Bishop’s Tradition

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Our bishop has a wonderful tradition during tithing settlement that I have really enjoyed. Each year as we sit down to make a declaration regarding our status as tithe-payers the bishop takes the opportunity to give us a gift of some doctrinal document that is not part of our scriptural canon.

It was exciting during his first year of tithing settlement (our first year in this ward so we didn’t initially realize that this was a tradition he was starting) the Bishop gave each member of the family – all six of us (kids included) – copies of The Family: A Proclamation to the World printed up in a size that fits inside a standard sized copy of the scriptures.

The next year he gave us seven copies, sized for a standard set of scriptures, of The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles (he gave us one for Enoch even as young as he was). This year I was curious what he might give us. Those two documents are the two things I would be least surprised to one day see added to our scriptural canon. When we went to tithing settlement I was excited, in the wake of General Conference (which Bishop said was his inspiration for the choice), that Bishop gave us eight copies (one for Noah even though he was not yet born) of President Benson’s 1989 talk Beware of Pride in a standard scriptural size and broken into verses.