Happy news: the people responsible for the llama credits have been sacked, and the General Women’s meeting will henceforth be called “General Women’s Session of general conference.” It’s a gesture that matters, despite its bureaucratic nature and relatively small impact. I hope it will be received graciously, with a recognition that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great.”
Yes! Women Count!
October 30, 2014 by
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
The next step is to have a woman preside at the Women’s Session. Or at least, have a woman give the final talk at the Women’s Session. I’ll be over here, holding my breath.
I think it is a great change, and glad the leaders could finally decide to do it. That said, I happen to like those responsible for the llama credits, and am sad there will be no more llamas mentioned in General Conference.
Huzzah! And Monty Python reference FTW!
Perfect, Kristine.
Does this mean that the conference issue of the Ensign will start out with the women’s session and not be relegated to the back per usual? So very happy. Pres. Uchtdorf leading the way!
Goosebumps with that music. Will the prayer be re-edited?
Monty Python credits reference FTW.
I have the same question as thisgreatdeep. Does this mean the prayer will be restored?
On the off chance that there’s someone in the world who knows less about pop culture than I (or needs a refresher):
Hurrah for Israel! Alleluia!
Uchtdorf FTW! Also, no llamas were harmed in the making of general conference but those choir robes burned my retinas.
This is a really, really, really small change. In an attempt to receive such a small change graciously, as advised by Kristine, I would like to acknowledge that I appreciate that this change seems to have some basis in responsiveness to women, many of whom expressed desire for this change. I hope the brethren can continue to be responsive to women, even when the change would be more than nominal.
lol. i have to laugh at just about every church PR move these days. they cant seem to get out of their own way, as they backtrack and retrack every decision until everyone on every side has been offended.
It reminds me how the treatment of gays has gone down. Between being involved, then withdrawing, then getting back into the SSM fight, and creating the mormons andgays website, etc. It seems that they have angered people on both sides. Think back to the non statement statement on women wearing pants that left no one satisfied.
This to me signals a serious rift in the Q15, and a lack of leadership at the top.
This is a good thing.
Complaining about fixing something that caused complaints . . . Some people aren’t satisfied with anything.
Yeah! Some people think the anointed who have a special witness of the Holy Spirit should be able to make a statement (with or without the counsel of a public relations division) without half a dozen revisions to reflect the tide of opinion.
You just can’t satisfy people like that, can you?
Cynthia, yes they restored the word “fourth” from the prayer as well!
Ugh I hope they don’t still put it in the very back of the Ensign.
I’m glad they sacked the people who were responsible for the Llama credits. That stuff will give you a seizure.
On a side note, regarding marthmylove referring to “the anointed,” I had a little amazing moment in the temple recently. We make a covenant there regarding the things we say about the Lord’s anointed…….I was taught this meant the Brethren who lead the church.
However, I had been studying an Institute student manual that taught that Messiah means “anointed One.” Jesus Christ, then, is the Lord’s anointed. Maybe all of you already discerned this, but it was a starburst in my soul when I did just a few weeks ago. The rest of us are anointed in similitude during the initiatory. We, too then, are the Lord’s anointed. The covenant feels and tastes very different when made in accordance with this understanding, adding a whole new dimension to: “If ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.”
Now, in regards to the post, I love the Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts.” I’d link you to the various renditions on Youtube, but I’m sorry to say I just don’t know how. The Tabernacle Choir has a lovely rendition of it, but my favorite happens to be done by Jewel. This decision to officially declare the women’s meeting to be the opening session of General Conferences is one such truly simple gift, for which I am delighted and grateful. “…..Till by turning, turning we come round right.”
Phase One complete. Halleluiah.
Phase Two: change the name to men’s meeting, goshdangit
Nope, still at the back of the Ensign… :(
Regarding the ordering of sessions in the Ensign:
“But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit.” (D&C 29:30)
If there were to be a change in the Ensign based on the whole “which session is the first session of General Conference” thing, it wouldn’t happen in this Ensign. Look for it in the May Ensign.
I’m pretty sure I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but didn’t we celebrate this change a while ago? And then it wasn’t a change after all? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad, I just feel like in a week something will happen that will invalidate it in some way.
Rachel: me too. :( But even though the arm wrestling match isn’t over, I’ll be glad that the arm is leaning the right way for just a brief moment.
Regarding WI_Member and Tim’s point about the Women’s Session still being at the back, here’s the November Ensign:
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/11?lang=eng
I look forward to the day when a GA offhandedly announces that the Women’s Session will appear first in the Ensign, and then has his words bleeped out in a recording by some helpful people at the COB who are just trying to keep the record straight.
Suzie, I jsut listened to the prayer on the Church’s website. The word ‘fourth’ is still muted out.
Perfect music selection.
RockiesGma – I always love your comments. They are so thoughtful and filled with wisdom and insight. Thank you. Your take on the Lord’s annointed really reasonated iwth me.
I have always loved “Simple Gifts”. I always feel the spirit when I hear it and it reminds me to think of the gifts I have. It was on a CD of children’s bedtime songs that I played for my daughter when she was small.
I have not hear the Tabernacle Choir’s or Jewel’s renditions but I will defenitely look them up.
I must have missed the reference to the Llama credits (and I happen to be a part of a group with llama’s as part of their identity, so to speak), what’s up with that??
Queen B–the llama credits reference is just a dumb Monty Python joke–the clip is in the comments above.
I am pleased.
I read once on this site that after seeing a woman pray* in conference now she felt her daughters “could fly”. And now we’re implying that women suddenly “count” as the result of a “small gesture”.
Is this just feminist-lite face saving to find any satisfaction in something so modern as a category change? Women spoke in GC to the entire church, and it seemingly didn’t matter because they didn’t pray. Women spoke in their own individual conference and it (they?) didn’t “count” because it wasn’t lumped into a categorial session of General Conference.
I didn’t find the speakers and the messages any less important or authoritative because they were delivered in Sepember and classified as their own conference than when they will be (were retroactively?) still broadcast in September and now included under the GC category.
Hopefully, the sisters who for some bizarre reason felt slighted about having their conference in their own category will now feel more inspired. If anything, it would seem to me that the Priesthood session of conference should be excluded from GC and have it’s own conference because it’s not to the general membership of the church but a subset. If that were the case, I wouldn’t feel like I counted less or like the meeting counted less either.
* on the note of the sisters prayers, perhaps it’s because their are so few comparatively, but I’ve found them delivered with more power then the brothers prayers.
Actually, DQ, it was before a woman said the prayer, and only one daughter, but it was a woman who said it, so don’t feel like you need to be precise.
If you don’t understand the value of symbolic gestures, here’s a simple primer: http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2013/10/10/symbolic-leadership-what-do-you-stand-for-or-where-do-you-sit/
See also: The New Testament
Ni.
Does anyone else love the expression on the face of the little girl in blue holding her mother’s hand in the first frame of the video clip as much as I do?
MB–Yes!!
Kristine, I always appreciate your succinct rebuttals.
Corrina – Count me in. And Kristine thanks for all your contributions. I have a file full of them. I read them on my down days.
Hey, I remember when Kristine wrote about feeling like her daughter could fly, too! It made my heart swell with emotion, but it was more tender than snarky. I guess some will find that bizarre, but I remember that with fondness.
I’m glad Kristine writes here too.
Benjamin, you are right.I was watching another video. Hope they fix it soon!
This news made me squeal with joy. And the Monty Python reference didn’t hurt!