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Photo from Church News profile of President Eubank.

President Sharon Eubank gave a masterful sermon this morning on being Christlike. She effortlessly spoke with power and authority, quoting scripture (while adding gender parity), admonishing us to lift and light together, and reminding us that Jesus Christ reached out to all.

President Eubank is a force for good, both as a member of the General Relief Society Presidency and as the Director of LDS Charities (the first woman to hold that position). When she proclaims: “You are making progress. Keep going. He sees all your hidden sacrifices and counts them to your good and the good of those you love. Your work is not in vain. You are not alone. His very name, Emmanuel, means God With Us. He is surely with you,” she knows of what she speaks.

A few weeks ago, President Eubank also spoke as the featured guest at a stake women’s conference. Her message was a similarly powerful one on the themes of love and service.

And yet who presided at this stake meeting? As listed in the program, it was the stake president.

Presiding, as it is defined, means “to be in the position of authority in a meeting or other gathering.” In Mormon parlance, presiding means that the person over the meeting has final say and judgment about what happens at the meeting, with the obligation to spiritually and physically protect those in attendance.

I’ve been thinking about women as presiders ever since J’s recent post about women presiding at their own meetings until the 1960s. In a recent ward conference, I paid close attention to the sustaining order. This order (as best as I can recall) started with church-wide positions, in the same order as Saturday Afternoon General Conference Sessions:

Prophet

First Presidency

Apostles

Seventies

all other General Auxiliary Officers (including women officers) as now constituted.

Then in my ward conference, we sustained local positions:

Stake Presidency

Bishopric

Elder’s Quorum

Relief Society

Primary

Young Men

Young Women

Sunday School

So thinking back on the stake women’s conference, following my ward’s sustaining order should have had President Eubank as a general officer presiding over local stake officers.

But then I looked at the order we follow for purposes of solemn assemblies, and realized it’s subtly different. In last year’s solemn assembly to sustain a new prophet, first presidency, and quorum of the twelve, we “voted by quorums and groups.” The voting order was:

First Presidency

Apostles

Seventies / Presiding Bishopric

Melchizedek Priesthood holders

Relief Society members

Aaronic Priesthood holders

Young Women

Everyone else (including children)

This, I think, is the “Priesthood Order.” Although a solemn assembly is only for the purpose of sustaining the Prophet and Apostles, and is thus not like general conference or ward conference sustainings for all other church offices, it’s ordering signals that all Melchizedek priesthood holders have more keys and authority than all women. This includes President Eubank as a counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency. Under that priesthood order, President Eubank should be presided over by any stake president, or any elder’s quorum president, or even the most brand new 18-year-old elder in any stake she visits.

Can that be right?

Perhaps not. The solemn assembly order also recognizes that all adult Relief Society women hold more authority than Aaronic priesthood holders (whether they are teenagers or adults). This recognizes, like Elder Oaks has taught, that members of the Relief Society exercise priesthood power and that women’s priesthood authority tracks the priesthood keys of the man who sustained her. Under that reasoning, shouldn’t then President Eubank, ordained by worldwide (presumably Melchizedek priesthood) leadership, exercise worldwide priesthood keys?

As described by President Oaks, women have priesthood authority by virtue of their callings and temple experience. And in fact, Elder Quentin Cook brought up this issue in his talk Saturday morning: “When a man and woman are sealed in the temple, they enter the holy order of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant and order of the priesthood. Together, they obtain and receive priesthood blessings and power to direct the affairs of their family. Women and men have unique roles, as outlined in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. But their stewardships are equal in value and importance. They have equal power to receive revelation for their family.”

Considering the Relief Society’s recognized priesthood keys, women’s equal temple covenants, and combined with the fact that women did preside at their own meetings until the 1960s, I think the argument is strong to say that “we just are not accustomed to speaking of women” presiding, but they should. President Eubank, as a general auxiliary leader with priesthood keys given to her as befitting her general churchwide calling, should have been recognized as presiding at that stake women’s conference meeting.

President Eubank’s work and service is Christlike and inspiring. Let’s recognize and amplify her authority.

Thanks to Carolyn for helping edit and bolster this post.