A Priesthood holder must be willing to be presided over

     These days leaders of the church continue to encourage and invite members to live the gospel as they have before.  Do you sense an urgency? I most certainly have. I noticed years ago maybe because I was serving as EQP that faithful priesthood holders were becoming fewer. My ward was dwindling as young families began moving away to other states.  I was desperate for help and had prayed for assistance that our ward needed in terms of active priesthood participation among the members.

     My counselors and I would meet every week prior to WC and sacrament meeting to confirm addresses for unknown members.  One of our goals as a presidency was to clean the rolls, similar to what the Church did under the presiding authority of Alma in the Book of Mormon (see Alma chapter 6 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/6?lang=eng). We knocked doors and introduced ourselves a few times to people who claimed they were not who we were looking for and that they neither knew the names we had mentioned. So we sent those names to records unknown or had them looked up by other brothers in the ward with the technology to track names and current addresses.  Much work was accomplished to where we were familiar with the existing names left. We could place a face with the names and were able to discuss home teaching assignments (as they were referred to prior to the new higher, holier approach) and which brethren we felt were best suited to minister to the needs of families and individuals in the ward.

     April 2018, I had not yet been released, but we had 2 weeks back to back where there was a stake conference, in which the ward boundaries were to be changed and then General Conference.  I was vacationing in California with my family to visit my brother and his wife, and upon our return home we had made our way from the airport in Nashville back to our home. I sat on the couch in front of the tv in time for the priesthood session. To my surprise was an announcement from President Nelson that all currently serving EQP's were effectively released.  I sent a text to the Bishop and told him I had enjoyed serving with him. He was hesitant to let me go, but I was certain of the release as prophet trumps a Bishop in presiding authority.  Not much longer was I formally released and then called and sustained as a ward clerk in a later sacrament meeting. I gave the new president some information about those individuals within the quorum that I knew, but there were members who had been moved into the ward after re aligning the boundaries that I was not familiar with.  I looked forward to serving and ministering now to those I would be assigned along with a high priest companion as my mentor.

     One night I was called by one of our ministering families to assist in giving a blessing to a few of their children who were taken ill. Having served in a leadership position and along with my previous experience as an elder in the Melchizedek priesthood I proceeded to administer, but was interrupted by my companion who told me to re anoint as I had incorrectly spoken. I and the girls father stood a little surprised and caught off guard from this bold intervention. I was sure I had said the right words to anoint. However, to avoid any contention or further confusion and he being a high priest, I submitted and redid the anointing. 

     We were all smiles afterward, but I struggled later that night and throughout the following week. Had I been saying it wrong this whole time? In a discussion with the quorum presidency in a PPI,  I had asked the question and was told that I had not erred. I realized that men become accustomed to tradition in how they exercise their priesthood.  Certain phrases can become repetitive and we as human beings repeat as we've been taught. There are ordinances that require a word for word recitation, but others require only an order of operation in the words we use.  Here is an article from Elder Renlund about an experience he had administering a priesthood blessing with a newly called and inexperienced branch president. When men are anxiously striving to exercise the priesthood it is important that they are encouraged in their efforts and not discouraged or publicly corrected unless necessary. Check it out. https://www.ldsliving.com/Elder-Renlund-s-Perfect-Response-When-a-Branch-President-Kept-Giving-Priesthood-Blessings-Incorrectly/s/88523?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=social_button&fbclid=IwAR3T6PYGyyCqsYbr7oFV7JKaIbeTkDeshwYNt0sVmTZvi6KHrTQaepR59l8

     What matters most is that we are trying.  I never complained to the brother I served with that evening but it was a lesson to me on how to mentor others including my sons as they grow older and are ordained to the priesthood, how they should be trained in exercising their priesthood. Doctrine and Covenants 121 is a great section for instruction on leading and training in the exercise of the priesthood.