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Sabbath Devotional :: Savior, Redeemer of My Soul
My Testimony is simple: My Heavenly Father thinks the world of me, and My Savior has given me access to the greatest power this world has ever known: His atonement. Because of this, My family will be ok, My scholars will be ok, My community will be ok, All of my people will be ok in the eternal run, because he thinks just as highly of each of them, as he does me . . . And the same mercy he extends to me, on my worst behavior . . . The same strength he gives me, when I’m at my most disempowered . . . The same comfort he…
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Are You Aware? If Language Was an American Dream
This is part III in our “The Latin Experience in the States” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Many immigrants to the U.S. won’t have the same experiences I’ve had, because of how I came to the U.S. My intention was to study here and to go back home. But life always plays a different tune. Growing up in a family that loved languages has been a blessing in my life. When I was a little girl, my dad invited people from all over the world to eat with us in our home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the age of 8, my dad asked me…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Mist of Familiarity
“Life, & the world, or whatever we call that which we are & feel, is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us the wonder of our being . . . . Life, the great miracle, we admire not, because it is so miraculous. It is well that we are thus shielded by the familiarity of what is at once so certain and so unfathomable, from an astonishment which would otherwise absorb and overawe the function of that which is its object.” This passage, which opens an essay by the English Romantic poet Percy Shelley, has been a touchstone for me since I first heard it in college.…
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Are You Aware? Latinx Diversity and Contributions
This is part II in our “The Latin Experience in the States” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. NOTE: Throughout this article, the terms Latino, Latina, Latinx, and Hispanic are being used interchangeably to refer to the same group of people. I never thought that immigrating to the U.S. was going to be part of my life’s journey. I grew up hearing about the “American Dream” and the idea of what that meant through TV shows and movies. I remember hearing the “dislike” in people’s comments when they heard the word “America” was used interchangeably with the United States of America. It was accompanied by the…
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Are You Aware? A Latina in the American Kitchen
This is part I in our “The Latin Experience in the States” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. I remember watching my grandma Josefa make corn tortillas from corn that she had planted, harvested, and prepared. Eating never felt wrong, because it was the fruit of hard work, never an indulgence. She lived a long, healthy life to 107 years old. Growing up in a Latin American country, I never knew that cooking with fresh veggies was healthy, because that was the only way to cook. Using canned food, drinking sodas, or eating desserts every day was a luxury most of us couldn’t afford. Ironically, we…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: ‘For the People Act Doesn’t Curtail States’ Rights’
“Although I have lived in six states, I didn’t realize until recently how much voting access still depends on the state in which you reside. While laws can no longer explicitly exclude entire groups of would-be voters based on their religion, gender or race, voting is by no means equally accessible in all states. Registration options, deadlines, early voting and so much more vary significantly from state to state.” Click here for the full text of this Fulcrum op-ed written by MWEG member Erin Young.
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Sabbath Devotional :: Verleih Uns Frieden
This week’s devotional is musical. In a version of my life where I was a little more talented and a lot braver, I would have studied choral conducting in college (formally, instead of just by spending more time in choir rehearsals than in class!). I might have made it my life’s work to champion the underrated choral works of Felix Mendelssohn—more interesting than Handel, more accessible for most choirs than Brahms. This week I’ve had his motet ‘Verleih Uns Frieden’ running through my head. It’s a fairly simple piece—your ward choir could learn it in 5 or 6 solid rehearsals—and the text is an interesting German variant of Dona Nobis…
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Are You Aware? International Religious Freedom
This is part IV in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. For Americans and many others, religious freedom today often seems polarized, partisan, and bewilderingly complex. Church leaders have repeatedly emphasized the importance of religious freedom, but in some cases, religious freedom claims seem part of partisan battles or encroach on rights for others. How can we make sense of religious freedom? Why do Church leaders stress its importance? How can we understand the role of religious freedom among other important human rights? One helpful way to make sense of religious freedom is to look at the international norms that protect it.…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Mourning with Those Who Mourn
The past year and counting have provided us with ample opportunities to reflect upon and to fulfill our covenant to “bear one another’s burdens,” “mourn with those that mourn,” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” (See Mosiah 18:8-10). Far too many moments. Far, far, too many. The deaths, loss, and grief brought about by Covid-19. The deep pain of our fellow Black siblings in light of the wrongful deaths/murders and also of our Asian and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) siblings following the murders in Atlanta and the other instances of AAPI hate and violence. The continued rise in murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two spirits. And…
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Are You Aware? The Critical Role of Minority Beliefs
This is part III in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. One of the best stories from the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about someone who was not a member of our church but instead a brigadier general in the Missouri militia during the “Mormon War” in 1838. “Soon after Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his Mormon Extermination Order of 27 October 1838, which declared that ‘the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state,’ Brigadier General Alexander W. Doniphan received the following order from his superior…
