Moroni saw me daily
I do not know how I had time for seminary, school, and football. I did it though. I adored Sister Patricia M. She was my seminary teacher when I joined the church. She, along with a host of other members fellowshipped me into my ward. I did not start attending seminary until my sophomore year of high school. I lived right down the street from where Sister M. conducted the lessons. She did so from the office where she worked. Every morning for my first year of seminary, Sister M. called my home at 5:30 am for me to rise for seminary. It seemed that way anyway. We stopped answering the phone, and my mom would yell in consternation from her interrupted slumber, “Rodric, get up and go to seminary!” We knew from whom the phone call came. We knew there was no avoiding it and I loved her for it. Sister M. was a busy woman with a penetrating spirit. The scriptures came alive when she taught, me hanging every utterance from he lips. God put spiritual giants like my seminary teacher in place to lift and inspire. Sister Patricia M. lifted my heart! Moroni Perspective The church did meet together oft "After they had been received unto baptism," etched the intrepid Moroni on the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, "They were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God," (Moroni 6:4). The level of involvement the Church exacts of its members, all of our own volition of course, provides a psychological benefit that creates stability in the lives of millions. Why is that important? Moroni answered in his etchings, "that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way," (Moroni 6:4). The benefit that Moroni saw in the Saints in his day he could see being of the same value in our day, which is why he included it in the record. One of the many meetings where Saints get to check on each other was seminary for teenagers. There is also for adults, institute ( religious classed catering to college-aged people and beyond), ministering brothers and sisters, family councils and interviews, and the list goes on. Why all of these things, distractions as they are. Reader, have you paid attention to what is going on with the moral fabric of society? Yeah, we need some distraction from the continual slope towards debauchery. This busy work helps "to keep them continually watchful unto prayer," Moroni inscribed. It helps people like me to keep, "relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith" (Moroni 6:4). Seminary became one of those oft meetings of which Moroni spake. Family Home Evening Meet together Oft The M. family was to me a good example of a Southern Saint family. They taught me that my misconception about the White Southern family needed updating to the twentieth century from what it was that I gathered of it depiction from Gone with the Wind! No, they did have slaves! I was ignorant to some degree. From them, I learned about Family Home Evening family-led, church supported program where families set aside one night a week, usually a Monday, for family gospel instruction and fun above all other things. Because of their family, my family has family home evening 95% of the time—most weeks! I recall sitting in their kitchen listening to them talk about different subjects and then playing games in their living room. Not understanding how White people could just invite me in and treat me so well when we were not supposed to be associating according to my third-grade teacher (that story is detailed in the book) escaped me. Barriers came down because of that association. The adversary, the Devil, used that one event in my life in third grade to help color all of my experiences in the Church and without the Church with White people. I loved my White Saints so much that I almost considered them normal people, almost. It still took time to bury the incorrect teaching I received at age eight. I clung to the M. family, borderlining obsession. Moroni knew that meeting together often in our homes and in other settings, doing service to others in the process, would help us look beyond our differences so that we could become more like Jesus Christ. What has Moroni Seen of You? |
Rodric AnthonyWriter of the Book Moroni Saw Me and Father of Seven. Archives
November 2021
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