Open House Talk spring 1996
The Oil of Joy
When I worked in New York City years
ago, I lived on Staten Island. Five days a week I took the ferry across
the harbor to Manhattan to work.
You know how it is with commuting, you identify points along the way that
tell you how much farther you have
to go. One of my reference points was the Statue of Liberty; every trip
I
looked at that tremendous statement
of liberty. It is one of the world's most commanding symbols. For more
than 100 years that green copper
statue has welcomed people seeking another way, a better way. Her arm is
reaching up, her hand, high in the
sky, holds a lamp that seems to light the world with her goodwill. At night,
that
light glows as if to echo the words
of the poet Emma Lazarus: "Give me your tired, your poor."
This familiar statue can be likened
to welfare principles at work. We are talking today of our strengths --
our
talents and gifts of the spirit --
that we give to the tired and poor. In the process, like this famed statue,
we hold
aloft a light for the world to see.
I want to add to this image two questions
which are almost as familiar to Relief Society as "Charity Never
Faileth." They are perhaps bullets
underneath that well-known theme that remind us of our critical
responsibilities in welfare work.
First question: What do you need? How many times have you heard it? How many times have you said it?
Second question: How can I help? Again,
think of the number of times those are the first words you say as you
step forward to help. They are sincere
and heart-felt and indeed are part of our charge.
Now put those questions in the back
of your mind while I talk of being a light to the world. We'll come back
to
them. I want to begin by reviewing
with you the well-known Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew, Chapter
25.
In the parable, ten maidens are waiting
to join in a bridal celebration. The bridegroom hasn't come and no one
knows when he will arrive. The women,
as was the custom, have lamps with them to carry to contribute to this
great event. At first, the lamps
are all lit and glowing. But the party is late and the maidens fall asleep.
Ah of a
sudden, in the middle of the night
the call comes to light the lamps. "The bridegroom cometh, go ye out to
meet
him."
And then the point of reckoning. Five
of the maidens have extra oil to light their lamps and five don't. (The
Hebrews described lighting the lamp
as "trimming" in other words, "preparing.") The five who are unprepared,
beg for some extra oil from their
sisters who are well supplied; their pleas are refused. They race to the
market
to buy some oil to start their lamps.
In the meantime, the bridegroom arrives, the five wise, well-prepared
maidens join in the celebration and
the doors are closed. When the other five arrive -- late -- they are not
admitted, "Lord, Lord, open to us,"
they say. "But he answered, I know you not."
This parable puzzles many. Why didn't
the virgins share? There is such virtue in sharing. Why was the party so
hastily convened and at such an odd
hour? Who was in charge of this procession? Where was the charity? And
how could they lock the door so heartlessly?
Repentance is a powerful tool couldn't it have been used here?
And what of the oil. How could oil
be so important?
Oil is the heart of this parable.
It is the message for us today. If we go back, now, to our first question:
"What
do you need?" My answer is: "Oil."
Oil is what distinguished the five
who were wise from the five who were foolish, foolish because they were
unprepared.
Oil for our lamps is our spirituality,
our testimony, our spiritual self-reliance, our centering on eternal
perspectives and our personal commitment
to Jesus Christ. When our lamps are full of oil and we have filled our
reserves, we are full of the Holy
Ghost. "We are wise and have received the truth and have taken the Holy
Spirit for [our] guide" (D&C
45:56). Oil was a most precious commodity in the time of Christ. The oil
from
olive trees, like the ones in the
Garden of Gethsemane, were ancient Israel's source of light. Olive oil
was used
because it produced the dearest,
brightest and most steady of flames of all the vegetable oils. Preparation
of
olive oil required effort and skill.
Immediately after harvesting, the olives had to be pressed to ensure that
the
product did not go rancid. The method
used most often was to treat the olives and then, when they were
properly crushed, to place them into
a special basket from which the oil could be drained into a bowl. The top
layer, "the first oil" was skimmed
off and used for lighting lamps.
Isaiah referred to it as the "oil of joy" (Isaiah 61:3), the Psalmist described it as "oil of gladness" (Psalm 45:7).
Oil brings many images to mind. Remember
I described olive oil as the dearest, brightest and most steady.
These are the words I would use to
describe so many women, like you, who have prepared and are continuing
to prepare. Women who accept callings
and serve with vitality and dedication. Women who are at their
meetings, ready to learn, to contribute
from their own personal store of knowledge and testimony. Women who
say, "What do you need?" and then
find it, and do it. They have oil to fill the lamp. Often they do little
things,
and those things matter so much.
Like Donna saying "I'll drive," or Joye bringing me the first daffodils
in bloom.
Imagine the number of small olives
it takes to fill the large vats with oil. Understanding that oil has to
be pressed,
treated, worked over, our sisters
are always applying the counsel in the Doctrine and Covenants: "Wherefore
be faithful, praying always, having
your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready
at
the coming of the Bridegroom" (D&C
33:17).
Now, the second question, "How can
I help?" Clearly we can provide a place for the "tired and poor" to begin
to build their own oil reserves.
We also can add to the supply some of the brightest beams of goodness on
the
earth today, and that's you, the
women of the Relief Society.
The Ten Virgins represent members
of the Church, those who profess a belief in Christ and who confidently
expect to be included among the blessed
in the final glory of the Second Coming. That's the story line of the
parable. That the Lord used women
as his example in this Parable is sobering to me for only half the women
were ready. If we were to take this
room as a test case, half of us, everyone on this side, would be heading
for
the door right now to get to the
store for more oil. Imagine your own Relief Societies. What would you do
without Dorothy or Nancy or Anne
or Sybil? And what about Renee who always sits right in front of the
window, second seat in from the wall?
This is a parable for us as members of the Church, sisters, and we must
heed the warning. Remember the question,
"What do you need?" The answer is oil.
The bridegroom in the parable, as
we all know, is Jesus Christ. His arrival at the wedding feast is representative
of the Second Coming. But the message
of the parable is not that he came, because we know that he will. The
lesson is that when he came, only
five stood with their lamps ready and burning. What happened?
All ten virgins had enough oil in
the beginning to light their lamps. But they grew tired, lost patience
with the
process of waiting. They had heard
of his coming for so long, so many times, that the statement became almost
meaningless to them. Some of them
were so busy polishing their lamps that they used their energy just keeping
the exterior bright and beautiful.
And then when the forerunners called out, "Go ye out to meet him," there
was
no reserve. Does this happen to us
today?
The lighted lamp which each of the
maidens carried is the outward symbol of following Christ. We have our
visible symbols of following Christ
and his teachings like attending meetings, bringing our scriptures, accepting
callings, signing up for Welfare
assignments. But it isn't enough. It gets us invited to the party. It doesn't
mean
we will be ready to go at the hour
we are called to "Come." We must have oil in our lamps.
Can you share your oil sisters? Can
you reach into your soul and share your ten years of morning prayer or
family prayer? Can you share the
personal peace of regular temple attendance and paying tithes? Or the
spiritual truths that have been borne
to you as you have visited sisters in their homes? Can you share the
strengths that are formed on a mission
or from supporting a missionary? You can share what you have learned,
but you can not share the spiritual
power that is in your soul. Not one sister in this Church will be saved
on the
merits or abundance of another. These
individual efforts invite the Holy Ghost to be with us to prompt us in
righteousness.
To renew their oil, the five foolish
went to "them that sell." But, we know we can't buy spirituality. We can't
borrow it. The market for us is traded
in obedience, diligence, valiance, and prayer.
President Spencer W. Kimball counseled,
"In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in
righteous living." (Faith Precedes
the Miracle p. 256.)
Once again, to our questions, "What
do you need? How can I help?" We can help by being as prepared --
ourselves -- as we can be. Alma said,
"Let your hearts be full...for the welfare of those around you" (Alma
34:27). Jacob said, "I am weighed
down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of our souls."
Sisters we are in the business of
improving the welfare of souls. As leaders, how can we help fill reserves
so
that each sister will stand with
her lamp held high and her light burning brightly?
We can use the program of Relief Society
to teach spiritual preparedness, to bring sisters to an understanding of
what matters most, to provide a setting
where the spirit of the Lord dwells in abundance, to bring together
sisters whose common bond of the
gospel establishes trust, friendship, honor and association. Let me give
you
some specifics that provide that
needed "oil."
1. We can emphasize study of the gospel.
Oil for our lamps comes in understanding gospel principles, being
literate in the scriptures, knowing
where to go for answers. Encourage your teachers to use the scriptures
in
their lessons and ask your sisters
to study the lessons and to bring their scriptures each week. Have scripture
study classes in homemaking. Find
ways to help the sisters know the words of God.
Sometimes we may focus our gospel
study by teaching people to read, and to read with comprehension.
Gospel literacy is one of Relief
Society's important emphases. Until our members can read with comprehension,
they can not begin to fill their
lamps with the oil they will need. This is where those who have been given
much
-- can give.
In recent months, the general Relief
Society has become aware of some special literacy programs in several Salt
Lake area schools where help was
needed. When we sent out the plea for volunteers to the Relief Societies
in
seven stakes, we had a tremendous
response. Sisters, there is such a need for the Church's Gospel Literacy
Effort. I look ahead to see literacy
as much a part of the work of Relief Society as programs that have been
with us for many years.
In one of these school projects, a
sister said to her neighbor, "I have been looking for a place for myself
in the
Church." And then with a big smile
she said, "This is it. I am loving what I am doing at this school. I am
so
excited to see the Church involved
in work like this." She had found a dollop of oil for her lamp. During
the past
two Years she had become less active.
It was like falling asleep in the parable. She had begun to sit closer
and
closer to the door until she had
almost quit coming. Her children were dropping out of activity, as was
her
husband. And then she found a place,
and her light began to shine.
2. We can strengthen our meetings,
our lives, and our assignments through the power of prayer. Start every
Relief Society function with prayer
-- whether it's a Sunday meeting, praying before a visiting teaching call,
a
presidency meeting or your own personal
pondering. Pray for your sisters.
Assign your prayers for meetings in
advance. Take the prayer as seriously as you take the lesson. Prayers are
critical to the spirit of a meeting,
so choose wisely. Everyone in this room prays and so do all our sisters.
So put
to good use this reservoir of oil.
As we pray to our Father in Heaven, he pours out his peace upon us. As
he
answers our prayers, our oil reserves
increase dramatically.
Let me share a story where prayer
opened the door for a Laurel to make the transition to Relief Society.
A
stake Young Women's president told
me of this experience she had while training a new ward Young Women's
president. Before they began their
session, they prayed for guidance; and it came. The two sisters felt prompted
to set aside their manuals and go
visiting. They also knew where they were to go. So on a cold January night,
they went to the home of a second
year Laurel who had not been to Church since Primary. Neither of them
knew her, and they felt awkward as
they knocked on her door. They learned later that the family had refused
visiting teachers, home teachers
and even a visit from the Bishop.
The young girl was home and invited
them in. She sat and talked with the two leaders for nearly an hour. It
was
obvious from her clothes and her
language that she had distanced herself from the Church and some of its
teachings. But as they talked it
became clear that she was hungry to talk to these two women she didn't
even
know. Once when they got up to leave,
she just kept talking; and they sat down again. A light of remembrance
was lit in that young woman from
the visit of two Relief Society sisters who were currently serving in Young
Women. Prayer had prompted that new
beginning.
A door opened that night. Now the
Relief Society can reach out to bring her into the circle of sisters. Every
ward has young women who stand outside
the room, reticent to come in. There are also young women who are
far away from the Church and don't
know where the door even is. When you think of your sisters, think of all
of
them, young and old, the ones you
know and the ones YOU don't.
3. We can count on inspiration from
the Lord. With the Holy Ghost as our guide, we will know how to lead our
sisters. We will have "ears to hear"
the answers to that question, "What do you need?" There is no lack of good
ideas in our organization, but when
we rely on the spirit for inspiration, we act with the power of God.
Through this inspiration many women
are called to silent acts of service. A young mother wrote me of the
challenges associated with the birth
of her daughter. Little Amanda was born with a cleft lip and palate. Her
mother said: "We had wonderful support
while in the hospital. Family and friends came and extended their love.
My dear friend, Janice, came to the
hospital. With others I was strong, with Janice I could cry." She has
continued to support us since. Janice
tended Amanda when she was three weeks old so that I could attend the
baptism of my oldest son. She did
not ask, "What can I do?" She said, "This I am doing."
And then she concludes, "I am grateful
for the Relief Society program. In the past nine years I have been on the
receiving end many times. To have
sisters who care about you and are willing to reach out is truly a blessing."
We all feel the oil pouring into our
souls at those moments when we touch each other as the Lord has inspired
us to do.
4. We can continue to emphasize living
the commandments. That isn't a platitude, sisters. Some of us are
dimming our lamps -- instead of trimming
them -- by the choices we make, the things we emphasize in our lives,
the things we value. Faltering in
the Lord's commandments is like adding water to our oil. The two don't
mix.
I have a friend who teaches the gospel
doctrine class in her ward. At the first of this Year she was talking with
a
less-active friend who had come to
Church with one of her daughters for the first time in many months, maybe
years. The gospel doctrine teacher
encouraged her friend to come to Sunday School. Her friend remarked,
"I"ve never read The Book of Mormon.
I don't even have one."
Well, the next day, this teacher got
one, had her friend's name put on the cover, wrote her testimony in the
front
of the book, and then took it to
her home. Her friend wasn't there and so, afraid she would lose her nerve,
she
left The Book of Mormon at her friend's
house. And then she waited for her friend to come to class. She waited
for two months. She worried that
she had ruined their friendship, that her boldness had caused offense.
Finally
this note came in the mail. "I can't
believe you brought me this book. I am trying to read it and understand
it.
Thank you for pointing me this direction.
I'm trying."
It was the Gospel literacy effort in action. And the oil supply for both of them grew richer.
5. We can work with our priesthood
leaders in shaping our programs. I am so grateful for the blessings of
the
priesthood. The power that comes
through the priesthood leadership of this Church can not be denied. I felt
it
when President Hinckley announced
the Gospel Literacy Effort in 1992: "Now a great project is to be
undertaken...its consequences will
go on and on and be felt in the lives of generations yet to come. It is
a
program designed to bring light into
the lives of those who can neither read nor write." (Gordon B. Hinckley,
"Ambitious to Do Good," Ensign, March
1992, p.6)
I felt it, too, when we have met the
past weeks with our advisors to begin review of new lessons for the Relief
Society. I know you understand the
blessings of the priesthood in our callings and in our individual lives.
Let me share with you a tender story
I received from a missionary who was asked to visit a sister who had been
considered less active because she
attended only Relief Society, sometimes the investigator Sunday School
class, and then always left right
before the sacrament meeting. One day when the missionaries were in her
home, the sister lifted a bench cushion
where she had hidden her copy of the Ensign. She had hidden it because
her husband was so antagonistic about
her interest in the gospel. "I want to show you something I found," she
said. "Look" she said, as she pointed
at full page pictures of President Monson and President Faust. "Look at
the eyes of these men. They are the
most beautiful [eyes) I have ever seen. They look like they love people
--
and could even love a woman like
me."
The letter then explained how this
sister loves the gospel and would give anything to have her husband embrace
it, so she could attend church regularly,
and even bless her food without recrimination. The missionary
concluded the letter, "This is what
makes up our Church. Good individual women who want the gospel to touch
as much of their lives as it possibly
can. Women who believe in their Savior. Women who love Him and would
do anything for Him."
I can only add, these are women who will be prepared when he comes.
6, We can give greater value to good
works. Are there any better women than the ones in your congregations?
I don't think so. When we speak figuratively
of treading the oil press, we speak of sisters who are quietly doing
their part every day, sisters who
are taking care of each other. Let me give you a wonderful example from
another sister missionary serving
in Russia.
She wrote: "Lyuba Kappenkova, a six-month
Church member, has risen to the mighty challenges of Relief
Society president of' Sneggerie,'
the northern-most group of Novozebirsh, Siberia Russia. You would be proud
to see Lyuba in her efforts to start
our little Relief Society and nurture its growth. She, along with her
counselors, understands the important
of visiting teaching and is helping these sisters serve each other, build
each other -- saving them from the
dangers of inactivity. They are strong, choice and beautiful women. Many
of
them are the only church members
in their families. Conditions are not easy for them. They are building
a strong
foundation which will support them
in their trials ahead as the Church's newest saints. [I have] only one
short
and very precious week left of my
missionary time. I know that my sisters will be left in good hands -- they
are
taking care of each other."
The conclusion of the Parable of the
Ten Virgins is significant. It says, "Watch, for ye know neither the day
nor
the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Watch, sisters is a call to be ready. Five were prepared. The other
five misinterpreted their time. "This
is the time...to prepare to meet God."
These are difficult times. Our wards
are teeming with "the tired and poor...the tempest tossed" and the
adversary is using every device,
every tool and trick to deplete our reserves. He wants to leave us empty,
sisters.
May we recognize the need to stock
and restock the shelves and cupboards of our souls with the "oil of joy."
May the Holy Ghost be with us in
abundance. May our daily acts shine as a beacon to each other I pray, in
the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.