This is just a short entry tonight that is being hastily composed amidst the rush of grading midterms and other papers, trying to find a few precious moments to add pages to my dissertation so that my application for a fellowship will look a little better, and also trying to prepare lectures and power point presentations for my Doctrine and Covenants class. If I had good sense, I would just plug in and use the power points that have been given to me by various professors, but somehow I always feel like I need my lectures and presentations to fit my own unique style. So I'm a glutton for punishment.
This week as I was reading D&C 97, I had a thought that isn't even remotely related to that particular section. The revelation had been given in response to questions that the brethren in Missouri had regarding the procedures for the School of the Prophets, or the School of the Elders they referred to the Missouri branch of the institution. In response to these questions, the Lord said, "Behold, I say unto you concerning the school in Zion, I, the Lord, am well pleased that there should be a school in Zion, and also with my servant Parley P. Pratt, for he abideth in me. And inasmuch as he continuity to abide in me he shall continue to preside over the school in the land of Zion until I shall give unto him other commandments. And I will bless him with a multiplicity of blessings, in expounding all scriptures and mysteries to the edification of the school, and of the church in Zion" (D&C 97:3-5)
As I read those verses, for some reason it struck me that Parley, "the Apostle Paul of Mormonism" as a recent biography has designated him, was still just a teacher in Zion. He was an excellent teacher, and one striving to serve the Lord to be sure, but his calling was simply as a teacher in August 1833. He would not be called to the apostleship for two more years. And then it struck me that Brigham was still a virtually unknown Latter-day Saint, living with his family in Mendon, New York (he moved them to Kirtland in September). John Taylor--Parley's most famous and important convert--was still in Canada and would not hear of the gospel for another three years. Wilford Woodruff was still working at a sawmill in Connecticut and would not hear about the gospel and join the Church for another few months. Lorenzo Snow had heard of the Church and even met Joseph Smith, but at the very best was skeptical of the new faith and was growing uncertain of organized religion as a whole. He would not be baptized for three more years. And as for Joseph F. Smith, the last of the Latter-day Prophets to personally know the Prophet Joseph and another product of Parley's missionary work (Parley taught the Fielding family along with the Taylors in Canada in 1836), he would not be born for another five years.
So what? Why does any of this matter?
As I considered all of these things, I thought about what I would have done if I were in charge of the Restoration. I probably would have said: "Ok, we need to go find Brigham and Heber, John, Wilford and Lorenzo. Parley needs to be ordained to the apostleship, and we need to get Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding together and married so that Joseph F. can be born." I would have been tempted to do all of these things as quickly as possible, and I would have been in an enormous hurry because so much was on the line. But as every writer knows, we make mistakes when we get into too much of a hurry. Some things simply take time. The things of God almost always require "time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts" (Joseph Smith to the Church, March 15, 1839) in order for us to find them out.
God did not and does not get into a hurry. It was ok that three years into the Church's organization Parley was still a teacher and Brigham still lived in obscurity in Mendon, New York. It was ok that John and Wilford hadn't even heard of the restored gospel yet. It was ok that Lorenzo was still skeptical of what he had heard and seen by that point. It was ok that Joseph F.'s parents hadn't even met each other, let alone gotten married, yet. All of this was fine, because God understands that "all these things [must be] done in wisdom and order" (Mosiah 4:27). The Restoration of the Gospel and the preparation for the Lord's return was to be a marathon, not the 100 meter dash. So many of those who came into the Kingdom and rose to prominence quickly and early later faded, having faith for a sprint, but not for the marathon that God had prepared. But when Brigham, John, Wilford, Lorenzo, and Joseph F. came onto the scene, they arrived with stamina and faith.
So often I find myself with the very kind of impatience that I described above. I get nervous and anxious because it seems that God's play is unfolding without all of the requisite characters having come on the scene. I begin to worry about a play that seems to be moving forward without important actors and wonder how it can possibly arrive at its destined end without their immediate presence. Given these personal anxieties of mine, I took a measure of comfort in the Lord's "wisdom and order" in the grand play of the Restoration. If He could move the story forward without needing to immediately crowd the stage with several of the most important actors in this grand drama, then surely He can continue to move the story of my own smaller play forward without compelling all of the important actors to appear in acts and scenes for which they were not intended.
Brett
Apologies in advance for the lengthy epistle that follows . . .
ReplyDeleteI love the metaphors you've employed in this post, Brett. I can't help but think of two people as I read this post: Elder Boyd K. Packer and William Shakespeare.
In 1995, Elder Packer delivered an devotional address that spoke of the plan of salvation as a three-act play: "“The course of our mortal life, from birth to death, conforms to eternal law and follows a plan described in the revelations as the great plan of happiness. The one idea, the one truth I would inject into your minds, is this: There are three parts to the plan. You are in the second or the middle part, the one in which you will be tested by temptation, by trials, perhaps by tragedy. Understand that and you will be better able to make sense of life and to resist the disease of doubt and despair and depression" (http://tinyurl.com/pdvb6hf).
We don't remember the first act, our pre-mortal life, and we can only guess at what the third act, our ante-mortal existence, will hold. We are, as Elder Packer noted, living in the second act, continuously working towards that great denouement which will lead us into the great action of the final act of our play. The beauty of our lives is that, unlike a drama scripted for stage or screen, we can actively exercise our agency to effect changes on the action of Act II. Some things we cannot change, but we can always change ourselves and how we react to what's happening "on stage."
Nearly 400 years before Elder Packer delivered that devotional address, my good friend William Shakespeare wrote a play called "As You Like It." In it, he uses one of the "shadier" characters, Jacques, to deliver what I believe are some of the wisest and most powerful lines in his entire canon of writing. Jacques' speech in Act II, Scene VII begins with these words: "All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances, / And one man in his time plays many parts" (http://tinyurl.com/pz3z9dw). What are the roles we are called on -- or that we choose -- to play in this life? Are they the roles we want to play or have they been thrust upon us for some unknown reason? I guess the challenge is to learn how to adapt ourselves without losing sight of who we really are -- our true character.
Of course, being on the negative side as he is, Jacques goes on to describe some of the more dismal scenes of life as people can be woeful, lonely, etc. Elder Packer addressed these too. He speaks of having missed Act I (pre-mortal life) and jumping right into Act II (mortal life), with "plots and subplots that interweave, making it difficult to figure out who relates to whom and what relates to what, who are the heroes and who are the villains" (http://tinyurl.com/pdvb6hf). We could get very down on ourselves and our role in this great play called life right about now, but as the hymn says, "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!" (http://tinyurl.com/ozwffrj).
Despite the perils and faults in this great second act called mortality, we are not alone. Truly, the lord will be with us, "[our] troubles to bless." He will, if we let Him, even sanctify our "deepest distress" (http://tinyurl.com/ozwffrj). How grateful I am for this promise and for the knowledge that Act II, with all of its pains and frustrations, its heartaches and trials, is also tempered with joy, love, peace, happiness and the tender mercies of the Lord. Act II is but for a small moment in the grand scheme of things. I guess my role is to learn from it and not fear it.
Thanks for encouraging me to do this!
Thanks Steph! I couldn't help but think of President Packer's talk as well. And I had forgotten how much I love "As You Like It." I saw it once at BYU and was stunned by how much those lines you quoted moved me. I had heard them before, but within the context of the play, they were are incredibly powerful!
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