Like all nice Mormon boys, I was brought up to look upon Church callings (assignments
from ecclesiastical leaders to serve in specific, responsible positions) as awfully close to
Divine commandments. J Reuben Clark, the first General Authority I ever paid serious attention
to, was known for describing callings as something that faithful Latter-day Saints
“neither seek nor decline.” As a matter of principle, and in the abstract, that
has always been my position.
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| Royal P. Skousen |
Like some distinguished forebears, however, I must confess to receiving some
official assignments “with a doubting heart” and with audible grumbling.
Haven’t yet written up in these pages my experience in receiving from Boston Stake
President Mitt Romney a call to serve as president of the Asian branch in Lynn; it’s instructive,
but I’m not particularly proud of it.
More recently, I have just been called as Senior Primary “chorister”1
in the Fox Pointe Ward. The last time I attended a meeting of the Primary Association,
I was (embarrassed to be) eleven years old, in San Bernardino. The whole program
has evolved, well out of my recognition. Last Sunday, everybody was very tolerant of my clumsy incapacity, but
it wasn’t much more than a classic learning experience.
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| Adam S. Bennion |
Today went much better. Sweet little Savannah Kartchner, age 9 or so, came up afterward and said, with a sincerity I’d be a cad to gainsay, that I’d done a good job. As rivers
of water in a dry place…
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| Levern M. Hansen |
But by the time that third-hour session started, I’d requested and received an
almost-chiropractic adjustment to my attitude. As the fast and testimony meeting proceeded,
I was fairly suddenly aware of the faces of four men, hovering somewhere around the edges of
my consciousness. I was supposed to be listening to the meeting, but I turned my mind’s
eye to the faces and recognized them as belonging to Royal P. Skousen, Adam S. Bennion,
Levern M. Hansen, and
Paul H. Dunn—all Church leaders I had known and regarded highly, as a child, more than half a century, ago. All now deceased, but all tied into precious memories for which I feel some obligations of stewardship, even today.
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| Paul H. Dunn |
Considering them together (and, I must confess, missing each acutely, even after all this time), I realized what they had in common: each had, at least once, treated little me as a fellow human being, worthy of respectful attention, even as older people of rank and attainments waited their turn. And suddenly, with tears, it became clear that I have now received an opportunity—perhaps my last in this world—to show gratitude to those dear brethren.
1As far as I know, only Mormons apply the term “chorister” to a song leader. To everybody else, a chorister is a member of a choir.
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