A year ago, I was one of three individuals asked to speak at a LDS young single adult fireside in Walnut, California. Since the following day was the 172nd birthday of the Navuoo Female Relief Society, I decided to give some of my personal thoughts regarding the LDS Church's female organization. I spoke mainly about the Relief Society's theological significance connected to the strongly held belief that "families can be together forever." I finished the second half of the talk discussing three topics that both women and men in the LDS Church could learn from the history of the Relief Society; charity, unity, and the importance of setting high standards.
This talk is not academic, but solely devotional. It represents my own thoughts regarding the Relief Society and not the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is my personal view that in LDS culture we don't talk about the history of women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as much as we need to. The Relief Society is more than just a group of women meeting together during the third hour of Mormon church services. There is something to its organization that is essential to both the men and the women of the Church, both historically and theologically.
This talk is not academic, but solely devotional. It represents my own thoughts regarding the Relief Society and not the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is my personal view that in LDS culture we don't talk about the history of women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as much as we need to. The Relief Society is more than just a group of women meeting together during the third hour of Mormon church services. There is something to its organization that is essential to both the men and the women of the Church, both historically and theologically.
The Beginning of Better Days: The Importance
of the Relief Society and What We Can Learn From It
YSA Fireside Address March 16, 2014
Perhaps
one of the most frequent words in Latter-day Saint vocabulary is “restoration,”
referring to the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet
Joseph Smith. The process of restoration- of a car, a house, or the Gospel is
taken one step at a time over a certain period of time. Indeed, restoration
comes about “line upon line, precept upon precept.”[1]
Tonight I am going to talk about an oft-neglected but crucial part of the restoration
of the Gospel; The Relief Society, which will celebrate its 172nd
birthday tomorrow. I will do this in two parts. First, I will talk about its
institutional and doctrinal importance as it pertains to our eternal salvation-
both for women and men. Second, I will discuss a few things we can learn from
its history to strengthen our testimonies and make us better disciples of
Christ.
Now,
because I said Relief Society, I fear that some
men might have immediately thought of centerpieces and doilies, and have begun
the process of tuning me out. So ladies, help
me out, if a guy asks for your number tonight don’t give it to them unless
they can tell you something from this talk. Now,
I think I have everybody’s attention.
The
Relief Society began with a few Latter-day Saint women in March of 1842. Sarah
M. Kimball and Margaret Cook desired to help make clothing for the men building
the Nauvoo Temple and gathered several sisters in the area to form a benevolent
society to aid in this process. Female Benevolent societies, in which women organized
themselves and wrote up organizational constitutions and bylaws, were quite
common in the day. However, this society would develop into something quite
different. After Eliza R. Snow wrote up a constitution and bylaws for the group
she showed them to the Prophet Joseph Smith in order to get his opinion. He said
they were “the best he had ever seen,” but then added, “this is not what you
want. Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, and he has
something better for them than a written constitution. I invite them all to
meet with me and a few of the brethren… next Thursday afternoon, and I will
organize the women under the priesthood after the pattern of the priesthood.”[2]
So
on the following Thursday, March 17, 1842 twenty women met in the upper floor
of the Nauvoo red brick store with Joseph Smith. Emma Smith was chosen to be
President and chose two counselors to assist her. This Relief Society presidency
was instituted after the pattern of priesthood offices and was divinely
inspired and authorized. The Prophet counseled the sisters that they were to
encourage “the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor-
searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants- to
assist by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the female community.”[3]
Of course, it is this emphasis on charity that many of us are familiar with
when we think of the Relief Society. After all, its motto is “charity never
faileth.”
Joseph Smith's Red Brick Storehouse- Nauvoo, Illinois. This is where the Relief Society was organized on March 17,1842. Photo taken by the author.
However,
the Relief Society was much more than about helping the poor. Joseph Smith also
taught that, “the Church was never perfectly organized until the women were
thus organized.”[4] Much like
the priesthood itself, the Relief Society was something ancient that needed to
be restored. Eliza R. Snow described the society years later: “although the
name may be of modern date, the institution is of ancient origin. We were told
by our martyred prophet that the same organization existed in the church
anciently.”[5]
The vital need of the Relief Society in completing the Prophet’s work is no more
apparent than in the fact that without the Relief Society, Joseph Smith could
not restore two essential ordinances for the salvation of every woman and man: the
temple endowment and celestial marriage. As Jill Deer, Janath Cannon, and
Maureen Beecher, three historians of the Relief Society wrote, one of Joseph
Smith’s teachings to the Relief Society was “that the inclusion of women within the structure of the
church organization reflected the divine pattern of the perfect union of man
and woman, a pattern emphasized in the highest priesthood ordinances
administered in the temple and essential to the restoration of the fullness of
the priesthood.”[6] In other words, for our families to be
sealed together for time and all eternity the relief society was essential to
prepare women and men to come together to receive a fullness of the priesthood
through their endowment and celestial marriage.
Remember
what I said about the process of restoration, that it comes about one step at a
time, line upon line, and precept upon precept. The Old Testament prophet
Elijah restored the sealing powers that bind families together for time and all
eternity to Joseph Smith on April 3 1836, when Elijah appeared to the Prophet
and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple.[7]
If the final restoration of all priesthood keys took place in 1836, then why
did endowments and celestial marriages not take place until almost a decade
later?
Joseph’s
teachings to the Relief Society answer this question. The men of the church had
already been organized for some 12 years by 1842, learning and growing in the
priesthood. The women also needed to be included in the church structure and be
taught in preparation to receive the endowment and celestial marriage. The Prophet could not get the men and
women to come together as families for time and all eternity otherwise.
Foreshadowing the initiation of the endowment, Joseph told the sisters on April
28, 1842 that “this society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall
flow down from this time- this is the beginning of better days to this
society.”[8]
It was only a month later, and two months after the Relief Society was
organized; on May 4th that the Prophet began to give priesthood leaders the
endowment. A little over a year after that, in September 1843, two months after
the revelation on celestial marriage was recorded, women began receiving the
endowment in preparation for eternal marriages to their husbands.
Other
Priesthood leaders began to understand the importance of the Relief Society to
the Church once they received their own endowments. Newel K. Whitney, husband
to Relief Society counselor Elizabeth Ann Whitney, attended a Relief Society
meeting shortly after he received his endowments. On May 27, 1842 he rejoiced
in the formation of the society which enabled women to “improve upon our
talents and to prepare for those blessings which God is soon to bestow upon
us.” Regarding these blessings, Bishop Whitney said, “In the beginning God
created man male and female and bestowed upon man certain blessings peculiar to
a man of God, of which woman partook, so that without the female all things
cannot be restored to the earth- it takes all to restore the Priesthood. It is
the intent of the Society, by humility and faithfulness, [to receive such
blessings] in connexion with those husbands that are found worthy.”[9]
Brothers
and Sisters, as can be seen by the teachings of Joseph Smith, the restoration
of an ancient order of women-called the Relief Society today-was one crucial
step in allowing for all of us, both women and men, to be sealed to our
families for time and all eternity. This doctrine and restored truth is one of
the foundational beliefs in Mormon theology. This is why the
Relief Society is institutionally and doctrinally important to the eternal
salvation of both men and women in the Church.
I
now want to shift my thoughts to discuss a few things we can learn from the
history of the Relief Society, to strengthen our testimonies and make us better
disciples of Christ.
First, the most obvious one- Charity.
Common
is the understanding, from both the Apostle Paul and the Prophet Moroni, that
Charity is the pure love of Christ, “and whoso is possessed of it at the last
day, it shall be well with [them].”[10]
We are to pray for charity and seek after it. Church history has no better
example than the women of the Relief Society. If one were to read the Nauvoo
Relief Society Minute Book, page after page is full of women willingly giving
of their time and talents for the temporal and spiritual welfare of others. In
the very first Relief Society meeting President Emma Smith immediately noticed
that one of the sisters among them was in need. Sister Philindia Myrick was a
widow whose husband was killed at Haun’s Mill and had three children to rear
and provide for. Easily she could used the help of the society. President Smith
declared that Mrs. Merrrick “is
industrious-performs her work well, therefore recommend her to the
patronage of such as wish to hire needlework.”[11]
The meeting of July 7, 1843 provides numerous examples of charity. Several
women voiced their concerns for others. Sister Pratt mentioned that Brother
Henderson was a widower with nine kids and was an industrious individual for
work; Sister Durfee mentioned Porter Rockwell who had been falsely imprisoned
for an assassination attempt on Missouri’s governor Lilburn W. Boggs’, and
suggested the society keep him in their prayers, and Sister Whitney who had
been caring for a sick man in her house for a year and had an expanding family
asked if anybody could lodge and take over his care. Immediately, a Sister
Jones said she would be happy to do it.[12]
These women took upon them the pure love of Christ and we would be wise to
follow their example.
Second- the importance of Unity in the
Church
Virginia
H. Pearce, daughter of President Gordon B. Hinckley, wrote an essay discussing
what principles she learned from reading the Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes. Unity
was one of those principles. In the minutes Joseph Smith taught the sisters:
“all must act in concert or nothing can be done.”[13]
Sister Pearce gave this moving statement on Church unity: “Unity is a holy
thing. How many times did the savior reiterate His oneness with the Father and
His injunction that if we are not one, we are not His? Unity doesn’t mean
“rubber-stamping” the word of our leaders. It requires listening, weighing,
pondering, seeking inspiration, speaking up, articulating problems, and
recommending solutions.”[14]
This is important! In our ward councils or other church meetings we need to be
united, speak up, and make suggestions. There are a few wonderful examples of
Relief Society sisters suggesting important concerns or ideas in council with priesthood
leaders. These ideas ultimately changed the face of Church organization. Out of
the six functioning organizations in the Church (the Priesthood, Sunday School,
Relief Society, Young Women’s, Young Men’s, and Primary) four of those six
organizations were suggested to Church leaders by Relief Society sisters. In
the 19th century, Sister Eliza R. Snow, apart from bringing the
Relief Society constitution to Joseph Smith, suggested the idea of both the
Young Women’s and Young Men’s organizations, in order to more properly instruct
young men and women in the gospel. Shortly after that Sister Aurelia Rogers
suggested that the Church create the Primary program for younger children to be
instructed.[15]
Being united as men and women in this church, and suggesting important methods
to further the missions of the church is another important lesson we learn from
the Relief Society.
Third, and Finally-we learn the importance
of setting and keeping high standards for ourselves in comparison to the world
around us
Interestingly
enough this lesson from the Relief Society came in the very act of naming the
society. First Counselor Sarah Cleveland put in motion to name the society The Nauvoo Female Relief Society, to
which her Second counselor Elizabeth Ann Whitney seconded the motion. However,
Elder John Taylor believed that The
Nauvoo Female Benevolent Society would provide a more extended idea as to
what the institution was engaged in. However, Emma Smith politely disagreed
with Elder Taylor declaring, “the popularity of the word benevolent is one of
great objection- no person can think of the word as associated with public
Institutions without thinking of the Washingtonian Benevolent Society which was
one of the most corrupt Institutions of the day.” Emma continued stating that
that the women “do not wish to have it call’d after other Societies in the world.”[16] Joseph Smith and John Taylor
immediately agreed with the assessment.
Although
this example appears rather subtle it speaks volumes to the attitude of the early
Relief Society sisters. They knew that they had the restored Gospel of Jesus
Christ and they were not going to let any worldly society taint their ambitions
or dictate the standard of conduct that they wanted to hold for themselves.
In
many respects, the Relief Society followed the admonition of Christ and let
their light so shine. Christ taught, “Ye are the light of the world. A city
that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in
the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”[17]
In
closing, I would just like to recap what I have talked about. In looking at the
history of the Relief Society within the restoration of the Gospel we can see
that the Relief Society was an important part of that restoration, both
institutionally and doctrinally, as it allowed for the initiation of the
endowment and the performance of celestial marriage. Thus, it carried important
significance for the eternal salvation of both the women and the men. Also, in
looking at the history of the Relief Society we learn many important principles
that can increase our testimonies and make us better disciples of Christ. A few
of these which I mentioned were, the practicing of Charity, the importance of
maintaining unity and engagement with the Church, and the importance of making high
standards and holding those standards apart from the rest of the world.
Brothers
and sisters, I have a testimony of the Relief Society, and the study of it has
blessed and enriched my life. Although I talked mainly of 19th
century women, I am grateful for the work of the Relief Society sisters in the
church today, and of course many of you are here tonight. You are a great
strength to me and to the men of the church. I’m more than confident that the
Lord was guiding the hand of President Monson when he lowered the missionary
age for sister missionaries to 19. Much like the excitement and enthusiasm that
the early women of the Relief Society portrayed and the dedication of women
since then, these young women that are going on missions are continuing to draw
more attention to the church. Truly, great things come out of the Relief
Society.
I
encourage all the men in this room to show more reverence and respect to the
Relief Society, both institutionally and doctrinally, as well as greater
respect to the women in it. Sisters, always remember to actively participate in
and honor the opportunity you have to be part of this ancient order. You are
among a rich and fascinating history of other women who have shared your faith
and conviction.
Although
tomorrow might be known more for St Patrick’s Day, may we take the time to
remember and appreciate the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, and the blessings it has brought into our lives.
I
say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
[1] 2 Nephi
28:30
[2] Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and
Work of the Relief Society (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints), 11-12.
[3] Ibid, 12.
[4] Ibid, 7.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Jill Deer,
Janath Cannon, and Maureen Beecher, Women
of Covenant: The Story of the Relief Society (Provo: Brigham Young
University Press, 1992), 42.
[7] Doctrine
& Covenants Section 110
[8] Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, April
28, 1842. http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=37
[9] Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, March
27, 1842. http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=55
[10] Moroni
7:47-48, 1 Corinthians 13.
[11] Women of Covenant, pg 31; http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=11
[12] Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, July
7, 1843, http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=90,
http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=91
[13] Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, March
30, 1842.
[14] Virginia H.
Pearce, “Angels and Epiphanies,” in The
Beginning of Better Days: Divine Instruction to Women from the Prophet Joseph
Smith, ed. Sheri L. Dew, and Virginia H. Pearce. Accessed via Kindle.
[15] Women of Covenant, 115, 117-18.
[16] Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, March
17, 1842, http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book?locale=eng&p=8
[17] Matthew
5:14-16.
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