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Stand as a Witness — and Join the Bouquet of Humanity
In the final closing argument of Derek Chauvin’s trial, prosecution attorney Jerry Blackwell referred to the witnesses as a “bouquet of humanity.” It brings to mind the well known scripture in Doctrine and Covenants section 14: “And it shall come to pass, that if you shall ask the Father in my name, in faith believing, you shall receive the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance, that you may stand as a witness of the things of which you shall both hear and see, and also that you may declare repentance unto this generation.” Eleven months ago, when George Floyd was killed, I asked that the women of MWEG watch the video…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Middle Space
It has been a week full of mourning with and holding space for the pain of people I love. I feel a strong call to sit with, listen, and try to carry some of their burden. It is sacred work to be able to fulfill baptismal covenants in this way, but it also means that I am a little bit weary, so I am bringing you a simple devotional this evening, filled with the words of others. I don’t feel particularly naturally skilled at mourning with those who mourn, other than being an introvert who is satisfied to listen while others talk. But I have learned over the years that…
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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…
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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…
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Are You Aware? Founding Faith
This is part I in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. It is a common misconception that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation” and that the founders intended it as such. It is true that the American colonies were largely established by Christians and that Christianity had a profound effect on the architects of the nation. But history does not support the claim that our government ever was, or was intended to be, Christian by those who conceived of and orchestrated its emergence. It was, in part, the oppression felt from both the British monarchy, with their supposed “divine…
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Are You Aware? A Convergence of Crises — The Opioid Epidemic
This is part V in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 841,000 people in the U.S. have died of drug overdose since 1999. Drugs are the leading cause of death from injury in the U.S., by a significant margin. In 2019, 29% of injury-related deaths were caused by drug poisoning. The next closest causes of death by injury were falls, firearms, and motor vehicle-related deaths, at around 15-16% each. That same year, about 70% of all drug overdose deaths were caused by opioids. Opioids, opiates, and opiums — what are they? An opiate is a derivative of the…
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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…
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Are You Aware? News from the Heartland
This is part IV in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. It is almost a golden rule of campaign journalism: Find a small-town restaurant packed with white conservative voters, and ask what their hopes are for America. The restaurant patrons enthusiastically support the Republican candidate and bemoan the direction of our country and her values. After the pancakes are eaten and the coffee cups drained, the intrepid reporter books it back to the big city. We watched this scenario play out in the election of 2016, where a majority of rural Americans voted for Trump, many of them expressing the thought that big…
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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…
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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…
