OW - Liken the Scriptures

Sorry, this post isn't one of my fun ones, but I wanted to put it out there anyway.
If you want the music that is stuck in my head occasionally, you can listen to any of the Liken the Scriptures song (like this one, or my favorite one). The basic idea behind these movies is that you can takes stories from hundreds of years ago, and the teachings associated with them apply to us today. I'm going to try a version of that today.

We read through Numbers, chapter 16 from the Old Testament in my institute class recently. It struck me how much the dialog of 4000 years ago matches the dialog going on today.

I won't claim to understand everything in the Ordain Women (OW) movement, nor to be a master scriptorian or theologian, but here is the version of Numbers 16 that I would say I see happening today:

Chapter 16
1 Now [April Young Bennett, Debra Jenson, Kate Kelly, and Hannah Wheelwright of the Ordain Women movement] took men:

2 And they rose up before [President Monson], with certain of the children of [God], two hundred and fifty [bloggers and women] of renown:

3 And they gathered themselves together against [President Monson] and against [their priesthood leaders], and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the [women] are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the [women of the church]?

4 And when [President Monson] heard it, he fell upon his face:

5  And he spake unto [OW] and unto all [their] company, saying...

7 ... and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye [daughters of God in the OW movement].

8 And [President Monson] said unto [OW], Hear, I pray you, ye [leaders of the OW movement]:

9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath [given you the responsibility of motherhood, of governing beside your husbands and building a righteous home]?

10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy [sisters, the daughters of God] with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?

11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord: and what is [your priesthood leader], that ye murmur against him?


I tried to change as little of this dialog as I could. You can double check the original text too. Like I said earlier, I was struck by how similar the case that Korah and his supporters was to the case that OW is making today.
As a quick summary of the rest of the story, Moses tells the leaders of the movement to stand in front of their tents, and the 250 others to come stand before the Lord. The leaders are swallowed up in the earth with their whole families, and the 250 others are consumed with fire from heaven.

Epic bible painting!

I thought it was interesting that in the letter sent to the OW movement the church spokeswoman asked them to stand in specific areas: the "free speech zones adjacent to Temple Square". Now, I'm not predicting that the Lord is going to cause a localized earthquake to swallow these leaders up or send fire down from heaven to consume them, but I do feel like we've got a lot of parallels in the situations.
Maybe I'm going too far. Maybe I am trying too hard to see parallels as I "liken the scriptures", but I take strength from the end of chapter 16. The children of Israel complain that Moses was too harsh on those who were simply asking for the priesthood. God's response is to send a plague which kills 14,700 of the people. Got made it very clear that Moses wasn't being power hungry and denying the Levites the priesthood so that he could keep it all for himself. Moses had been chosen by God, and was acting in the organized way that God had defined. Maybe my interpretation is too far. But then again, if it isn't, I definitely know which side of the story I want to be on.

Waiting for Superman

I'm a fan of Daughtry. He's good, but he's really got only one sound. When he finds a song that fits his sound, I'm down with that. Unfortunately, I don't think "Waiting for Superman" is right for his sound. I liked singing along with the chorus when I first became familiar with the song, but once I listened to the rest of the words, I realized that it was a lot more tender than Daughtry was able to portray in the song.

Thus began my search for a cover that I felt "got it." After looking around the youtubes for a while, I finally settled on the cover by Stephen Johnson. It feels like that version connects with my thoughts much better when I listen to and read through this song.

I want to tell you about a girl. This girl is so full of amazing, it blows my mind. She is clever, she is kind and a true friend. She is fun to be around and full of life. This Lois Lane is trying her best to fill her life with good things, but deep down inside, she is aching for her Superman. She wants so badly to be wanted, to have someone who would fly around the world for her, and then come down and "pick her up in his arms, to lift her up."

And, in the cruelest of ironies, this Wonder Woman is still Superman-less.

As if that, in itself, doesn't make me wonder in amazement at this Lois, the fact that this situation hasn't beaten her down is an even greater testament to her character. Rather than let what she wants so badly and still is lacking drag her down, she exalts her thoughts, and reaches for the heavens. Better than most who find their thoughts consumed in the mundane of day-to-day drudgery, she maintains the connection to the divine, "talking to angels, countin' the stars."

Here is resilience.

Here is faith.

Here is a true woman.

Do you see now why I feel like the only way to approach this song is with a tender reverence? I want to cheer for each and every Lois that I know, to tell her, "Don't you dare give up! Don't you stop waiting for your Superman. He is out there, and right now he's saving the five and dime. He's making the world a better place for you, so that, when you two do find each other, he can give you the world and it will be the best gift imaginable."

If you have ever wondered if you have a Superman out there; if you have ever looked at the clouds and sighed, wishing that there was someone who would shape them for you; if you have ever felt like you were "chasing an answer, a sign lost in the abyss", I want to take you in my arms and give you a hug. You are the heroine, and you deserve the absolute best. Don't let yourself settle for anyone less than your Superman.

When you think "if life was a movie, it wouldn't end like this, left without a kiss," remember that a very wise man once said "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." You know that. Deep down inside, the hope in that adage is what drives you onward and keeps you moving forward. It's the source of that smile which lights up your whole soul.

And she smiles, oh the way she smiles.