Hello again, everyone! I should perhaps have remembered to lump the reason for this post in with the previous post in which I discussed some final observations about General Conference, but having forgotten to do so, it seemed wiser to do a new post instead.
As some of you might recall, in an earlier post I published this month, I had mentioned my theory that, since TV and radio stations carrying General Conference would need a similar amount of time Saturday evening to carry the Priesthood Session in April and the Women's Session in October, it made the most sense to me to conjecture that the easiest course would be for the Church to run both sessions from 6:00-7:45 PM.
In recognition of how we are often reminded that the Lord's ways and thoughts are higher than ours, the Church's official schedule for this weekend indicates that the Priesthood Session will run from 6:00-7:30 this Saturday night, which I assume will also extend to the Women's Session in October. It will be interesting to see what happens there.
But in that regard, I do have an interesting new theory. I had previously mentioned my original theory that the Women's Session would make October different from April perhaps only in that the members of the First Presidency not speaking in the Women's Session would merely have one less talk than they would in the April General Conference.
I now believe that it might make the most sense for the Women's Session to include one member from each auxiliary, as has been done, but that it will also include the president of the Church and one of his two counselors.
If that does occur, that would mean that the members of the Quorum of the Twelve would have a somewhat different speaking pattern in October than they do in April. As a sample of what that might look like, I present the following information:
The typical General Conference up to now has included 2 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in both the Saturday and Sunday Morning Sessions of General Conference, with 4 more in the Saturday Afternoon, 3 on Sunday Afternoon, and 1 in the Priesthood Session.
So I could see two ways around that if it turns out that no apostles will speak in the Women's Session. The number of apostles speaking during either Saturday or Sunday Morning or Sunday Afternoon could increase by 1.
We have seen a few occasions where there have been three members of the Quorum of the Twelve speaking during the Saturday Morning Session (this happened as recently as last October), and we have had at least one occasion (in October 2007) when four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke during the Sunday Afternoon Session. To my knowledge, except in October 2004 or October 2015 (when two or three new apostles spoke for the first time), there have generally never been more than two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking during the Sunday Morning Session.
So, I can see President Nelson either having three Quorum members speak during the Saturday Morning Session next October or else having 4 Quorum members address us during the final session of General Conference. Of the two, the first option seems more likely.
And I am certainly not ruling out the possibility that perhaps I was right in my original thinking, and that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve might be asked to speak during the Women's Session alongside whichever member of the First Presidency is doing so. Of course, if that turns out to be the case, then perhaps President Nelson might ask his other counselor to speak in one of the spots that have been traditionally reserved for the Church president.
We saw that occur during the last three years of President Monson's presidency, when one of his two counselors would open the Saturday Morning Session, and where a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has given the final General Conference address. At this point, the only sure thing is that we cannot be sure exactly how October General Conferences might differ from typical patterns until one or two of them establish new patterns.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Specific Schedule for General Conference Notes a Slight Change/Revised Thoughts About the Women's Session
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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