President Eyring "Where Two or Three Are Gathered"

President Eyring gave a conference talk April 2016 entitled, "Where Two or Three are Gathered".

I like his supposition made early in the talk: "I am grateful that you have come to the conference to feel inspiration from heaven and to feel closer to our Heavenly Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ." There are other reasons to participate in conference, or to seek something spiritually, but President Eyring picked these two: to feel inspiration from heaven and to feel closer to God.

There are at least a few probable implications from this statement:

1. These are commonly held needs by the conference audience, specifically, Latter-day Saints and friends.
2. We are self-aware that we have these needs.
3. The proceedings in General Conference are able to meet these needs.
4. We have a hope that in Conference, or through Conference, we may have these needs met.
5. Perhaps these are the two most important reasons for General Conference.

I like how these needs apply almost universally to everyone, no matter age or stage: married, widowed, divorced, single, very young, very old, lonely, overwhelmed, frustrated, seeking, in crisis, etc.

I also like how President Eyring is not saying something about learning what we are doing wrong, or being filled with guilt, or rejoicing in our own superiority, or finding some reason to leave or be angry at the Church.  Of course, if someone is listening in that mindset, they are free to see thoughts and expressions from that perspective.  But that is certainly not in either the tenor nor the explicit content of President Eyring's remarks.

He turns to the parable of the sower as the text to address the needs of his audience, those who are spiritually disillusioned, but with a spiritual past.

"The survival of the seed and its growth depended on the condition of the soil."

"Again, the seed is the word of God.  The soil is the heart of the person who receives the seed."

Parables can be read many ways; that is one of their strengths.  Here, President Eyring frames the parable in a certain way, similarly to how Jesus frames it in the Gospels.  In a sermon or a talk, this sort of framework is valuable, perhaps even essential for putting the parable in the desired context of the speaker.

"We have all had seeds, or the word of God, planted in our hearts at one time....Each felt that the seed was good, even felt the swelling in our hearts, and experienced joy as our hearts and mind seemed to expand."

President Eyring is making a supposition that all of those in the audience have not only received the word of God, and have acknowledged it as such, but that the word of God, at least at one time, has had a positive impact.  He is appealing to bright memories of spiritual peaks in our personal past.

"All of us have had our faith tested" by various ways.

This is a frank acknowledgment that the relationship between our spiritual lives and the parable of the sower is not a straightforward, linear relationship.  Discipleship is not fatalistic; nor is it a one-time event or even a one-time process.  We need to be constantly aware of the health of our faith and our testimony, and take steps to see that the seed is nourished and strengthened.  An implication is that our faith, our testimony, our spiritual life can ebb and flow like the tide or an economic cycle.

"There will be a precious opportunity in the next few days to have our hearts softened and to receive and nourish the seed....They have prayed to have the power to encourage you to make the choices that will create in your heart a more fertile ground for the good word of God to grow and be fruitful.  If you listen with the Spirit, you will find your heart softened, your faith strengthened, and your capacity to love the Lord increased."

This a dramatic turning inward of the condition of soil: it is our responsibility to make the choices that may create in my heart a more fertile ground.  And the Church offers opportunities for our heart to be softened.  Members of the Church at all levels are invested in your spiritual development, in the condition of your heart, and want to provide opportunities for growth and development.

President Eyring makes a promise of sorts that if we listen to Conference with the Spirit,

1. We will find our heart softened.
2. We will find our faith strengthened.
3. We will find our capacity to love the Lord increased.