Highlights and Themes: April 2012

General Conference Highlights - April 2012

Like Elder Holland mentioned in my last post, "for our time and in our day the counsel you have heard is, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, “the will of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.”  I'm not going to post the entire conference, but here are some highlights - I'll see you in about 14 minutes.

Sitting and watching conference is an interesting experience for me.  I personally get more out of many of the talks by really listening to them and examining them individually.  Ten hours of conference frankly tends to overwhelm me a little bit.  But I believe that listening to the entire conference is a bit like listening to an entire Mahler Symphony: I may not be able to sing it all back to you, but I'll get a good feeling for the overall shape, direction and intention of the music.  Deep analysis can wait. 

I find it interesting to search for overall patterns, for recurring themes, for messages which appear insistent in aggregate while subdued in individual repetition.  Here are some of the messages I found.

Family

Right out of the gates, President Packer spoke of Children, Family, and Home, hinting at the impact such children and families have on both the Church and the World.  Before I could even process this message, Sister Esplin followed it with a discourse on teaching our children to understand doctrine, not just learn it.

Peppered throughout were addresses by Brother Baxter about single parents,  President Uchtdorf about family unity and forgiveness, and a dozen others who all set their stories in familial contexts.

Like bookends, the Sunday Afternoon session's talk by Elder Ballard on family unity was followed closely by those of Brothers Larry Wilson and David Evans on righteous dominion and the impact of a single boy, respectively.  If the message of the importance of the family wasn't clear before this point, it became so immediately to me.

And it makes sense.  After all, the Church made a point of declaring in 1995 that "the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children."  The family is the fabric of society, and it is constantly under attack today.  It stands to reason that this topic would be repeated again and again by our watchmen.

Priorities

It's not unusual to have one or two talks about priorities, such as Elder Oak's landmark address "Good, Better, Best" in October 2007.  This conference featured talks by Presidents Uchtdorf and Monson emphasizing priorities indirectly.  Elder Pieper of the 70 also spoke directly on the topic, encouraging us to make sure to put holy things before the profane.

Reactivation

This is another topic that's not unusual in conference, but it really seemed to come up time and again this conference, both with an emphasis on reaching out to family and friends.  Elder Halstrom's talk Saturday Morning set the tone by clearly delineating between the Church and the Gospel.  He emphasized that while activity in the Church is a desirable goal, ultimately we must be converted to the Gospel.  I believe this is exactly the tone we must set in our reactivation efforts.  The goal is not to help somebody become simply active in the Church, but to become active in the Gospel.

The topic was unavoidable in the Priesthood session.  Elder Bednar's address had an incredible subtext of Priesthood holder's responsibilities to reach out.  Brother (formerly Bishop) Edgley spoke exclusively on the subject, helping us understand that when we reach out, we are often acting in answer to others' prayers (look for a nice, long post on this talk soon!).  Immediately, Brother Ochoa emphasized how the youth can play a major role in reactivation as well.

It feels to me like all of the Brethren have been listening as President Monson has been emphasizing this message for some time.  And rightly so.  So many people are so close to being able to receive the blessings of the Gospel, and yet are held back for some reason.  Furthermore, we emulate the Savior directly when we seek to go after his lot sheep.

Other Topics

There are simply too many great talks to address!  I'll be coming back to Elder Holland's talk on envy, President Uchdorf's now-famous "Stop it!" address, Elder Nelson's talk on gratitude, Elder Christofferson's marvelous address on how Doctrine is established, and Elder Scott's discourse on Revelation (not the first time he's addressed this subject!).


In conclusion, this, like all the others, was a wonderful conference.  The topics were inspired, and the addresses were inspiring.  I was uplifted, instructed, and taught by both prophets and by the Spirit.  What more could I ask for?