This is a Sacrament Meeting Talk I recently gave.
Pretty much if you talk to me these days I'm going to talk about family history.
There are three possible scenarios for the birth of Mary Lincoln, one of the later settlers of the Plymouth Colony. Her work has been done many times over. I have been wrestling with which one is true, so I can correct her entry on Family Tree on FamilySearch. But all have merits. All make sense. It's a historic mystery. And I don't have to choose. In Family Search there will be three Mary Lincolns all attached to the same children. One for each possible birth scenario. Family Tree doesn't give one small line for Mother: Tell me one mother. It gives the entire right side of the screen, as many combinations of mothers and fathers ask needed.
My job is to communicate what we know about what happened. When I realized this I felt such relief I wanted to cry, because choosing one went beyond my abilities. Choosing one was beyond my job description. I am inventing an encyclopedia, not writing history. If I needed to choose parents to SEAL Mary to, I would be guided to one. Another family member, with the righteous desire to do the temple work for their ancestors, would be guided to another possibility. And another was at one time guided to the third. It must have been what The Lord wanted for that has happened many times.
When The Lord delegates responsibilities, he is at the same time clarifying what we don't need to do. In the past this has been an explanation for who holds the priesthood. "we do it so you don't have to." It didn't convince those who wanted it. But looking at how The Lord has conducted the sealing of families I wonder now if that is actually His logic. Not only did we seal families in heaven, not only did we have the chance to enjoy the blessings of temple work, but now we have an encyclopedia of family ties to give to the world. At a time when it needs it most. It must need it most for we are asked to hasten. How could The Lord have explained to Joseph Smith the Family Tree website. (Pause). I actually wrote the word "pause" because it makes me laugh trying to think about trying to explain Family Tree to Joseph Smith. "You see there is this thing called a computer. No, wait, there is this thing called electricity."
Why would The Lord need to explain it to Joseph Smith when The Lord was still guiding the work?
Who is really at the head of this church? Do I have to go to a person with the gender of "man" to be able to give this talk? Am I not at this very moment saying things that a person might use to judge the church? Am I not, at this very moment, leading the church?
(Long pause)
Into silence?
Could a woman fill in President Monson's role. Sure, of course. Could a woman do the job of a Bishop. Of course. Could the person picking one name among three for sealing, know all the names? Certainly - my Grandma knew most of them before she chose one. But when the time comes to account for what we have been called to do, that is what is going to matter most. Someone has been assigned things I am not - narrow it down to a name. I am assigned things they are not - find every book, every theory, every record, every possibility, the merits of all the possibilities. And report. Only with the state of the web exactly as it is today is this even conceivable. Who knows better than The Lord what should be done when and by whom? Who knows better than The Lord what is coming?
This is the Lord's church. It is the only organization on earth run by The Lord. He wrote the mission statement, he owns it, he created the branding, he guided the writing of the training manuals. He gives us the resources we need to fund it. He has the 5-year action plan, and decides the priorities. He also has the million-year action plan - and it's a good one.
This organization has the most unique org chart. An org chart describes who you report to, and who delegates to you. It describes who you go to with questions and problems (The Savior). It decides who is going to come to you with questions (answer to any significant question that comes to you: pray about it). The middle people mediate between up and down - sheild the up from the down, and sheild the down from the up. In other words, how you mediate. (The Savior, the great mediator). It says who is going to perform your annual review, and judge your merit in detail (the Savior, the only judge).
So let's mentally draw our org chart starts at the top. We start at the top - the Savior - and draw lines to everyone who basically has the ear of Him. There is me, and you, and the missionaries, and the bishop, and president Monson, and every one in the church. We all have the ear of the top guy. There is one name on top, the only name, the great I Am. The rest of us are all in a row on the next line. That's it, that's the org chart. Actually he is also on the bottom, supporting us.
The standards of the world cannot comprehend what is going on. The standards of the world can not possibly comprehend what is going on. We cannot comprehend what is going on. Joseph Smith did not comprehend what was going on. President Monson does not comprehend what is going on in any way like The Savior. This is HiS church. Our calling is to walk with Him. We just need to keep listening.
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