I guess this post is aimed mostly at Mom and Dad. I read this really cool post over at By Common Consent about people's memories of where they were on June 8, 1978. Kind of like hearing about where people where when Kennedy was shot or on 9/11, but happy instead of devastated. Check it out, read the comments, there are some good stories in there. Dad, you were on your mission, right at the end of it, correct? Mom, you said the next week you were in a ward where a young black kid was able to pass the sacrament, right? Where exactly were you when you heard the news? What kind of changes have you seen in the church since then?
For Diana and Benjo (and me): how hard is it to even comprehend how different the church was back then? Any thoughts/impressions/whatever?
Bonus (x2): one of the responses on the original post linked to another awesome story here about the first black woman to serve a mission. Great story with her, and also read the fifth response there for another awesome anecdote about how that day changed peoples' lives miraculously!
4 comments:
It *is* hard to imagine the church back then, I guess I'm with all those people who were shouting for joy in the premortal life!
It also makes me wonder what will change in the future - the articles of faith say that "we believe that many great and important things" will yet be revealed. Will the church take a more active role in promoting social justice? Perhaps the church will go green and preach the importance of our stewardship over the earth? Of course there's a lot of speculation that someday the priesthood will be extended to women as well. Will any of these things happen in our lifetime? I think we may have cause to someday to be as surprised as they were in 1978.
I also was cheering in the pre-existence for sure. I was thinking about how great this revelation was when we were in the temple and there were some black patrons there. And then it was even better when we saw Gloria there and got to talk to her.
The point is: gotta love a living church!
As you know, I was on my mission, just a couple of weeks from finishing. I was stationed in Bagotville, up in the north central part of Quebec, where it was nice and cool in the summer. I was training a new missionary from Holland, who was pretty cool, Elder Jongkees. One morning the assistants called, and said they had something to read to us, from the first presidency. I jotted it down on a scrap of paper, and still have the notes in my missionary journal. It was a real shock, I must say -- when they called, it was not at all what I was expecting. But it was a great and wonderful surprise.
It was for me not so much joy as relief. This policy had been kind of a weight on our shoulders for many years. Something we lived with, but nobody completely understood, and it seemed bizarre and absurd in the world we lived in at that time. we saw many people who didn't accept or investigate the Gospel because of it, and I know in some missions, particularly Brazil, it was a huge problem because almost everyone had some "Negro" blood in them. Thus, you'd end up in these narrow judgment calls as to who was "black" and who was entitled to receive the Priesthood. Fortunately I never had to deal with that, because in Montreal there weren't many blacks, but there were starting to be a number of Haitian immigrants in Montreal, so it was becoming more of an issue.
So the bottom line is that it was like a big weight taken off our shoulders, and made it so much easier since you didn't have this big issue you had to explain. It was nice to be able to say, oh we don't do that anymore.
It will be interesting to see what other things happen in our lifetime. I think there will be some other major things. I have thought that women would get the priesthood in your lifetime if not mine. Though not sure that's that big of an issue. I think we may see developments in the gay issue -- it will be interesting to see what treatment there is on that. I think our views on families have to change to some degree since there are so many fewer traditional families in the church, as in the world, anymore. The international nature of the church will also bring some interesting and significant changes, I have to think.
Interesting world we live in, and I think it will become even more interesting in your lifetime.
Dad
I first heard the news while on a airplane flying between Paris and London. It seemed fantastic and I prayed it wasn't just a rumor. It had always bothered me that just because of your race, you couldn't hold the priesthood.
That next Sunday in London Hyde Park Ward, there were two or three young black deacons passing the sacrament. As I recall several mothers were sobbing with joy during the sacrament. It was so moving to see how fast every thing was set in motion to let these worthy young black deacons pass the sacrament just after the announcement.
I was grateful to be there as a special moment in history for our church. If I'd been home in Salt Lake City it wouldn't have had such an impact as we did not have any black ward members. Yet there in London, it was a feeling of wholeness -- finally all worthy male members could have the priesthood. I felt connected to these wonderful saints even though I was an outsider -- a visitor. What great joy I felt for these faithful members who had joined way before the promised blessings of the priesthood. Now the doors would be open wide for baptisms in Africa, Brazil, etc.
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