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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.…
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Pray for Truth
It’s been a rough week for a lot of us in the U.S. Our rule of law seems under siege by leaders attempting to redraw lines between right and wrong, blurring once-common notions of truth. This reality played out this week in my home city of Boston, where a U.S. Customs official ignored an order from a federal court and deported an Iranian Northeastern University student who was here legally with a student visa. In the span of those same few days, the U.S. Senate, presiding over the impeachment trial of our sitting president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, continued to attempt to conduct a…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Homelessness — Are We Not All Beggars?
When I was in high school, I went on a group date to the symphony in Salt Lake City. Along our route to Abravanel Hall, we walked by a couple with a dog. They were sitting on the sidewalk and appeared to be under the influence of some substance. As we passed by, they asked us if we had any money so they could feed their dog. After we had moved a little further along the sidewalk I laughed and said, “Yeah right! I’m sure they want money for the dog.” I am grateful that that evening I had friends who gently chastised me. They hadn’t given the couple any…
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MWEG Members in the News
MWEG members all across the United States are writing some fabulous op-eds and letters to the editor about impeachment! Here is a selection of those pieces, with many more to come. Christie Black :: Arizona Capitol Times “Since when is ethical government a partisan issue? Is it only a concern when it is an offense from the opposing party? I have followed the impeachment inquiry and the report released this week. The evidence that the president abused his power and then obstructed the inquiry is incredibly compelling. The inquiry did not consist of slanted evidence with hyper-partisan witnesses. The witnesses were people of character, dedicated to their country.” Alicia Crowley…
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Why I Am Paying Attention
I’ll be honest — I haven’t always paid attention to what was happening in the world. There was a time when I didn’t care much about what was happening in politics or on the news. I was focused on my own life. What was happening in the White House or on the five o’clock news didn’t seem to affect me very much. There was a time when I would use the same excuses I hear many people using today: The news is too negative. Politics are a joke. The media is a mess. There’s nothing I can do to change any of it, anyway. I don’t have time for any…
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Sabbath Devotional :: His Grace Is Sufficient (Even When We Are Not)
This fall, our stake leaders made a great effort to prepare members to receive personal revelation at the upcoming stake conference. A member of the Seventy would be presiding at the conference, and he had recommended four general conference talks for us to study beforehand. Stake members received these talks in advance on a Sunday when high councilors spoke in sacrament meetings about the blessings of attending stake conference. Wards reached out to help organize babysitting so parents could attend the Saturday evening session. We were asked to prayerfully come with personal questions — with the promise that they would be answered. We were supported and encouraged in making ourselves…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Where Can I Turn for Peace?
The unrelenting turmoil I see and hear about day after day on the news takes a toll. Where is peace? Where is civility? What sources provide authentic — not “fake” — news and truth?
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Awareness Wednesday :: Unintended Consequences — Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
The Old Testament is a fascinating read. The first five books, known as the Torah, lay out the Mosaic Law. There are various punishments prescribed for all types of offenses, the most severe being death. For instance, if there were a dispute between two men, and one of them was judged to be in the wrong, that man could be beaten. Or, if a woman intervened in an argument between her husband and another man in an unseemly way, her hand could be cut off (Deuteronomy 25). Did you know that according to the Law of Moses, a person could be put to death for the following offenses? • Hitting,…
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MWEG Members in Action
Hot on the heels of the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference and with voter registration in full swing, MWEGers have been busy keeping up with current political events, while doing their part to engage in civil discourse online and in person. Members were called to action regarding the lowering of refugee resettlement to an all-time low of 18,000 by the current administration, along with a call to contact their representatives to make the full copy of the whistleblower complaint available to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees (the complaint was released to the public on September 26). These calls to action keep our representatives accountable to their constituents and…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Unintended Consequences — The Castle Doctrine
When I was a child I dreamed of having a castle. As I got older I realized a more realistic goal would be an English Tudor. Today I am happy to have a comfortable, small house of my own. Houses — our homes — are the symbol of our prosperity and comfort. The symbol of the good life. The Bible gives us an indication of the emotional connection we often have to our houses. The promise of a wonderful future is described in this way: “And they shall build houses, and inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another…
