Wishing that she didn’t know that Joseph was a prophet

Rounding out the Friday morning program here at FairMormon:

I liked a quotation from Emma Smith that Laura Hales shared.  I don’t think I’d heard it before.  In 1842 or thereabouts, Emma was very ill for a time, unable to take care of herself.  So her friend Elizabeth Durfee tended to her.  And, one day, Zina Huntington was there and overheard this exchange:

Elizabeth Durfee:  “Emma, is Joseph really a prophet?”

Emma Smith:  “Yes.  But I wish to God I did not know it.”

I like that comment.  It seems very human and honest.  And, in its own peculiar way, I find it very faith-promoting.

I can well imagine such a response.  Couldn’t somebody else have borne this burden?

I can even imagine that Joseph himself sometimes felt the same way:  “All I wanted was to know which church to join.  You know, Methodist, maybe?  Or Presbyterian?”

It’s appropriate, thus, that we’re  now enjoying a presentation by Matthew Grow on the varying accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision.

There’s been a reasonably good crowd here, yesterday and today.  We’re sitting in a comparatively large chapel, and it’s mostly (though not completely) full.  Considering that we met on Thursday, a workday, and during normal work hours, and considering that today is Friday, I’m really fairly satisfied.

Posted from Darmstadt, Germany