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Sabbath Devotional :: Am I One of the People Who Helps?
One of my Jewish friends mentioned, ‘the Anne Frank game’, but I didn’t know it was a widespread phenomenon until I saw a video about it in the Anne Frank House and Museum in Amsterdam. It’s not an official game — that would be crass — but a conversation that crops up among Jewish friends all over the world originating with the question, “Who would be the five helpers in your life?” As you know, the Frank family and others were assisted by five beloved helpers who sacrificed their time, money, safety and risked their lives to protect friends and strangers. When rereading the diary this summer, I was amazed…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Three Words
My husband Chris (a wise man, as opposed to a wise guy) directed my attention today to the transcendent scripture Psalm 46:10 (KJV): “Be still, and know that I am God.” If you transliterate that into Hebrew you get these three words: raphah yada’ ‘elohiym These are the meanings of those words: raphah: to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, withdraw yada’: to know, learn to know, perceive, find out, discriminate, distinguish, know by experience, recognize, admit, acknowledge ‘elohiym: gods, The God, judge, goddess, divine one, godly, great If ever there were a need for me to ruminate on this scripture and its rich, holy and layered meanings, it is…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Master’s Work of Peacemaking
As we put an action-packed 2017 behind us and prepare ourselves for the year ahead, I hope we can each take a few moments to think and evaluate how our work at MWEG has made us feel. It would certainly be very easy in this challenging year for us to feel any number of negative emotions about the current state of affairs in the world — stressed, depressed, panicked, angry, even despairing. But if those are the predominant feelings we experience in our efforts, we must renew our focus on the one who (we hope) is always guiding our efforts — the Prince of Peace. Peacemaking has been our clarion…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Eve, Mary, and the Tree of Life
(Suggestion: Take a second to study this print of Mary and Eve by Sister Grace Remington of the Cistercian Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey before reading the scripture chain below.) ***** “And when the woman saw that the tree was good . . . and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her . . . And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” (Moses 4) ***** “And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word .…
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Sabbath Devotional :: The Gift of Peace
They were wholly preposterous words. “On earth peace, good will toward men,” sang angels hovering over a land heaving with political and racial tension, ruled by a degenerate despot, choked by Roman oppression, crowded in on all sides by competing foreign powers — a land that in just one generation would collapse under revolt, its temple razed to the ground. Yet it is precisely into the heart of such a conflict-rife setting that the shimmering, pulsating words “peace” and “good will” spilled down the conduit from God’s presence. Like pure water, they gushed into this murky sphere, sending bright, ever-expanding ripples across the thick Judean night. Peace, proclaimed the angels.…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Advent
Last week my husband and I began our Sabbath with a quiet family devotional focused on the theme of this special First Advent Sunday: Hope. Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Its theme is Love. Here is this year’s schedule of my interpretation of the four Sundays of Advent, plus a couple additional related worshipful family devotionals for the season. This could be a wonderful tradition to add to your December Monday night Family Home Evenings, if you don’t wish to add this faith-filled Christian tradition to your Sundays. Make it your own, and peace be with you! – Linds P. Jackson. WEEK 1: HOPE (purple candle) Hymns Readings…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Letter from the Founders
The following Open Letter from the founders of Mormon Women for Ethical Government will appear in the Sunday edition of the Salt Lake Tribune and then again in Meridian Magazine (https://ldsmag.com) on Monday. Please join us in an MWEG-wide fast and mighty prayer tomorrow (Fast Sunday) for our Church leaders (who will be meeting with President Trump on Monday), for Robert Mueller and his team, for our elected leaders, for an enlightened citizenry, and for our country. Have a blessed Sabbath, all! * * * Dear Mr. President, We welcome you to our beautiful state. You probably do not know much about Mormons, so let us take a minute to…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Healing Power of Gratitude
Today I woke up with a fog and congestion of what promises to be a miserable cold. I’m sluggish, dopey, achy and — hidden under all the sinus issues and sore throat — empathically grateful for this wonderful life. I recently reconnected with dear friends. I have a house that works (for the most part, although I am a little troubled about the boiler). My spouse is alive and for the most part healthy. My children are alive. My grandchildren are alive. My parents and in-laws WERE alive and blessed my life in so many ways. I’m sitting here, Kleenex in hand, singing “Count your blessings, name them one by…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Hang On
Hang on. It’s what you say to someone when you don’t want them to give up. “Hang on, I’m coming to help!” is a common thing women say, particularly to family members, or the related “Hang in there, it will be ok!” as we hug a friend when she is facing a situation that is particularly challenging. I’d better get this out in the open from the start: I am not a rock climber. I have never aspired to be although I harbor a definite admiration for those who love this challenging activity. What a rush it must be to scale solid rock and sheer cliffs and impossible overhangs using…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Shared Breath
Today I am grateful for the many diverse voices that unite under the MWEG banner. I recorded this (below) in my journal after a meaningful experience with the high school choir I conducted a couple of years ago, but it applies equally to the transformative force of multiple voices joining as one for any just and good cause. There is power in shared breath. SHARED BREATH A single breathcan make thirty voices rise,building walls of soundthat swell upward from floor to ceiling,growing in intensity,then lapsing backward,gently,into the ground. Air circulates.Pulses relax.Eyes close. In.Out.In.Out. Thirty separate systemsof veins and valves and ventriclesare boundand free,arteries interlocking beneath the soil —a blood-and-breath defenseagainst…
