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Sabbath Devotional :: Vacuuming Epiphanies
This past week, I had the opportunity to clean the temple. For four hours on Monday morning, I vacuumed and disinfected sealing rooms and one endowment room in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, just seven minutes from my home in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I’ve always loved vacuuming. There’s something about the rhythmic back and forth of the motion, the steady whir of the motor, and those lovely lines left in the carpet that bespeak order, cleanliness, and a job well done. I often have my best thoughts and receive my clearest inspiration while vacuuming. In fact, my husband and kids sometimes ask: “Have you had any vacuum epiphanies lately?” And so,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
With last weekend’s events in Charlottesville fresh on our minds and weighing heavily on our hearts, we are eager to move forward with our new MWEG “Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear” Initiative. It is a multifaceted individual and collective effort to address the wave of overt racism and bigotry we have witnessed washing over the US (and elsewhere) in recent months. We have been encouraged by efforts being made by other groups and individuals and would like to add to those efforts by drawing upon our unique training and opportunities as Mormon women. A couple of years ago when I was attending a small branch, we had one particular fast…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Six Month Anniversary
“Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart.” (Deuteronomy 4:9) This past Wednesday, July 26th, 2017, marked the six month anniversary of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. The milestone passed with little fanfare, largely because we were all so focused on ensuring that the most vulnerable people in our country not be stripped of life-saving healthcare as a result of reactionary partisan politics. In other words, we were busy doing exactly what MWEG was established for. I do want to take a moment today, though, to be still and to sit with…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Harness the Power of Creation
“If there is anything lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things” (Articles of Faith). I’ve been thinking lately about the two driving forces in the world: the creative force and the destructive force. (We all know which eternal power represents which.) I conduct the choirs at a Title 1 (low-income) school, and many of my students are subjected daily to destructive forces at home and within their communities. They have parents that tear them down, peers that tear them down — a whole world, in fact, that seems bent on breaking instead of building them. It has been remarkable, then, to watch these students join…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Getting Acquainted
One of the things I love best about MWEG is our hope for a thoroughly integrated organization. We are intentionally not hierarchical. Whether as founders or occasional post readers, we each contribute to the sap that runs the system. In an effort to let you know a little about me, here is a quick sketch of my early years as a Mormon. My son Chase once described me as a “committed misfit” in the Church. I think he nailed it. I don’t fit the mold, but I’m here to stay. I was brand new to Mormondom in the early 1970’s. As a student at Wellesley College, I waited for two…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Thoughts on the Lyrics of Liberty
In many churches and chapels around the U.S. today, congregations will sing patriotic songs. One probable candidate is “America the Beautiful,” which was quickly drafted by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 when she visited Pikes Peak. She wrote of the experience: One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse. The…
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Sabbath Devotional :: To Love as the Savior Loves
I attended the adult session of stake conference tonight. Elder R. Scott Runia of the Seventy was there. He brought us greetings from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and shared with us what he characterized, with great emotion, as “probably the last message I will hear directly from his lips.” What our prophet said to Elder Runia and the others leaders in attendance at that meeting was this: “Brethren, we need to prepare the Saints for the Second Coming. We all need to be better. We need to love more as the Savior loves.” Love. That is how, according to the living prophet of God, we need to prepare…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Jeffrey R. Holland Quote
“Someday I hope a great global chorus will harmonize across all racial and ethnic lines, declaring that guns, slurs, and vitriol are not the way to deal with human conflict. The prophet Ether taught that we should ‘hope for a better world.’ The declarations of heaven cry out to us that the only way complex societal issues can ever be satisfactorily resolved is by loving God and keeping His commandments, thus opening the door to the one lasting, salvific way to love each other as neighbors.” — Jeffrey R. Holland Shared by Erica Glenn, an original member of the core leadership team at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
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Sabbath Devotional :: Be Thou an Example
In light of the important and moving Code Purple post below, I simply leave a scripture at the end of Second Nephi 26:33 to lead us into Sunday worship: “. . . He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.” May we all reflect on God’s love for all his children and President Monson’s simple plea: 1. Fill your mind with truth; 2. Fill your heart with love; 3. Fill your life with…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Buds if not Buddies
We recently concluded our Operation Purple Rain. Every day since May 1st, I, like many of you, sent letters to Congressman Jason Chaffetz in purple envelopes to urge him to act aggressively as Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform committee to explore Russian ties with our current administration. I wanted to add a little creative zest to the task so I wrote my messages in haiku. That choice made me focus on finding out more about the man and his actions. Since I’m only recently a resident of Utah, I didn’t know anything about him — including how to pronounce his last name. While looking for photos to accompany…
