-
Sabbath Devotional :: Privilege
In an email conversation with a friend earlier this year, she said, “Working with underprivileged groups should not make us ‘feel grateful and lucky for what I have.’ That is the typical, and wrong, reaction. Volunteering for underprivileged should make us feel angry in our souls for the situation that created their marginalization to begin with, and make us want to take action and do something about it.” When I read her words out loud to my children they said, “Yes! That’s is exactly!” We mentor a refugee family from Rwanda. They were torn from their homes, ripped from family members and suffered indignities, starvation and rape from their oppressors…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Feathers
“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and protection.” Psalms 91:4 I love the image of Christ as Mother Hen. There are also verses in 3 Nephi 10 in the setting immediately after the Nephite destruction where Christ uses the same metaphor — rich, compassionate, consoling. We see ourselves as chicks threatened with spiritual attack but confident that we will be protected by our Redeemer. Christ as Mother Hen will swoop in, cover us with his feathers, and his sacrificed body and protect us from destruction, like a hen protects her chicks from devouring hawks. Christ…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Lamplighters
(Sharlee Mullins Glenn and Linda Hoffman Kimball have asked me to share a post from my personal Facebook page. Credit must go to Kimberly Harris Wagner who first shared these beautiful poems and stories with me.) ☆☆☆☆☆☆ I am speaking here in the congregation of my friends, many of you I’ve known and loved for years. Some of you new and dear as if we’ve known each other all our lives. Dear ones, inhabitants of my heart, each of you whose absence would darken my world : We are in a story that ends well. I just peeked at the end of the book and it’s true. Good prevails. Darkness…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Art of Discernment
I have a tiny painting of Jesus on my wall. It’s by J. Kirk Richards and is reminiscent of the shroud of Turin. There are no distinct features — no piercing eyes, no contoured lips that spoke “Our Father, who art in heaven. . .” or “Blessed are the poor in Spirit. . .” or “It is finished.” I walk past it many times a day. These fleeting, peripheral glimpses linger with me, settle into me, are becoming integrated into my soul. Constant exposure feels like the wisps of a breeze or a tune. They are gracious nudges toward something too real to be adequately conveyed. There is nothing sternly…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.