” (Mason Loc 3364).  That means that it is in the tension of seemingly opposing ideas, or paradox, that we get closer to discovering Truth. Think for a moment about Jesus’ teaching that by losing ourselves in Him, we find ourselves.  Or about the idea that through our weaknesses, God can show us our strengths.  I’ve heard people say that the scriptures contradict themselves proving them inferior.  But it is in pondering those commandments or principles that may seem at odds with one another, say, for example, grace and works, that we discover the mysteries of God. Mormon scholar Terryl Givens says that the great Mormon paradox is that of authority and agency (Mason Loc 3364).  We as a people value free agency because we know that God made it a priority for his children to have, as it is an integral part in the plan of salvation.  Yet, we Mormons also have an abiding respect for the authority that our leaders possess and defer to their decisions because we trust God’s model for governance here on the earth.  In living between the spheres of authority and free agency we glimpse the genius and omniscience of our God and Creator.  When we sustain and support our leaders while simultaneously using our free agency to receive personal revelation and claim knowledge for ourselves “truth is made manifest” in our lives.

I can wholeheartedly testify of the safety and peace that comes when we sustain the leaders of the church. However, I think there is danger when we follow without receiving our personal witness of the truthfulness about what they teach and I’ll tell you why.  There might come a day when hard doctrine is preached or difficult policies are implemented.  And if we have not already received a witness of our leaders’ words and their callings, having received a spirit-to-spirit confirmation, then we do not have a testimony on which to stand while we struggle over newer, harder doctrines and policies passed down to us.  So, we need to learn to balance the commandment to sustain our leaders with receiving personal revelation. 

I’d say that for most members, there is no real problem reconciling these two commandments.  Oftentimes, our personal revelation confirms what our leaders are telling us.  But what I’d like to stress here, is that if we are following our leaders without doing the work to receive personal revelation on what is commanded and taught, we are being lazy in our discipleship. For a long time, the saying “that when a prophet speaks the thinking is done” was propagated throughout the church.  This phrase came from an article printed in in The Improvement Era in June of 1945 as the ward teaching message. When a pastor there in Salt Lake City read the article in its entirety he wrote to President Grant to ask for clarification as he saw the message as contrary to what he knew about the church and because he also felt that the ideas made the leaders of the church look bad when he knew they were not.  President Grant wrote back and said the following:

The leaflet to which you refer, and from which you quote in your letter, was not “prepared” by “one of our leaders.” However, one or more of them inadvertently permitted the paragraph to pass uncensored. By their so doing, not a few members of the Church have been upset in their feelings, and General Authorities have been embarrassed.

I am pleased to assure you that you are right in your attitude that the passage quoted does not express the true position of the Church. Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church, which is that every individual must obtain for himself a testimony of the truth of the Gospel, must, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, work out his own salvation, and is personally responsible to His Maker for his individual acts. The Lord Himself does not attempt coercion in His desire and effort to give peace and salvation to His children. He gives the principles of life and true progress, but leaves every person free to choose or to reject His teachings. This plan the Authorities of the Church try to follow” (FairMormon).

President Grant makes it clear that we must do our part and claim truth for ourselves.

When I watch General Conference so much of what is preached reverberates with my spirit and I know it is pure knowledge, truth being spoken to my soul.  However, there might be times when I hear something and I’m like, “Really?”  Either for my soul’s lack of understanding or for a need to explore more about the principle being taught, it falls on deaf or critical ears.  It is much like when Laman and Lemual heard about the dream of their father Lehi and they were like, “No, un uh, I don’t get it.” And Nephi questioned them saying, “Did you even think to ask?” Frequently, when I study and pray about a principle that initially did not sit well with me, I find that over time I can make sense of it when I go to the Lord for understanding.  However, there are some issues that for me have remained unresolved.  In a few cases, I don’t understand why the brethren and sisters in Salt Lake have made certain decisions.  And that is ok.  I still wholeheartedly trust and sustain them because I understand that running a worldwide church is not easy.  I understand that policies must be made for reasons I cannot fully appreciate.  And mostly, I sustain them because I have received a sure testimony about so much of what they have preached and counseled us to do. Also, I’ve received abundant blessings and knowledge from following their counsel.  We are better able to sincerely sustain our church leaders when we are practiced in receiving personal revelation.  As, Patrick Mason, Chair for religious studies at Claremont University puts it in his important book, Planted, “The friction between obedience to church authority and personal agency belonging to eternal intelligences creates sparks that give energy and vitality to Mormon theology and life.”

So much of the vitality and energy of Mormon life is found right here in our stake and ward congregation. I’ve learned over the years a simple truth: when one is leading a project in the church, he or she cannot please everyone.  Someone will always have an opinion about how things should be run.  Before offering up our comfortable critique, it is best for us to remember the wise words of Teddy Roosevelt. “It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”  The beauty of the structure of the church is that we all get our chance to be in the arena as we receive different callings which then gives us more empathy and allowance to others who serve in the same callings after us.  

The very simple and obvious reminder where sustaining our local leaders is concerned, then, is to support rather than judge. It is easy for us to criticize the job others are doing.  But when we have our turn in a leadership role, we realize a little better the complexity of decision making. Others might do things differently than we would, almost certainly they would do them differently.  That is part of the genius of the way the church is organized and run.  It forces us to grow in love and patience. It is so easy to criticize and find fault.  The more difficult task is to support and sustain those whom the Lord has chosen despite any weaknesses they may have.

More often than not, our leaders make it easy to sustain and love them through all of the selfless and loving service they provide.  I remember being sixteen and coming in to meet with Bishop Regnier for the first time.  I was on my own in coming back to church.  I’d been raised in a less-active, part member family, but through primary and the love I felt from primary leaders, I’d gained a testimony as a girl that I never forgot.  So, when life seemed full of despair at age 16, I knew deep down in my soul where to go for the help I needed.  I had never met Bishop Regnier before, but when we talked in his office for the first time, I knew in a way I’d never known before that the Savior loved me.  I felt the joy of Eve when hearing about the Savior that a loving Heavenly Father had provided for me.  As Bishop Regnier continued to Shepherd me into activity in the church, he provided the coaching that my lost soul needed to learn how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Years and years later when my husband Jeremy was called to be a leader in our ward in Mexico, I thought of my experience with Bishop Regnier. I told Jeremy, “The most important thing for you to do is to remind people that the hope and love found in Jesus Christ is infinite. Everyone, needs to know of that love and offering of the Savior, especially, when life or their decisions have clouded that knowledge and they find themselves in need of counsel.”  I am eternally grateful for the loving leaders I’ve had that have demonstrated a true understanding of the love of Jesus Christ.

So many of my sisters in the gospel have also been truly great leaders that have shepherded me through on my journey of discipleship.  So many sister-leaders have been there along the way but I will share the story of just one of the many placed in my life by a loving and aware Heavenly Father.   In the months leading up to my parents’ divorce I would cry and beg and plead with the Lord to not let it happen. I would pray, Please, Heavenly Father, I beg you, please do not let them do this. Please, oh, please…until my sobbing would eventually put me to sleep.  The Lord did not choose to step in and stop them from using their free agency and my little girl soul ached.  

Through all this turmoil I was turning 12 and needed to pass off the requirements to receive Gospel in Action award.  I found myself at Sister Knight’s house, Primary President of the Mill Road Ward in Heber City, Utah.  I was there to pass off the Articles of Faith and show her that I knew them by heart.  I didn’t have them down perfectly and needed a few hints from her here and there, but I made it through.  Just before I was about to leave she stopped me and told me, “You know, Fashion, your family may not be together the way you want them to be now, but you can make sure that the family you will have in the future is always together.”  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this kind woman was inspired by the Holy Ghost to say these words to me.  With my parents’ divorce, my hope of having an eternal family had been obliterated, but Sister Knight gave me a new hope by reminding me of the power and gift of free agency.  My prayers begin to change that day.  I began to pray for the family I would one day have.  I began to pray that I would be able to grow up and create that eternal family.  It became the thing my deep soul desired most.  Well, life continued and more challenges and trauma occurred and my righteous desires fell dormant.  But the seeds of hope and truth had been planted in my heart.  And when I was lost as a teenager, they began to swell within me, leading me home.

I am grateful to all the leaders who have helped me along the way, and those who continue to help me and now my family too. I have been blessed as I’ve sustained my leaders and as I’ve sought for a personal witness of their teachings.  The tensions and paradox in the Gospel, and the conflicts and challenges of life have all been a gift to me from God, an invitation and opportunity to call upon the power of the Savior’s atonement, and by so doing witness in my own life the promise in Isaiah that the Lord will make “beauty for ashes.”

Works Cited

Mason, Patrick Q. Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2015.
"When the Prophet Speaks, Is the Thinking Done? - FairMormon." FairMormon When the Prophet Speaks Is the Thinking Done Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.