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Sabbath Devotional :: Concentrated and Consecrated Grief Leads to Joy in Christ
Two years ago, I spoke in my ward’s Sacrament Meeting on Easter and one year ago, I shared that talk as a devotional with my MWEG sisters. For some reason, sharing an Easter message feels even more daunting this year! You each have access to thousands of beautiful essays, talks, poems, images, and meditations on Holy Week. What could I possibly add to that body of work by exceptional writers and artists? When I begin questioning the worth of my own thoughts like this, I find it best to return to the simplicity of my testimony and particular circumstances rather than seek for something grand. After completing that exercise over the past…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Mary Magdalene
As we begin Holy Week, my thoughts are drawn to Mary Magdelene on that first Easter morning. “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre” (John 20:1) Thinking perhaps that the body of Christ had been stolen, Mary ran to tell Peter and John. They all ran back to the sepulchre to see for themselves. Not sure of what was going on, the men left to go home. “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping” (John 20:11). She saw Jesus in the garden, but supposed Him to be the gardener,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Twinned
I loved the emphasis on Palm Sunday and Holy Week in General Conference this year. Easter is too much to take in on a single Sunday! In most liturgical calendars, the anticipation of the resurrection begins many weeks before Easter (at the start of Lent) and the celebration of Easter continues until Pentecost, so this Sunday is the Third Sunday of Easter. The stories of Jesus’s appearances to his friends after the resurrection are some of my very favorites. Mary in the garden, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Doubting Thomas. It is perhaps unsurprising that the slightly hard-hearted child of a physicist should be a bit of a skeptic,…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Easter Devotional
As I listened to Conference, one of the talks that resonated with me the most was Elder Juan Uceda’s. (The Lord Jesus Christ Teaches Us to Minister) In his talk, he referenced the parables in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, silver, and the prodigal son. He said: It appears that the Lord is teaching one unique lesson with three stories—stories that present different numbers: 100 sheep, 10 coins, and 2 sons. The key number in each of these stories, however, is the number one. And a lesson we might take from that number is that you might be an undershepherd for [many people], but you always, always minister to them, care for…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Musical Sighs, the Mercy of God, and Collective Redemption
Note: I gave this as a talk on Easter Sunday, but as I was working on it, I was also thinking about my MWEG sisters, so it was written for you as well. I made a few minor adjustments to turn it into a devotional, but it is mostly as I gave it two weeks ago in Omaha, Nebraska. Almost 300 years ago, on Good Friday 1727, in the town of Leipzig, Germany, there was a premiere performance of one of the greatest pieces of music ever written: “The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist Matthew.” The composer was Johann Sebastian Bach, a man whom we revere…
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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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Sabbath Devotional :: Lead, Kindly Light
My grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago. Of course, given the current circumstances, we couldn’t gather as a family to mourn his passing and celebrate his life (though we did “gather” via Zoom). But over these past few weeks I’ve felt comfort from the words of his favorite hymn, which have been playing on an almost perpetual loop in my mind: Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;Lead thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home;Lead thou me on!Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene — one step enough for me. For reasons both global and personal, I have felt almost…
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Easter Sabbath Devotional :: All Glory, Laud, and Honor Anyway
During my time in college, I spent a semester on a study abroad in Jerusalem and the surrounding Holy Land. In Jerusalem, one of the most popular sayings on tourist tchotchkes is a verse of scripture: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. It’s written on wall hangings, keychains, and T-shirts in almost every shop in the Old City. The words come from Psalm 137, traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who relates in narrative verse the lament of the Israelites taken captive into Babylon. The psalm begins, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Easter Musings on the Sixth Principle of Peacemaking
MWEG’s Sixth Principle of Peacemaking: We believe that, through Christ who overcame all, we can have the hope of peace in this life, regardless of our circumstances, and the promise of everlasting peace when Christ comes again to reign forever as the Prince of Peace. In John 16:33, the Gospel writer starkly juxtaposes the realities of mortal life: These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. The scripture sets up a drastic contrast. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” This is a given. We see it…
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Sabbath Devotional :: A Message of Hope on Easter
Today we celebrate the day that the resurrected Lord broke the bonds of death, arose from the grave, and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind. It is considered one of the greatest moments in all of human history. And yet I must admit that the glory of it sometimes feels a bit out of my reach. In the past few years, I have tried to be better about celebrating Easter more deliberately and incorporating holy week traditions that help me prepare. This year though, I’m sorry to say that it has crept up on me without much preparation at all. In the process of attempting to correct…
