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Mark A. Scherer |
I am happy to accept the invitation of our webmaster to share my reflections on the 2004 JWHA Conference in Omaha/Council Bluffs. As I look back to our weekend experience, I found a gathering of people intrigued by various aspects and interpretations of the church story. But the gathering was ecumenical with conferees hailing from across the denominational spectrum. With great mutual respect, I saw senior scholars conferring with unlettered history buffs, sharing thoughts, and learning from each other as co-equals. Church presidents chatted with church-goers and even non-goers. No egos anywhere to be found—rightfully, we were one!
Personally, I delighted in new discoveries and new understandings of the church story. Before, during, and after provocative sessions, I heard informal discussions asking “what do you think?” and “can that be true?” questions. Book dealers displayed their best works and piqued curiosity as eyes studiously scanned jacket covers and fingers quickly flipped pages.
Paper presentations and panel discussions explored varied concepts of historical decision making, sacred space, the importance of location, and the metaphorical significance of geography in the evolution of Latter Day Saintism. This same exploration extended into the Saturday afternoon bus tour across the Nebraska and Iowa. From my seat on the bus, and in my mind’s eye, I imagined saints laboring across the Iowa countryside with their wagons, livestock, and pushcarts traveling along the two-way trail. While standing at the Farm Creek Cemetery in very rural Mills County, Iowa, I gazed at the blue sky and then at the corn-rowed glacial till hills that engulfed me and envisioned myself trekking on a difficult mid-nineteenth century faith journey wondering if I would have had the physical and spiritual stamina to survive. I drew the obvious conclusion that these people were far better prepared for the challenges of their life’s circumstances than I am of mine. For that reason I revere them for their achievements, honor them for their perseverance, and thank them for providing my rich heritage in the church.
On Saturday night, from my unique vantage point of the podium at the presidential banquet, I could see a gathering of a hundred enjoying a handsome meal. Here were people weathered from a full weekend of paper sessions and a full afternoon of sight-seeing, yet still willing to endure my 40-minute assessment of the condition of the association, and its successful prospects for the future. That there was hardly a doze or nod was more a testament to audience staying power than a stirring presidential address.
On Sunday morning I heard stories from venerable, forward thinking ministerial educators whose valiant confrontation with an ill-informed church membership and institutional inertia forced them to seek alternative journeys in their life’s pursuits. Again, I pondered if under the same circumstances I would have responded with the same courage of conviction. Finally, in the Sunday morning worship, I heard a Methodist and a Community of Christ testimony of shaping influences of their journeys across sacred space and time—and I was challenged.
In all, these high quality experiences are what me coming back to JWHA. This was a very enjoyable weekend and I look forward to our bicentennial explorations of “Joseph Smith Jr. and His Complex Legacy” at JWHA 2005 in Springfield, Illinois.
Mark A. Scherer,
Immediate Past President
John Whitmer Historical Association
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