The most interesting bit of news I garnered from last week’s conference was not news of a temple in Provo or disapproval at calling ourselves “Mormons.” It was Apostle Boyd K. Packer assuring young members of the LDS Church that the second coming of Jesus Christ is a long time coming. That’s a big shift from the early years of 19th century Mormonism, where blessings that promised recipients that they would witness the second coming of Jesus Christ were not uncommon. The church Joseph Smith initiated was pure millennialist is coming. I recall my father telling me that I would likely see Christ’s return and — remembering that fondly — I’ve mentioned the same to my children.
One bit of history that underscored the Christ’s-return-is-near doctrine of the 19th century LDS Church was the Mormon Reformation of the middle 1850s in Utah. What began as an effort to re-energize the spirituality of Utah saints via “home missions” to members degenerated into harsh denunciations of local church leaders, blood atonement speeches, accusations of adultery, fanaticism from guilt-obsessed members and finally, a counter-productive surge of interest in polygamy. It took the untimely death of a fire-breathing apostle to allow future church leader Wilford Woodruff to cool the Mormon Reformation down.
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