{"id":25024,"date":"2013-03-17T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-17T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=25024"},"modified":"2013-03-16T20:26:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-17T01:26:49","slug":"literary-dcgd-12-the-gathering-of-zion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2013\/03\/literary-dcgd-12-the-gathering-of-zion\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary DCGD #12: The Gathering of Zion<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"evan-molbourne-green\"<\/a>One of the most modified Mormon doctrines is the doctrine of the gathering\u2014the idea that Church members should move to a central gathering spot to build up Zion in this dispensation. D&C lesson 12 teaches about this doctrine, the subject of many of the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. Under this doctrine, Mormons have “gathered” to Kirtland, Ohio, Independence, Missouri and other areas in that state, Nauvoo, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah and perhaps other places. Other Mormon sects have likewise sought to gather members to central locations. Hundreds of thousands of converts have left their homes to travel thousands of miles as a result of the teaching that saints should be gathered in one place. And often after reaching the gathering place, they have suffered persecution there, and then moved to a new gathering place. In the following poem, Evan M. Greene expressed the feelings of the saints about this commandment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Evan M. Greene (1814-1882) was the son of Mormon missionary and mission president John P. Greene, and served several missions himself, the first two before he turned 18. By 1836 he had married and moved to Kirtland and by 1845 he was in Illinois. In 1847 he was the Postmaster of Kanesville, Iowa (near Winter Quarters) and by 1852 he had immigrated to Provo, Utah, where he became the town’s second mayor in 1853-1854 and served in the territorial legislature. He moved to several other places in Utah\u2014Grantsville, near Bear Lake, Smithfield, Springdale and eventually Iron County, after he was ordained a patriarch in 1873. He was the father of long-lived and prolific Mormon poet Lula Greene Richards, but his own literary output is not well known, and this is the only example of his poetry that I’ve encountered so far.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

The Gathering of Zion<\/h3>\n

By E. M. Greene<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
Scattered many a toilsome year,<\/dd>\n
Pledged in faith to memory dear;<\/dd>\n
We our gathering still pursue,<\/dd>\n
And our covenants renew;<\/dd>\n
Bound by love’s unsevered chain,<\/dd>\n
We all hope to meet again.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Tho’ our homes, sunk by decay,<\/dd>\n
Wicked mobs have torn away;<\/dd>\n
And our holy, sacred place,<\/dd>\n
Wickedness has long defaced;<\/dd>\n
Still on Zion’s happy plain,<\/dd>\n
We all hope to meet again.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Many a time we there did meet;<\/dd>\n
Many a friend we there did greet:<\/dd>\n
Now our friends are scattered from<\/dd>\n
The sacred place they called their home;<\/dd>\n
Still on Zion’s flowery plain<\/dd>\n
We all hope to meet again.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
We’ll pass thro’ toils for many years,<\/dd>\n
Till Christ the second time appears;<\/dd>\n
When in cold oblivion’s shade,<\/dd>\n
Proud oppression low is laid;<\/dd>\n
Then on Zion’s peaceful plain<\/dd>\n
We all hope to meet again.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Wasp<\/em>, v1 n11 25 June 1842, p. 4<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

For Greene, the gathering is apparently closely associated with the persecution that seemed to follow it to Kirtland, Missouri and Nauvoo, although this latter occurred after he wrote this poem. So Greene sees the ultimate gathering as what will happen after this life, as the Lord gathers the righteous to live with him.<\/p>\n

In my mind this demonstrates the ambiguity of this doctrine, since the concept is used to refer not only to a physical gathering like that of the 19th century, but also a spiritual gathering of souls to the gospel and of the righteous to Christ. In almost literary fashion, this doctrine refers at once to any and all of these, and leads us to perhaps consider what it means to “gather” today. Is it simply joining to righteousness and seeking the will of God? Or is there still some physical requirement? Or, is Greene right that the ultimate gathering will only occur after this life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most modified Mormon doctrines is the doctrine of the gathering\u2014the idea that Church members should move to a central gathering spot to build up Zion in this dispensation. D&C lesson 12 teaches about this doctrine, the subject of many of the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. Under this doctrine, Mormons have “gathered” to Kirtland, Ohio, Independence, Missouri and other areas in that state, Nauvoo, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah and perhaps other places. Other Mormon sects have likewise sought to gather members to central locations. Hundreds of thousands of converts have left their homes to travel thousands of miles as a result of the teaching that saints should be gathered in one place. And often after reaching the gathering place, they have suffered persecution there, and then moved to a new gathering place. In the following poem, Evan M. Greene expressed the feelings of the saints about this commandment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":25026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sunday-school-lesson-doctrine-and-covenants"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/evan-molbourne-green.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27894,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25024\/revisions\/27894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}