Ellie from Pixar’s UP
In the latest posts I have seen on Facebook about women wearing pants to church and the subsequent conversation about women’s equality, certain arguments always seem to pop up in the comment sections. One of the “arguments” that I saw over and over (from women) against women praying in conference was this: “I don’t want to pray in conference!” In my mind I always think, yeah, neither do I! It reminds me of when a teacher asks for a volunteer to say the closing prayer at the end of a class or in front of a large ward activity… Are there 20 hands being raised at the same time so the teacher has to choose? That rarely happens. It has probably never happened. Instead there is usually an awkward 30-second pause during which everyone looks around the room until finally somebody (usually one of the same handful of people) breaks the awkwardness by volunteering. Bottom line – most people do not like getting up in front of crowds. Public speaking is at the top of most people’s lists of phobias. Is that a good reason then for women not offering prayers during general conference – because they probably don’t want to get up in front of the audience and pray anyway since it’s so scary and stressful? Best to just leave it to the men? Seems kind of strange to me. I’m sure that if any of us were asked to say a prayer in General Conference we would be very, very scared but at the same time feel very honored.
Also, consider this short post I read on the blog bycommonconsent.com written by Kristine:
Why I’d Like to Hear a Woman Pray in Conference
“It’s because every time I’m on a plane, and the captain’s voice on the intercom is female, I get a little teary. I’ve never wanted to be a pilot, and it really doesn’t make any practical difference whether a man or a woman lands the plane safely. I have no eloquent or reasoned argument to explain my emotion. But it matters. It. Just. Does.
I want my daughter to know girls can fly.”
Pablo
Born and raised in Northern California, Pablo received his education at Ricks College and BYU with a BA in Spanish, minor in PE Coaching. Pablo served his LDS mission during the years 94-96 in Rosario, Argentina. He now runs a skate shop and batting cages in Orem, UT. He's married and has 4 boys.
All posts by Pablo
Such a little thing – a prayer. And such a big thing. The comment is a beautiful example of the bottom-line, isn’t it? Thanks for posting.
If we, women, are more spiritual, as we’re told when the topic of priesthood is brought up, shouldn’t we be the ones to act as voice for the people in GC and in the temple?
Ha, yes! We actually have a guest blogger that will debunk that men are so unworthy and that is why we have the priesthood.
Too scared to pray????
The Sunday after the shootings in Newtown, I am SURE
that “we”(our ward at least) were the ONLY church in town that did not pray for the people in Newtown. I was disappointed that in sacrament meeting, there was not mention of that tragedy, that we did not join with millions of other Christians in prayer for those poor people. Instead we had the “typical” bless the speakers, grateful for the sacrament, help us learn in our other meetings, yadayadayada. I would suggest that we don’t REALLY pray in our meetings anyway!
That same day, we had a meeting with the Bishop (tithing settlement, I think) and I told him how disappointed I was that there was no mention of the victims in Newtown. I told him that I am very disappointed in our public prayers and rarely do I EVER feel that anyone is really praying. He agreed and he did point out to me that in other meetings of the day, Newtown was mentioned. I do music in Primary and I wasn’t at other meetings. So, I said to him-if EVER you want someone to really pray in Sacrament meeting, call on me, because I will pray and it will not be the “traditional” kind of prayer. (Now, our bishop knows me pretty well and he knows that I would deliver on that promise because pretty much nothing stops me from doing what I feel is “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” And MUCH of what I think is v, l, of gr & p does not come in the tidy box that we live in at church.
Women pray at General Conference????? Bring it on!