183 Semiannual General Conference Thread

[YOhio]

Priesthood session finished about that early the night before. Also, I remember a priesthood session back in 2003 where President Hinckley got up as the final speaker and said something like "let's end this a little early--there's a football game to watch". BYU was playing SDSU that night, IIRC. I remember Beck fumbling the ball on the first possession, and If memory serves, that was the game where he broke his hand/wrist.

That was the Rey Braithwaitte 90+ yard run game. He could have been a great one had he chose not to involve himself in a gang bang.

[cougjunkie]

I mentioned this earlier in the thread. I think it's notable a woman gave the opening prayer in Sunday morning's session. Customarily, women are only allowed to give the closing prayers in Sacrament meeting, with the conventional wisdom that the opening prayer requires the priesthood. So I think this is another notable barrier breaking for LDS equality movement.

We have women give both the opening and closing prayers in our ward. I bave never heard women only allowed to give closing.

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[Coach McGuirk]

We have women give both the opening and closing prayers in our ward. I bave never heard women only allowed to give closing.

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Me neither. I have seen women give opening prayers from my childhood.

[beefytee]

Me neither. I have seen women give opening prayers from my childhood.

My wife gave the opening prayer last week. I've never heard or observed this either.

[Solon]

My wife gave the opening prayer last week. I've never heard or observed this either.

It's a holdover-tradition from at least as early as the 70s (or maybe earlier).
My ward in Pennsylvania specifically prohibited women from giving the opening prayers because of Stake President's directive, not because of handbook/policy. This was told to me directly from the bishop's mouth.

[jay santos]

My wife gave the opening prayer last week. I've never heard or observed this either.

In my last two wards which has covered the last 15 years of my life, women have never given opening prayers and the bishops specifically required men with priesthood to give opening prayers. I just googled and saw that it's in the handbook that women are allowed to give opening prayers in sacrament.

[YOhio]

It's a holdover-tradition from at least as early as the 70s (or maybe earlier).
My ward in Pennsylvania specifically prohibited women from giving the opening prayers because of Stake President's directive, not because of handbook/policy. This was told to me directly from the bishop's mouth.

Probably a holdover from Pennsylvania Amish traditions.

[Solon]

Probably a holdover from Pennsylvania Amish traditions.

LOL. probably. Except that this Stake Pres. was from Hong Kong.

I thought of you this weekend. I spent the last 2 days in Carbon County doing survey archaeology.
It was a cold weekend for camping.

[YOhio]

LOL. probably. Except that this Stake Pres. was from Hong Kong.

I thought of you this weekend. I spent the last 2 days in Carbon County doing survey archaeology.
It was a cold weekend for camping.

We have hotels there. Maybe think about that next time. Were you at 9 mile?

[Jeff Lebowski]

It's a holdover-tradition from at least as early as the 70s (or maybe earlier).
My ward in Pennsylvania specifically prohibited women from giving the opening prayers because of Stake President's directive, not because of handbook/policy. This was told to me directly from the bishop's mouth.

That's how our ward did it for a long time. But I always suspected it was a goofy tradition rather than policy.

Here is a little bit of interesting history on the women praying ban.

http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/05/0...meeting-redux/

[Solon]

We have hotels there. Maybe think about that next time. Were you at 9 mile?

Yeah, 9-mile. My first time visiting. Breathtaking.
There is still a lot of undocumented stuff up there (architectural features mostly), but most of the artifacts were looted long ago. To their credit, the oil/natural gas companies are paying for a lot of this survey project.

Since I was doing this instead of watching General Conference, I probably have nothing to contribute to this thread.

PS - the Greek restaurant on Rt 10 is pretty legit.

[VirginiaCougar]

That's how our ward did it for a long time. But I always suspected it was a goofy tradition rather than policy.

Here is a little bit of interesting history on the women praying ban.

http://bycommonconsent.com/2008/05/0...meeting-redux/

Great article - thanks for the link. Interesting history, not unexpected - but "interesting."

[Jacob]

I mentioned this earlier in the thread. I think it's notable a woman gave the opening prayer in Sunday morning's session. Customarily, women are only allowed to give the closing prayers in Sacrament meeting, with the conventional wisdom that the opening prayer requires the priesthood. So I think this is another notable barrier breaking for LDS equality movement.

That's very strange. I've never heard that. In my experience, when a couple gives the prayers in sacrament, most of the time the wife with open and the husband will close. Just like when talks are given. I'd like to see a sacrament meeting where the husband speaks first, then the wife. Just to mix it up. Plus many wive's tend to ramble on, so their husbands deserve a chance to give their full talks (not me).

[Jeff Lebowski]

That's very strange. I've never heard that. In my experience, when a couple gives the prayers in sacrament, most of the time the wife with open and the husband will close. Just like when talks are given. I'd like to see a sacrament meeting where the husband speaks first, then the wife. Just to mix it up. Plus many wive's tend to ramble on, so their husbands deserve a chance to give their full talks (not me).

I have seen this a few times.

[Jacob]

I wonder. do any of the 15 apostles participate in public speaking training. Actual training rather than just learning through experience. It seems not. I'd guess some have, but only basic training. Some are better speakers than others, but most are not great orators, which I find a bit strange, with so many years of speaking.