Gordon B. Hinckley

The outpouring of emotions and tributes to President Hinckley have been impressive and a reflection of his impact on members of the Church.  It seems like it’s almost too soon to declare, “The Prophet is Dead. Long live the Prophet!” and welcome a new Church President.  But the work goes on.  But just before the new First Presidency is announced, here are some parting items on President Hinckley:

• Mark Brown does well to remind us that for all of President Hinckley’s optimism, he regulary had to face the heavy burdens of the church which “Neal A. Maxwell described as ’staring into the abyss.’”:
  

  If there was anyone on earth who understood how very frail and imperfect latter-day saints are, it was brother Hinckley. He had a right, more than anyone else, to complain about the demands the church makes and to take a cynical view.

• The Church has posted online a new online to President Gordon B. Hinckley tribute at http://www.gordonbhinckley.com/.  North Temple has the credits and background on who made it possible. Sounds like they did a great job with very little time.
• I liked Kim Siever’s poem, “Hinckley.”
• You can get free sheet music for the hymn the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang at the funeral which was penned by President Hinckley and music by Janice Kapp Perry. Go to Mullings and Musings for instructions.
• And don’t forget the Hinckley Challenge.

If you’re in the Salt Lake area, you can be part of the President Gordon B. Hinckley Cane Wave Tribute.  Sounds like an excellent idea.

Soon after I read that President Hinckley had passed, I came across this photo.  It was posted by someone not a member of the Church, but an admirer of the Lousiville Kentucky temple.   What a fitting tribute to President Hinckley’s visionary leadership.

It’s amazing to review what was accomplished during his 12 years as President of the Church.  A too brief overview of President Hickley’s administration includes:

• The Family: A Proclamation to the World
• an unprecedented expansion of temples, nearly tripling in number
• the creation of the Pertpetual Education Fund
• a drive to travel and meet the Saints of the world
• a new era in Church public relations, including when the Winter Olympics came to Utah
• his three-point formula for strengthening new converts
• the construction of the Conference Center (which I suggest should be rededicated as the Gordon B. Hinckley Conference Center; his tree is the pulpit, after all)

I first came to love President Hinckley as a missionary in the MTC. Growing up as a semi-inactive youth, I was fairly clueless about the Gospel but still wanted to serve a mission.  When I arrived at the MTC, I was sort of mystified by my fellow trainee missionaries talking about their favorite General Authorities as if they were sport stars with their own trading cards. 

Watching my first General Conference in the MTC, I’ll never forget how President Hinckley won me over with his mix of  humor with the discussion of serious issues.  That October 1991 priesthood session was a perfect example: 

Altogether too many men, leaving their wives at home in the morning and going to work, where they find attractively dressed and attractively made-up young women, regard themselves as young and handsome, and as an irresistible catch. They complain that their wives do not look the same as they did twenty years ago when they married them. To which I say, Who would, after living with you for twenty years?

I will miss his humor, humility, optimism, and practical counsel.  He did not lay claim to many dramatic revelations but his teachings were real and inspired.

Gordon B. Hinckley will be remembered as a great prophet and leader of a church of millions.  But more than just being a great leader, Craig rightfully calls President Hinckley a mentor.  He was a mentor for me; his leadership was much more personal.  And he will be sorely missed.

The Deseret News: President Gordon B. Hinckley dies at age 97:

“President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through explosive growth during his more than 12 years as president, died at 7 p.m. today of causes incident to age, surrounded by family. He was 97.”

The Church’s Newsroom site now has a release on the Prophet’s passing”

President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.

President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.

The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from cause’s incident to age. Member of his family were at his bedside. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Hinckley’s funeral within the next few days.

The remainder of the obituary and biography of President Hinckley can be read at the Newsroom.lds.org site.