So my ward split today...

[UtahDan]

and several things shook out that I thought were worth mentioning as interesting:

1. The Stake President did something I have never seen done before. Near the end of his talk he stated his authority just as if he were giving a blessing by the laying on of hand and blessed the congregation. Anyone ever seen that before?

2. As part of the blessing he blessed us that we would make our homes sanctuaries from the world, the philosophies of men, etc., but that we would also prepare our homes as literal sanctuaries and that we would be prepared to recieve our neighbors would seek refuge during crises which are "surely coming", particularly those neighbors from the north (we live about two hours south west of Washington, DC at the outskirts of what you might consider Northern Virginia).

3. Finally, and this was maybe the most interesting to me, he related that during the previous week he had met with Elder Bednar and that he wished to pass on to us counsel that he had recieved from him, to-wit: (and I'm doing my best to quote now) "anything we do in the name of the priesthood which distracts from the spirit of the Lord, whether it be the way we dress or the language we use, anyting that distracts from that spirit is priestcraft."

I think the priestcraft comment is very interesting and may well bear on several discussions we have had here lately. Thoughts?