Meeting With a 70

Elder Christoffel Golden of the First Quorum of Seventy was in the area for a mission tour of the Rancho Cucamonga Mission.  Last Sunday, Bishop Allen gave me a copy of an email stating Elder Golden was going to be speaking at a meeting in a local meeting house not far from where I work and had invited bishops and ward mission leaders to attend.  Since I resemble the latter, I noted the day and marked that it had been requested by our stake president that we all be in the chapel 30 minutes before the start time of 7 p.m. (easy for me since I would be so close).

This week at work, we’ve been given a “casual” week—we get to go from business casual to just casual (within company guidelines, I can’t come to work with holes in my blue jeans and an incendiary saying on my t-shirt J).  I reminded myself mentally last night that I needed to bring a change of Sunday clothes today before leaving the house.  This morning I went through my regular routine, threw on a dark red, pocket t-shirt and black jeans, gathered my lunch and left the house.  Two-thirds of the way down the hill, I received a phone call from Jennifer.  After quickly reminding me of some things, she started to end our conversation by saying, “Good luck at the meeting.”  I thought, “Meeting, what meeting?” and then it hit me, “Right, the meeting with the member of the 70 tonight.”  Then it hit me again … instead of mentally reminding myself, I should have written a reminder note because I hadn’t brought the change of Sunday clothes (cue the “fail” music from The Price Is Right L).

Me and my one track mind.  There are days when I wonder what in the world I was doing when Father in Heaven was handing out gray matter.  Sheesh!  I was way past the point of no return and could not go back home to gather Sunday clothes.  At the same time, I was determined to not skip the meeting based on my being underdressed.  With my red shirt, I had a feeling I would stick out like a flare in a sky of dark suits; I was right.  The main thing that kept me from feeling embarrassed about my attire, however, was I had been invited to the meeting; I was not a gate crasher.  It was also nice that Bishop Allen sat beside me (he didn’t disavow me for my lack of Sunday attire—actually, I had warned him in an email of my goof, but he was good natured about it).  The comfort of belonging pushed any embarrassment out of my head, allowing me to focus on the spiritual feast being offered by those who spoke.  It was a nice feeling.

The meeting consisted of three, brief talks (about 5 minutes apiece) from President Rich of the Rancho Cucamonga Stake, President Hobbs of the Rancho Cucamonga Mission, and Elder Higham, our Area Authority Seventy.  The remainder of the time, about 45 minutes, was given to Elder Golden.  One of the things that struck me as Elder Golden talked to us was how “down to earth” he is.  I think sometimes it can be easy to forget that these brethren are just like the rest of us.  There is, I think, a danger in believing they are somehow better than the rest of us.  They have special callings, yes, and they have the opportunity to travel throughout the world to help the Saints stay close to Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, but they are really just people like we are, struggling to do their best with their lives and the calling they’ve been given.

Most of the meeting was spent with him giving us several effective ways of doing member missionary work.  A couple things he mentioned that I will share is the need to take care of the “sheep” the Lord has given us if we want to bring more people into the Church (see 1 Nephi 22:25).  That seems like a “no-brainer,” but it is very true.  Why would the Lord allow more new converts if the ward is doing a terrible job with the ones they currently have.  As a ward, I think we are doing a pretty good job of integrating the new converts into our congregation.  We could definitely improve—there is always room for improvement—but overall, I’m happy with what I’ve seen.  The other thing he mentioned was that investigators will do better coming into the Church if they attend church meetings—especially sacrament meeting.  That makes sense to me as well.  I see the benefit of being spiritually feed from the meeting and getting to know other members of the ward through regular attendance.  Even though partaking of the sacrament would not be to renew baptismal covenants for the investigators, the opportunity to remember the sacrifice of the Savior is definitely there and can be of great benefit to them.

He mentioned the recent releases of scholarly papers by the Church in the Gospel Topics section of the Church’s website as a way to counter Internet criticism of former practices (polygamy and blacks and the priesthood—to name two).  He told us that the Church is transparent and that we as members have nothing to be embarrassed about.  He also mentioned to us that “in every conceivable way, the Church is stronger.” He gave us some statistics that he asked that we not share in a blog or on the Internet so I will honor that request.  After hearing these statistics, I would agree with his assessment.

The other significant thing that was mentioned was that “there is no, nor will there be, any doctrinal changes in the Church.”  I think that is very significant.  I have noticed a movement toward looking for common ground with groups whose lifestyles are not in harmony with Church doctrine.  I see this as Christ-like in practice.  The Savior constantly stated that He was on earth for those who needed His spiritual uplift.  At the same time, however, He did not condone sinful behavior.  For example, even though He told the woman taken in adultery that He did not “condemn” her; He also admonished her to “go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).  Even though other denominations appear to be kowtowing to public pressure, the Church says: “Here is the bar.  You need to raise yourself to God’s level; He will not drop it to accommodate you.”

Despite not being properly dressed for the occasion, I am glad I did not allow potential embarrassment get the better of me.  I am very much better off for being in attendance at the meeting. J