I've mentioned on a few occasions that the way things were done in the Church during
the early dispensation may not be the way we do things now, callings included.
For instance, I shared the story earlier in this blog of men being called to
serve during the Blackhawk War as an actual calling. Callings also included
cutting timber for the tithing yards, learning telegraphy, and acting as a
midwife. There was a time when the Church had at least one Assistant Deacon.
This may seem a bit odd to us today, but not during pioneer times. I read a lot
and I've only come across this calling once. Really, when I think about it, the
calling of Assistant deacon really isn't that odd. What might be more unique is
Samuel Chambers and his call to be an Assistant Deacon. Who is Samuel Chambers?
a. An ex-African/American slave
b. The Bishop of his ward
c An eleven-year old that the Church
was using to conducting a pilot project
d The slave Brigham Young purchased
from Ute Chief Walkara
Yesterday’s answers:
a.
boring speakers
Poor quality
meetings, too, contributed to nonattendance patterns. Smaller communities
lacked enough speakers to give variety to the meetings year after year. Women,
it appears, rarely spoke in sacrament meetings. Available speakers often were
not good speakers. Therefore, within a few years, a ward’s meetings became
repetitious and often boring. Illustrating the “dull meeting” problem is
Provoan Sidney Alexander Pace’s recollection that “we were in the habit of
going into meeting on Sunday and if the speaker was not lively enough, fifteen
or twenty of us young boys would get up and walk out of meeting and go down by
Bishop Loveless’s home. . . They used to have large straw stacks and here we
went to have our fun. . . .”
Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo,
Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 255.
2.
C. Pay a double fast offering
The
following is in reference to the poorly attended fast and testimony meetings
held the first Thursday of each month: Presiding Bishop Hunter regretted that
“so many failed to appreciate the blessings of our fast meetings.” One bishop
responded that “our man servants and maid servants should be allowed to go, and
our stores and workshops closed, to give all a chance.” Two Stake’s public
works closed on fast-day morning and would continue to do so in the future so
that public workers could attend fast meetings. One of Bishop Hunter’s
counselors, Bishop Leonard W. Hardy, added that he believed those who failed to
attend fast meetings should pay a double fast offering.
Nearly Everything Imaginable, Walker, Ronald W., Doris R. Dant ed., (Provo,
Utah: BYU Press, 1999), 257-258.
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