-
Are You Aware? The Same Privilege
This is part II in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Yesterday was the first day of fasting for the Islamic religious holiday Ramadan. I woke up this morning at 4:30 to prepare breakfast for my husband and my children who are old enough to fast. For 30 days, our Muslim-Mormon family will refrain from food and drink from sunup to sundown — approximately 16 hours a day by the end of the fast. During Ramadan, I am always more acutely aware of the religious differences not only in my own household but between my family and the rest of the community…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Marvel of Rebirth
Over the last few days, as I have been reflecting on the message of Easter and basking in a truly glorious New England spring, a few simple words of scripture keep coming to my mind. Spoken by the Savior to Nicodemus, they are words that explain baptism and its link to exaltation. Nicodemus has come to learn, but he still seems to be struggling to comprehend, the spiritual nature of the teachings offered him. In that moment Christ addresses this confusion head on: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Unity and Difference
Last week, we celebrated the Relief Society’s birthday or, as I like to call it, “The One Day a Year When Being a Mormon History Nerd Makes You Interesting and Popular.” One of my favorite episodes in Relief Society history is an argument between two Relief Society leaders with intractable opinions and healthy self-confidence. What is unusual about this particular argument is that it took place in the office of President Heber J. Grant. The women were Amy Brown Lyman and Susa Young Gates, both members of the Relief Society General Board. Amy Lyman had been asked by Joseph F. Smith to establish a Social Services Department within the Church…
-
Sabbath Devotional: By the Sweat of thy Brow … Holding Nothing Back
Late one recent February night, despite my hours of reading and writing about peace and conflict resolution, I could only feel the dull flatness of a sense of stupor like the Lord describes in Section 9: 9 of the Doctrine of Covenants: “But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me. “ Despite all my studying and seeking for inspiration about this assignment, I kept turning my ideas over and over in my…
-
Are You Aware? Bridging the Divide
This is part III in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. I grew up in a rural part of Pennsylvania. One of our homes was on a “rural route” for mail, and our property consisted of about an acre of land in the middle of some woods. There was an old covered bridge and a small creek just down the hill from us. It was a child’s paradise. Later we moved to a small town, where our address was simply the name of the town and the state. We picked up the mail by walking a couple of blocks to the small post…
-
Are You Aware? The Destruction of a Dream and the Race Massacre of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street
This is part II in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. After the Civil War, Blacks availed themselves of the opportunity to buy land. During the 1889 Land Rush, the “Unassigned Lands” (ceded Native territory) were the only lands approved to be sold to Blacks. In 1868, John and Rosanna Gurley lived in Huntsville, Alabama. That year they welcomed their firstborn son — Ottowa. Eight years later, John and Rosanna relocated their family, including Ottowa and his three younger siblings, to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. During this post-Civil War era, Black families were quick to take advantage of their newly…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Power of Personal Narrative in Creating Identity and Vision
As a junior in high school, I usually enjoyed my popular Thomas Hardy/Charles Dickens English class with Mr. Thompson. He had a quick wit and engaging teaching style that usually led to interesting discussions among my classmates about all kinds of social topics. On one particular morning, as I sat ready to participate in our literature discussion, Mr. Thompson began with the following statement: “As we all know, religious people are just looking for a crutch to explain their suffering.” As a devoted religious teenage girl living in a largely secular community in Northern California, I sat there shocked, but silent. I was not prepared to say anything to contradict…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: MWEG Turns Four: Three Miracles and a Birthday Wish
This past Tuesday — January 26, 2021 — MWEG turned four. My little granddaughter, Lizzie, also recently turned four. Watching this miraculous little being flitter-tromp about in her princess tiara and dinosaur-green rain boots, chattering nonstop while showing off her new trick of hopping on one foot and then turning a somersault (whoops! there goes a boot!), fills me with unspeakable joy and delight. Four is a magical age. And it’s an age of tremendous growth and development–physical, intellectual, social. As it will be for Lizzie, so will it be for MWEG. Birthdays and other anniversaries are important milestones and provide excellent opportunities for reflecting on the past, for remembering.…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Finding Empathy Amid Trials
I recently met with an old college student of mine, Emilia, who asked for my help. She’d met three families in her Spanish-speaking ward in Utah who didn’t have money for Christmas gifts for their children. These families recently immigrated to the United States to seek refuge from dangerous and war-torn countries. They gave all they possessed to journey to safety, leaving nothing for the holidays. Emilia asked if I could contribute presents for one of the five-year-old girls who was hoping Santa would visit. I sat across from Emilia in awe, wondering why she felt responsible for the welfare of these families. Emilia, an international student from South America,…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Master Peacemaker’s Diverse Responses to Conflict
As a mediator and disciple of Christ, I have often reflected on Jesus Christ’s varied approaches to conflict. He did not merely “turn the other cheek” or “agree with [an] adversary quickly” every time he was faced with disagreement or difference. Sometimes we oversimplify the Savior’s teachings about conflict resolution and miss opportunities to create peace. As “the way, the truth, and the life,” I believe Jesus would like us to learn from all of his life experiences and teachings to create more nuanced and diverse approaches to peacemaking. As Eva Witesman wrote in a 2017 Deseret News op-ed on peacemaking, “When I make peace, I want to build it.…