Cue ominous music

So, last night Arlene got a phone call from the stake executive secretary, asking if the two of us could meet with the stake president next Sunday. This is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the most valiant. Why? First, a brief explanation: an LDS stake is more or less equivalent to a Catholic diocese: it’s a collection of wards (each equivalent to a parish or congregation). When you’re asked to meet with a member of the stake presidency, it’s usually because:

• Your temple recommend needs renewal. In this case, you call them, not the other way around, and mine’s good until September. So much for the easy reason.
• They want you to speak during a stake event. Since our stake conference is next Sunday, that’s not it. Besides, they wouldn’t need both of us for that.
• One of us is in trouble. David’s first reaction, in fact, was to ask “What did you do?” We couldn’t think of any reason either of us would be called on the carpet, so that’s probably not it.
• One of us is getting a new job. Remember, all of the leadership positions in the LDS church are filled from the membership: our stake president works at Owens Corning; one of his counselors is retired, and the other’s a farmer. To understand why the stake is involved, you’d have to understand all the ins and outs of how callings work, which I certainly don’t. Some callings at the ward level are actually the stake’s responsibility; others are handled by the ward bishopric, except for some (like some callings in the elders’ quorum) that aren’t. For example, the bishop and his two counselors are called by the stake to serve in a particular ward, but the EQ secretary is called by the elders’ quorum president. This is a strong possibility.
• There’s some sort of temporary assignment. For example, last year Arlene was asked to help organize and run the annual stake young women’s camp, so the stake called her (although I vaguely remember that it was someone from the stake young women’s presidency that called her.)

Further complicating the reading of these particular tea leaves omens is this: most stake callings are handled by members of the stake high council. These men serve more or less as ambassadors of the stake president; since there’s only one of him (three if you include his counselors), and there are twelve or more wards in a stake, without the high council there wouldn’t be enough stake-ness to go around for every occasion requiring the stake’s involvement (including calling or releasing most ward-level positions).
And one final complication: the only time I’ve ever heard of the stake presidency wanting to see both spouses when one is called is when the calling requires an unusual amount of time or effort and the prez wants to ensure that both spouses are willing to work together on whatever-it-is. That makes me think that one of us is about to be under new management, so to speak. Tune in next week for more details.