I’m going to have to think more about the “everybody can be a priest” concept, but like Ziff I thought of the Incredible’s line as well.

Another well written post. You should seriously publish a book, Best of ZD.

I’d buy it. Then I’d take it to church and teach from it.
Or maybe just argue from it.

Better yet, send it to all the missionaries in our ward. Yes!

I think I remember hearing something to the effect that we have been anointed only to “become … priests and priestesses.” Why, every faithful woman is promised she’ll become a priestess. Or am I totally in the woods?

That means, that priesthood is not exclusive. But I still like the idea that here and now men are given priesthood duties so we’ll develop certain traits of our personality, like taking good care of the elderly sister we home teach. People, this church is not meant to be a resting home for those who’ve attained perfection; it is a practice run.

It may sound bitter to some women to say, that women bear children. I have tried to be close to our kids, but I’ll never be as close to them as their mother, who felt their every move for months… OTOH, carrying to term and giving birth is probably the easiest part of rearing a child. When they’re fifteen they don’t kick you in the kidneys. They break your heart!

Anyhow, I wish that men would “get” that priesthood is not an “entitlement” thing. It certainly means different things at Church and at home. Priesthood does not mean that the father makes all decisions. It certainly doesn’t mean that his wife must obey his every whim. I have known such…

Cheers,
–velska

For example, he said that:

the authority that presides in the family—whether father or single-parent mother—functions in family matters without the need to get authorization from anyone holding priesthood keys.

He points out that a woman won’t hold a priesthood office, but is the presiding officer in her home when a husband dies or is not there for some reason (e.g., single parenthood). I hear him saying that women participate as partners in the family authority when a husband is present. As such, I see him helping us understand a broader look at what authority means. He notes that family relationships (and roles) are more enduring than Church relationships and roles. And that authority in the family is different than in the Church (e.g., what he said about the fact that family duties require no keys or authorization).

Lots to ponder there, imo.

There is so much emphasis (understandably) on priesthood office and Church duties, etc. but imo often that is done without the essential companion understanding that all of this is to facilitate eternal family relationships, which are founded in an equal partnership between husband and wife. If we only focus on priesthood and authority as leaving women out arbitrarily (an assertion I strongly disagree with — I think there is order to it that is deliberate, even as I don’t fully understand it all), I think we miss a really important element of what the priesthood authority in the Church is all about in the first place. To me, when we think about its eternal purpose, we can see how, in the model we work toward (an intact marriage and family life), women are not arbitrarily left out of the picture, but play a *central* role in the big picture of God’s plan.

Even when we talk about community, I think we can’t underestimate or miss what role women play in the community, even without priesthood office, even without roles and responsibilites that we don’t have in the Church proper. We actually don’t do a lot of things and never have done a lot of things that are central to the Church’s role (baby blessings, baptisms, confirmations, performance of sealings, settings apart, etc.), but we do a LOT that is central to the family’s role…which unit and responsibilities will continue into eternity.