General Conference / Enos to WofM

I didn't watch General Conference this weekend. It's an event that doesn't hold spiritual significance for me anymore, at least not for now. General Conference is very much a display of the institutional church, of the hierarchy. Instead of an instrument for democratic governance, as described in D&C 20 (and as in the Community of Christ/RLDS tradition), LDS General Conferences have long been a one-way forum in which the leadership preaches at the membership. General Conference addresses become part of the textual corpus of the tradition: later I can sift through them to find the nuggets of wheat among the chaff—the spots where the Spirit shines through to me despite church correlation's efforts to ensure that only "the orthodox religion" is preached. (There's an allusion in that last sentence that probably won't mean anything to people who were endowed after 1990.)

The time in my life when General Conference meant the most to me was my mission. There were two reasons for that: the chance to gather in Santo Domingo, to see old companions and investigators and members from previous areas; and the feeling of connection to church headquarters, which for me, an American, meant the church "at home." Even as recently as the last years I lived in Salt Lake before moving to North Carolina, I'd go down to Temple Square at some point during Conference, sit on Main Street Plaza reading a book by Chaim Potok or Isaac Bashevis Singer, and enjoy the feeling of being on the margins. That enjoyment probably encapsulates my relationship to Mormonism.

Maybe I'll reflect more on my feelings and experiences around General Conference when it rolls around again in future months. But for now, I want to move on to say a few words about my Book of Mormon reading this week: the short books from Enos to Words of Mormon.

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A few random thoughts:

Enos 1:1 The reference to Enos having been raised in the "nurture . . . of the Lord" caught my eye in light of last week's reflection on nourishment as the heart of Christ's work.

Enos 1:9, 11 An effective prayer life moves us from concern with self to concern for others—at first those dear to us, ultimately those we consider our enemies.

Jarom 1:4 The phrase "communion with the Holy Spirit" jumped out at me. It seems to be one of the very few places in Restoration scripture (the index shows only one other passage, in the D&C) that refer to "communion" with God. "Communion" as a term for describing how we can relate with God has been very important to me.

Omni 1:25 "There is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord." I'm drawn to the ecumenical potential of this verse: the good wrought in and by other religious traditions—or outside religions altogether—can be understood as the work of Christ. There's still a kind of imperialism at work in that formulation if Christianity is understood as the transparently real to which everything else points unawares, or as the fulness which everyone else grasps only in part (as contrasted to thinking of Christianity also as a partial understanding). But this formula is better than more dualistic alternatives.

Omni 1:26 "Offer your whole souls as an offering to him." The essence of the law of consecration.

WofM 1:7 The Spirit whispers as it works within us; that is, its voice isn't distinct or clear. It's hard to understand, and easy to misunderstand. Hence a life lived by the guidance of the Spirit must be flexible, adaptable, and with an element of risk-taking.