Posted by:
rutabaga
(
)
Date: October 21, 2015 10:03AM
I return and report my visit with the stake president.
I was invited to meet with SP to “get acquainted.” I met at the agreed on time, we sat down in the high council room, dragging a couple chairs together.
He truly did want to get acquainted. He and I have known of each other for 35 years but he knew nothing of my background. In his capacity of presiding high priest he was going through the list of high priests and interviewing us.
I told him where I came from, how I came to California, how I came to Santa Barbara. Where did I meet DW. How many kids and where they live. What I do for a living. The whole picture.
What is your calling? I told him. How do you like it? Then he went off on a tangent into family history and how much he enjoys it. "Do you enjoy it Bro. rutabaga?" "No not really."
I was really beginning to think this was all he wanted, just get to know me.
Timidly, slowly, hesitantly, “Bro. rutabaga, it seems like I remember something about some doctrinal issue you have?” Okay, here we go.
So I launched. I don’t have the “religion gene” (true) I don’t have a craving need for spirituality and I kept coming back to that with the other topics we discussed.
I told him I haven’t been to the temple for decades. Up to now he had been cool and calm. At this piece of news his eyebrow went up a millimeter. “Well why Bro. rutabaga?” I explained what I had learned about the Nauvoo temple, the genesis of the endowment, and when combined with the elements of masonry and polygamy, in my mind it became less a divine gift than a way to solemnize a predilection. “Yes Bro. rutabaga, that is a comment we are hearing a lot.”
At that my eyebrows went up. As we went from temple to BOM to curriculum to prayer to revelation I gave him my misgivings. His response was invariably “yes Bro. rutabaga that is a comment we are hearing a lot.”
He talked about the essays and how he thought they were helpful in that they are a safe place to find church history. I didn’t comment.
He wound down by bearing testimony of the BOM and invited me to read it.
If there is a takeaway it is “yes Bro. rutabaga that is a comment we are hearing a lot.” If he will admit that there must be a lot of people like me.
Through the whole interview we were both calm, cool and collected. Both of us confident in our position.
We parted with some small talk and a garmie feel-up at the door.
This is my report.
For the backstory:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1696444And thanks to Amyjo for keeping it going:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1696894