Exponent II's Blog, page 145
March 28, 2021
Sacred Music Sunday: All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Today is Palm Sunday, the day that begins Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter. On Palm Sunday, Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem is celebrated. A traditional hymn for the day is All Glory, Laud, and Honor.
I’m looking forward to this Easter. I feel like we’ve all been living in a year-long Lent. But things are looking up. Resurrection is right around the corner.
March 27, 2021
Come Follow Me: Doctrine and Covenants 37–40 “If Ye Are Not One Ye Are Not Mine”
To the early Saints, the Church was more than a place to hear some preaching on Sunday. Throughout His revelations to Joseph Smith, the Lord described the Church with words like cause, kingdom, Zion, and, quite often, work. That may have been part of what attracted many early members to the Church. As much as they loved the Church’s restored doctrine, many also wanted something they could dedicate their lives to.
—Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families, D&C 37-40: “If ye are not one ye are not mine”
What do you usually think of when you think of a cause?
When you think of a kingdom?
When you think of Zion?
When you think of work?
Examples
Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.
D&C 4:1-3
And your whole labor shall be in Zion, with all your soul, from henceforth; yea, you shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you. Amen.
D&C 30:11
Wherefore, gird up your loins and be prepared. Behold, the kingdom is yours, and the enemy shall not overcome.
D&C 38:9
Therefore, be ye strong from henceforth; fear not, for the kingdom is yours.
D&C 38:15
How does you thinking shift when you think of our faith as a cause?
When you think of a kingdom?
When you think of Zion?
When you think of work?
Other Examples
Joseph Smith used the term cause here:
Brethren [and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
D&C 128:22
Jesus used the term kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount:
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luke 6:20
The Lord described the people of Enoch like this:
And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.
Moses 7:18
The psalmist wrote:
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God…. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Psalm 90:1-2, 16-17
How do these examples expand your thinking about the Church as a cause, kingdom, Zion or work?
The Gathering of the Church in Kirtland, Ohio
Sidney Rigdon Preaching his First Mormon Sermon; Tucker, Pomeroy. Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism. New York: C. Appleton, 1867
The LDS Church sent Parley P. Pratt and Oliver Cowdery to Ohio in late October, 1830. Among their first converts were Sidney Rigdon, a Baptist pastor in Kirtland, Ohio and his wife, Phebe Brooks Rigdon. (Sidney Rigdon, Church History Topics)
Accepting the Book of Mormon would mean losing his employment as a pastor. He had a good congregation, and they provided him, his wife, Phebe, and their six children with a comfortable life. Some people in the congregation were even building a home for them. Could he really ask his family to walk away from the comfort they enjoyed?
Sidney prayed until a sense of peace rested over him. He knew the Book of Mormon was true. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto me,” he exclaimed, “but my Father which is in heaven.”
Sidney shared his feelings with Phebe. “My dear,” he said, “you have once followed me into poverty. Are you again willing to do the same?”
“I have counted the cost,” she replied. “It is my desire to do the will of God, come life or come death.” (Saints, Chapter 9)
They converted 135 new members within the first month of the mission, in a large part due to the influence of Sidney Rigdon. Soon after his conversion, Sidney Rigdon traveled to New York to meet Joseph Smith. (Kirtland, Ohio: The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Sidney Rigdon, Church History Topics)
The commandment for members of the church to gather in Ohio was revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in Fayette, New York, in December 1830 (D&C 37). Joseph Smith instructed members in New York to gather in Ohio at a conference of the church on January 2, 1831 (D&C 38). Kirtland Ohio is 280 miles away from Fayette, New York, which was a considerable journey given the transportation options of the time period. Sections 39 and 40 also relate to the commandment together in Ohio, with Joseph Smith asking a Methodist minister, James Covel, to join the church and gather with them in Ohio. He did not choose to do so.
The revelation in Section 37 specifically encouraged Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon to strengthen members of the Church in Colesville, New York, in preparation for the gathering in Ohio because “they pray unto me in much faith.”
And again, I say unto you that ye shall not go until ye have preached my gospel in those parts, and have strengthened up the church whithersoever it is found, and more especially in Colesville; for, behold, they pray unto me in much faith.
D&C 37:2
About the church members in Colesville:
Equally notable among those whose connections strengthened and sustained Joseph during his many trials and travails were the extended Knight family and their neighbors in Colesville, New York. Allying themselves with the young Joseph Smith, they followed him into the budding Church, defended him, and formed the nucleus of one of the first branches of the Church. The story of the Knights and the Colesville Branch testifies of the power of kinship and friendship in the Restoration of the gospel and the building up of the Lord’s kingdom.
When instructions were given in December 1830 and January 1831 for the New York members to move to the Ohio Valley region, the Colesville Branch members made significant financial sacrifices and prepared themselves for the move west. The families associated with the Colesville Branch included, among others, the Knights, Pecks, DeMilles, Stringhams, Culvers, Slades, Badgers, Hineses, and Carters….The story of the Colesville Saints began with Joseph’s visits to the region in the mid-1820s, when he began working for Josiah Stowell of neighboring South Bainbridge, New York, in a failed treasure-seeking venture. Though that quest proved unsuccessful, it yielded Joseph Smith’s close friendship with Joseph Knight Sr. and his son Newel Knight. Later, Joseph Knight Sr. aided Joseph in his courtship of Emma Hale. He was present at the Smith homestead the night Joseph Smith, with Emma’s help, retrieved the golden plates from the Hill Cumorah, and he provided food and writing materials to Joseph Smith during the Book of Mormon translation.
Knight family members and some of their neighbors were among the first to join the Church in 1830. Later that year they became the nucleus of one of the first (if not the first) branches organized in the Church. (Joseph F. Darowski, The Journey of the Colesville Branch)
Phoebe Carter Woodruff
Phebe W. Carter emigrated to Kirtland, Ohio from 1,000 miles away in Maine. She was in her twenties and had only ever lived with her parents until then. She moved to Ohio by herself, a brave act during a time period when single women had few options for protection or financial support. (At Kirtland, she eventually met and married Wilford Woodruff, a future president of the church.) (Phoebe W. Carter Woodruff, 1807-1885 Autobiography, in Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom, New York, 1877)
My friends marveled at my course, as did I, but something within impelled me on. My mother’s grief at my leaving home was almost more than I could bear; and had it not been for the spirit within I should have faltered at the last. My mother told me she would rather see me buried than going thus alone out into the heartless world.
“[Phebe],” she said, impressively, ‘will you come back to me if you find Mormonism false?”
I answered, “Yes, mother; I will.”
…My answer relieved her trouble; but it cost us all much sorrow to part. When the time came for my departure I dared not trust myself to say farewell; so I wrote my good-byes to each, and leaving them on my table, ran downstairs and jumped into the carriage. Thus I left the beloved home of my childhood to link my life with the saints of God.” . (Voices of the Restoration: Phebe Carter Gathering to Ohio)
Phebe Carter’s letter to her mother said:
Mother, I believe it is the will of God for me to go to the west and I have been convinced that it has been for a long time. Now the way has opened.
…I believe that it is the spirit of the Lord that has done it which is sufficient for all things. O be not anxious for your child; the Lord will comfort me. I believe that the Lord will take care of me and give me that which is for the best.
… I go because my Master calls—he has made my duty plain. (Voices of the Restoration: Phebe Carter Gathering to Ohio)
Kirtland, Ohio became headquarters of the church and the location of its first temple. The population of the town rapidly grew from about 100 to thousands, which strained local resources. Many of these newcomers arrived in poverty because they left their jobs and property behind when they emigrated. (Kirtland, Ohio: The Encyclopedia of Mormonism https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Kirtland,_Ohio)
How do the actions of early church members such as Sidney and Phebe Rigdon, the Knight family and other members of the Colesville branch, and Phebe Carter demonstrate devotion to the cause, building the kingdom, establishing Zion or contributing to the work?
How can we emulate their devotion to the cause?
Purposes of Gathering
Read these scriptures and look for:
The work church members could accomplish when they gathered
Blessings that would come from gathering
But, verily I say unto you, teach one another according to the office wherewith I have appointed you.
D&C 38:23
Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high.
D&C 38:32
And they shall look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer; and send them forth to the place which I have commanded them.
D&C 38:35
Thou art called to labor in my vineyard, and to build up my church, and to bring forth Zion, that it may rejoice upon the hills and flourish.
D&C 39:13
And inasmuch as my people shall assemble themselves at the Ohio, I have kept in store a blessing such as is not known among the children of men, and it shall be poured forth upon their heads. And from thence men shall go forth into all nations.
D&C 39:15
Church members are no longer commanded to gather by moving to the same location.
How do we gather today?
How do we accomplish the work described in these scriptures today?
Being “one” versus being the sameGathering diverse people with different backgrounds, cultures, opinions and perspectives brings blessings, but also challenges. Anticipating the potential for conflict when diverse church members began to gather, the Lord counseled:
And let every man esteem his brother [or sister] as him[or her]self, and practice virtue and holiness before me.
And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother [or sister] as him [or her]self.
For what man [or woman] among you having twelve sons [or daughters], and is no respecter of them, and they serve him [or her] obediently, and he [or she] saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons [or daughters] and saith I am just?
Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.
D&C 38:24-27
Why do you think the Lord repeated His admonition to esteem others as ourselves twice in a row?
What does it mean to esteem our brothers and sisters as ourselves?
How do you interpret the parable? What do you think the Lord was trying to teach us?
Video: Love in Our Hearts
How is being “one” different from being the same?
Why would focusing less on ourselves and more on others help us be united?
Video: A Friend to AllElder Ulisses Soares talks of the need for kindness and acceptance and the value of diversity
What is the value of bringing people together who think differently from each other?
Why do we sometimes fail to value diversity or see other people as equals?
How can we change these patterns of behavior? What can we do to be more inclusive?
March 25, 2021
NZ approves leave for miscarriage, stillbirth
The New Zealand Federal Parliament has unanimously passed legislation giving mothers and their partners three days of (paid) bereavement leave following a miscarriage or stillbirth.
From Member of Parliament Ginny Anderson: “This is a Bill about workers’ rights and fairness. I hope it gives people time to grieve and promotes greater openness about miscarriage. We should not be fearful of our bodies.”
Read it in the New Zealand Herald here.
March 23, 2021
My Body—A Sacred Conduit for Revelation
Guest Post by Kelly. Kelly is wife, mom of two teenage daughters, and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.
The body is quite a gift! When experiencing good health, I am able to perform a variety of daily tasks ranging from the highly fulfilling to the mundane and tedious. My body allows me the ability to do almost anything—from menial chores like dusting and dishes, to reading poetry and playing the piano, to conversing and cooking dinner, to exercising, praying, having sex… you get the idea. My body has the capacity to serve many purposes, but I am most in awe of its’ ability to communicate—to me, that is. For example, I have noticed that when I am happy my body feels energized, but when I am depressed my body feels depleted. When I am anxious my neck muscles get tense, but when I feel secure my body is relaxed. Being in tune with my own body has been essential for navigating the challenges of life and keeping me connected to God. The more I listen to the messages from my whole body—that is mentally, emotionally, and physically—the more I am able to be touched spiritually. No wonder the apostle Paul compared our bodies to a temple, a body can be a conduit for inspiration and revelation! We just need to listen to the messages it sends us.
In my own experience, one of the ways (probably the most common way) that God will communicate with our spirit is through our body. It is comforting to think of my body as a gift, a unique tool that God can use to communicate with me personally. Jesus Christ declared, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), and it makes sense considering that we are the spiritual daughters of Heavenly Parents, created in their divine image. It is likely that each of us are far more in touch with God than we ever realized. Maybe receiving inspiration is a whole-body experience, one that requires being sensitive to the thoughts that come into our minds, the feelings/emotions in our hearts, and the physical sensations which can accompany them. Let me try to illustrate.
My daughter recently had a seminary lesson in which the topic of priesthood was taught in a way that made her feel insignificant, powerless, and less than in God’s eyes. She did not feel uplifted or edified in any way. Seeing her distraught with tears and heart-broken was cause for concern. I did my best to validate her thoughts and feelings and corrected what misinformation I could. However, I felt it was most important to encourage attention to what her mind, heart and body were communicating to her. Modern day scripture teaches us “Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart…this is the spirit of revelation” (D&C 8:2-3). Such a disturbing mental, emotional and physical response can and should lead a person to ask, “Is what I am learning actually coming from God, or from humanity’s own misguided interpretation?”
Having a negative visceral response to something we hear at church can be confusing and discouraging. However, I have found it is often a blessing in disguise because it can spur us into action by motivating us to question, pray, study and expand our minds in preparation to receiving our own inspiration and revelation on the matter-at-hand. In the scriptures we learn “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67). Over the years as I have sincerely sought truth and wisdom from God, I have been shocked, comforted and healed as I personally discovered through revelation that God was not necessarily the author of what was being taught or practiced at church.
Now, a quick word of caution! Of course, just because an idea or concept rubs us wrong does not necessarily make it untrue. Richard Rohr, a well-known spiritual leader and author wisely stated in his book, Falling Upward, “before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable”. Any challenge to our own worldview has the potential to cause us discomfort and even pain, which might be an indication that we ourselves have some maturing to do! Religion should push us out of our comfort zones in order to expand our perspective and foster positive growth and development. Like I said before, we should pay attention to what our bodies are saying and use these opportunities to compel us to find out truth for ourselves.
Too often though, the opposite happens. Like when I sit in a class at church and hear the same insensitive, inaccurate doctrinal rhetoric perpetuated week after week…after week. My body has become a powerful tool in alerting me to problematic teachings, especially ones that may result in exclusion and marginalization. In the scriptures we learn “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67). Paying attention to things like body tension or dark or negative feelings, allows me to recognize truth from error. In contrast, I know when my heart feels enlarged or my mind is calm and peaceful, those are the fruits of the Spirit! I have come to rely more fervently on the ways in which God touches my own spirit in order to know what is “lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy” (Articles of Faith 1:13), rather than feeling forced to accept or rely on the ignorant opinions or misguided statements of members or those who deem themselves in authority of others.
Essentially, I have concluded that there is something to the old saying, “trust your gut instincts”. When I tune in to my body—mentally, emotionally and physically—I notice that I am blessed with a greater capacity for spirituality. As I seek greater truth and understanding for myself, I can feel my Heavenly Parents smiling down on me. They have given us each a body with the capacity to learn, grow and become more like Them. By taking time to be still and foster connection between my body and spirit, I have able to commune with my Heavenly Parents more effectively, receive revelation and feel an increase of love towards all of Their children.
March 22, 2021
Thoughts on Temple Shaped Objects
A few years ago, I taught a primary lesson about the Temple. I showed my class of 10 year old children a picture of the cross section model of the Salt Lake Temple that was in the Temple Square Visitors Center at that time. I asked them to look at it and tell me what they thought.
One said she thought it looked like a stage. I told her she was right. It was designed to create a space where everyone is a part of story theater, and the story is about our journey in life.
Then I pointed out the room where we start the journey, and move from room to room as the journey continues. Another child said it looks like everyone is climbing higher and higher. Yes, I said, the journey we go through over and over is to help us learn how we can ascend, or climb to a higher level of wisdom, and of being like and with God.
I told them the names of the different rooms, and how the story follows the pattern of the Garden of Eden story. I reminded them of when we had talked about that story before, and how there are times when they might have wondered about either following a rule no matter what, or doing something that might break a rule, but it would also help keep a more important rule, such as helping someone who was hurting. They were quick to see that this kind of choice would probably happen over and over.
When I had them look again at the different rooms, depicting different parts of the story, I asked them if the Garden Room was really the Garden of Eden, or the World Room was really the whole world, or if the person who spoke as God or Satan was really God or Satan? Even though they were young, they seemed to think it was silly to think any of this was literal. We talked about how things like these rooms are symbols, and how we can learn from symbols that might mean something different to each person there.
We talked about how practicing something helps us be prepared. Being in or watching a play was one way to practice a part in a story, to practice what you might feel or think when you play that part. I talked about how being in plays, and now watching live theater continues to have a big effect on me in learning from stories that are different, or sometimes similar to my own.
We talked about what it means to learn vicariously, by paying attention to what we think and feel when we are hearing someone else’s story, or watching or being in a play. We talked about how most people who go to the temple are going there carrying the name of someone who has died, and that is vicarious work. I asked what they would think about if they were doing something in the name of someone else. They said they would think about what they liked, or what they did when they were alive. One imagined talking with them, asking them questions. I said I liked to think about them sitting with me, telling me about their life, and asking about mine. I asked if it would make it seem like they were alive again, in a new way, because their names were spoken, and they had a new friend? How would each of them feel knowing they had another friend now, even someone who had lived hundreds of years ago on the other side of the world?
Something that we talked about in every class is that we can listen for God to show us that They know us each by name, and love us each, no matter what, always. Does that help us feel hope when things are hard? What if we could learn to do that for each other? Does saying someone’s name, and caring about them help you practice being like God?
This is what makes temple work valuable to me. And when I share this perspective with others, even children, they get it. Not all have or will find a similar experience in temple work. Many find other ways to practice their human journey in symbolic ritual. Many will look for ways to vicariously experience from the broad spectrum of the human story, and seek to connect to others in ways that overcome time, distance and even the separation of death.
I have come to embrace and appreciate the messy and complex history of my Mormon heritage, which includes the mystical ritual practiced in the temple. It has gone through so many changes since Joseph Smith first tried to create a ritual that was patterned after rituals as old as civilization, yet could be specific to the eternal journey he felt God was inspiring us to follow. I think some changes were destructive and regressive, while others were more effective in creating a transformative ritual experience. Recently, I had hoped there was a recognition at official levels of the importance of emphasizing the individual, symbolic journey, and a shift in honoring physical spaces where that can happen in community.
For a while, modern temples were designed as movie theaters. Patrons are ushered into a room. The ritual story is depicted on a screen, with an emotional soundtrack, and impressive cinematography, in overwhelming realistic settings, with a cast of people who are, for the most part, presenting somewhere in the range of white, to very white. There is not much physical movement, other than adding layers of ceremonial clothing, until the final moments when we are reunited in the presence of God.
Attending the live sessions in the Salt Lake or Manti Temples enabled me to find greater value in the ritual, by physically moving through the space, and being in symbolic surroundings, rather than overwhelmed with increasingly literal presentations. I would recall that experience when I attending filmed versions, and would practice seeing it all as symbolic, looking for what individual message was there for me at that moment.
More recent temples were designed to involve movement through several rooms, which included murals that symbolized stages of the journey. I appreciated the way the movement involved physical ascent through the building, patterned after the ascension journey God invites us to follow.
When it was announced that the four pioneer temples in Utah would have extensive structural work, I was concerned. The gutting of the Logan Temple is a painful mistake in LDS history. The people who were assigned to this preferred the modern style of the Provo Temple, and wanted to impose that inside the Logan Temple. It was only when President N. Eldon Tanner stopped by to check on progress, and was appalled to see a bulldozer moving around in the gutted building, that high level church leaders became aware of the irreversible loss of the murals and original design. The modernization of the inside of that temple was allowed to continue, but President Kimball regretted the loss of the original temple for the rest of his life. On the outside, Logan Temple still looked like the building designed to be a setting for symbolic ritual of the ascension journey, progressing from room to room, wrestling with shifting views and complex experiences, moving higher to approach Godhood. But the inside was no longer that kind of space.
It had become a temple shaped object. The inside did not match the outside.
Once leaders were aware of this, plans to do the same to Manti Temple were halted. And others were brought in to do restoration work that would honor the historic nature of the building, including keeping the live session.
I wondered, would the people in charge of the current remodel be aware of the value of live sessions? Would they have any understanding of how symbolic ritual works? Would they know about how temples are designed to be a space for people, as individuals and as community, to practice the ascension journey?
I was relieved to hear that the historic buildings would be preserved, and the live sessions would be honored. I hoped that the Logan Temple would be restored to its original design, and purpose of hosting live sessions.
With the recent announcement that the live sessions will not return, in any of the temples, and that patrons will remain in a single room for the filmed version of the ritual, I am mourning the loss of one of the most powerful aspects of my religion.
And I am mourning the temples that are now temple shaped objects.
That this would happen to the Salt Lake Temple, the one where people would come specifically for the live session, the one where we clearly have a place “set apart” from the convenience, the regular setting of life, where we can step into a spiritual theater – this is unimaginable loss.
This building was never meant to be a convenient ritual factory, focused on numbers.
I have long wanted to see actions taken by church leaders that would increase attendance in the temple. But these involved transforming the rhetoric around worthiness, preparation, and individual meaning found in symbolic ritual.
If we, as a church, taught people about how symbolic ritual can help us seek and find inspiration and direction for our own paths, and that the temple ritual is meant to be figurative, much like past generations did – it will help people return to the temple because they find value there. If people are only attending because they are afraid there is some literal meaning there, and it is directly connected to literal salvation, people will be denied the deeper, richer and more fulfilling experience they could find in the symbolism, and they will not feel inspired to return. When the only option of participating is to see it through a correlated, this-is-what-Adam-Eve-God-Satan-actually-look-and-sound-like, overwhelming soundtrack and location, biased view, then the lessons of the ritual are easily lost.
When people find value in the experience, they will come, and return often.
I still hope for a shift in the worthiness rhetoric around attendance. It took 120 years for an official recognition that skin color has nothing to do with worthiness, and we haven’t really begun to systemically address the harm from the rhetoric of the priesthood ban.
Similar ignorance and bias about worthiness continues to exclude many from the temple.
The current temple recommend interview does little to convey concern for readiness, or where one’s heart is concerning temple work.
After years of temple work, I think there is only one question that needs to be asked. “Do you have an understanding of, and are you willing to honor the temple as a place for sacred, symbolic ritual?”
All questions about belief and behavior are subject to such varying interpretation, impossible to standardize in any transformative way. Too many become more focused on a to-do list of behaviors that do nothing to prepare them for a uniquely inspiring and instructive relationship with the temple experience.
If education about figurative learning, and symbolic ritual was incorporated into church curriculum, or temple preparation, and if all members were invited to come and benefit from the temple experience, regardless of marital status, or calling, or check list of behaviors and beliefs, then I think there really would be a need to increase the number of sessions available.
So much is said about the temple being essential to salvation. But it is not the temple itself, or the ritual alone that provides the salvation. It is the possible transformation that can be experienced through mystical ritual that impacts our being, our existing as individuals and in community, and we learn to journey toward salvation together.
When we emphasize a correlated, efficient, numbers focused space and system in place of a valuable, transformative ritual that is available to all who will honor it, then we are failing to align our hearts with who we say we are.
And we risk becoming temple attending shaped objects, going into temple shaped objects. We might look the part. But our hearts and minds are missing out on the deeper, transformative experience.
I don’t know. Maybe this will force an awareness of the need for a radically inclusive temple space.
For now, I think that kind of work will only effectively continue through unofficial, personal inspiration and efforts. I think we are all meant to seek transformative practice, and we will create that wherever we can. That might include a gutted, historic, temple shaped building.
I hope those individual efforts will overwhelm the loss of the living, breathing temple ritual. Perhaps leading to one with more diversity and life.
March 20, 2021
Confessions of a Recovering Serial-Interrupter
I started raising my hand as a little girl when I wanted to be heard; at the dinner table, in the living room, during family night. I say “heard” here because I could speak freely, but as the youngest of four, I did not often feel heard. It often felt like my turn never came or, when I did begin speaking, people quickly moved on or talked over me.
I’m not exactly sure when I became an interrupter, but it happened far too soon. In my eagerness to be heard, I forgot how to listen. I’d apologize for being a “serial interrupter” and insist that it meant I was so involved in conversation, I couldn’t help jumping in. I genuinely viewed myself as a good listener and engaging conversationalist.
Truthfully, I spoke rapid-fire for fear that my turn would not come or my words would come too late to matter. Experience showed me that little girls, then teen girls, then women, were continually at a disadvantage. This felt especially true at church, where the division between power and authority became increasingly apparent from 12 on. So, I learned to be bolder, more confident, and more insistent, just to be heard. And maybe, just maybe, other women would speak up too.
Except in my eagerness to be heard, I actually silenced other women; women I cared deeply for and respected. Two friends pushed back on two separate occasions, labeling my behavior as self-centered, selfish, and attention-seeking. I was devastated because I knew they were partially right and their critiques spoke to my every insecurity. My desire to be heard, to say something meaningful, and to have a place in every conversation meant I hurt and silenced others. I’m grateful for their bravery in pushing back and calling out.
I apologized and dedicated myself to de-centering myself in conversation and learning to listen. I often did—and do—get it wrong. Throughout my life, I’ve struggled with this desire to be heard and to say something meaningful; something that could make a real, lasting impact. So, I’ve written for a newspaper, created a blog, joined the women’s march, become politically engaged, and written guest posts. I’ve also joined private communities to commune with people in anger, hurt, sadness, mourning, rejoicing, criticizing, mocking, encouraging, and laughing.
These groups became essential in creating a sense of belonging when it felt as though I belonged nowhere. I discovered I was not alone in my thoughts and feelings. I built friendships amongst acceptance and trust. I also walked into quicksand of my own making and rapidly discovered my privilege, my biases, my prejudices, and the ways I continued to silence and harm others through my language, my actions, and my silence.
And so the balance between speaking and listening continues to challenge me. I selfishly admit that I desperately needed a place 10 years ago outside of Mormonism to speak without the filters I curated for Mormon Mindy. I’ve needed places to be angry and hurt; to be brash and unrefined; to mourn who and what I was. I needed a place to learn and make mistakes; to be challenged to once again move beyond me and my voice. And every space I’ve joined in grows tired of this process of finding your voice; of learning to listen anew; of becoming. Some have moved beyond it. Some are exhausted by it. Some are alienated by it. Some are not ready for it. Some believe there should be prerequisite learning before joining in at all. And they are all valid and right in these thoughts and feelings.
It’s abundantly clear that no one space can meet all these needs simultaneously for every member all of the time. It’s also essential that one space does not dominate or silence other people or spaces.
I’m still convinced that spaces are needed for people who are finding their voices. They need mentorship, kindness, community, and challenging and calling out and calling in. But what happens when the very existence and dynamic of this “finding your voice” space alienates and silences marginalized voices because it allows for this learning? What happens when some members only want to be heard and refuse to learn? What happens when some members outgrow this purpose and are ready for a different space that demands more of participants and requires far more listening than speaking?
I’m not certain of anything, except there isn’t one good answer or one perfect space. So, we’ll keep building, growing, joining, and supporting in different spaces in the hopes of finding community, healing, and places to discover our voices and to listen. This process will hurt, embarrass anger, create discomfort, and push us constantly. But we’ll challenge ourselves in this becoming; in continual change and growth again and again and again. And again.
March 18, 2021
We Teach Two Different Versions of the Baptismal Covenant at Primary
Several years ago, one of my first assignments as a new Primary Presidency member was to create a certificate for newly baptized children to hang on their wall. It would be a meaningful reminder of a sacred covenant. Also, it would be a $1 gift. Always resourceful and efficient (i.e., a bit lazy), my first act was to search the web for a memento someone else had already made that I could print. But I wasn’t finding what I needed. Other people had made them, but the covenant was wrong. Well, technically it was correct, but it was summarized and truncated like this:
The baptism memento I made for my Primary, featuring Alma’s version of the baptismal covenant
Take upon us the name of ChristAlways remember Jesus ChristKeep the commandmentsWhy was there no mention of mourning with those that mourn? Comforting those that stand in need of comfort? Bearing one another’s burdens? Standing as a witness of God?
At the time, the Primary curriculum was emphasizing how the baptismal covenant matched the covenant given in the Sacrament prayer (D&C 20:77,79), rather than going into the details of Alma’s sermon on baptism in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 18:8-9). The curriculum varies year to year; last year’s Primary manual covered the Book of Mormon and emphasized Alma’s version of the baptismal covenant. This year, the curriculum is based on Doctrine and Covenants and focuses on how the sacrament prayer describes it.
Technically, all the good stuff found in Alma’s sermon falls under the umbrella of “keep the commandments.” While I favor keeping commandments in general, the baptismal covenant Alma described emphasizes certain commandments, specifically. I think there is a reason that Alma highlighted mourning with other people, comforting them, bearing each other’s burdens and standing as witnesses of God as the most relevant commandments to the first saving ordinance of the gospel. Jesus taught that the “first and great commandment” is to love God and that the second is to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:37-40). Alma’s sermon is pretty much a primer on following the first and second great commandments.
“Keep the commandments” is a nice, short statement to remember, but well near impossible to achieve. There are so many commandments, we are bound to flub them up! Talk of keeping commandments often digresses into listing rules, but the baptismal covenant Alma described wasn’t about rules. Jesus warned against fixating on rules. He taught by example that helping people in need was more important than following rules (Mark 2, John 5).
At baptism, a child doesn’t promise to serve a two-year, full-time mission; marry in the temple; pay 10% of their adult income to the church and attend church meetings every Sunday for the rest of their lives, accepting and magnifying every church calling offered to them. It wouldn’t be ethical to ask an eight-year-old to make those kinds of commitments, but a child can love God and the people around her.
My oldest child received one of the baptismal mementos I made when I was serving in the Primary presidency, with Alma’s version of the baptismal covenant printed on it.
My youngest child was baptized recently. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Primary had not convened for months. I floated the idea of holding off on the baptism. It had been so long since he’d been to church; did he even remember what baptism was all about? But he wanted to be baptized immediately. He loves God. He loves people. He was ready.
March 17, 2021
‘Mormon Land’: The loss of historic murals and the ‘live’ endowment through the tearful eyes of a Salt Lake Temple worker
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/03/17/mormon-land-loss-historic/
On this week’s podcast, Exponent II blogger Jody England Hansen, who served as a volunteer ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple before it closed to undergo a four-year renovation, tearfully discusses the changes — how the live endowment and vivid murals enhanced the temple experience and what will be lost without them.
Women’s History Month: 11 Women Activists You Should Know
In the United States, March is designated as Women’s History Month. Here is a short list of leaders and activists whose work and advocacy are making history.
Esmerelda Simmons
Esmerelda Simmons is the executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY, which provides legal services to people facing voter suppression and discrimination. Simmons has been fighting for equal rights for over three decades as a civil rights attorney. Simmons was raised in Brooklyn by immigrant parents from St. Croix. Simmons cites the “culture shock” of moving from public housing in a predominately Black neighborhood to a majority white area as an influence in her pursuit of civil and racial justice work. In 2014 she was named a New York State Woman Of Distinction, and in 2018 she received the Haywood Burns Award from the New York State Bar Association.
Melanie Campbell
Melanie Campbell is the CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and she has worked for youth and women’s rights for more than two decades. Campbell helped create Black Youth Vote!, a youth-focused leadership development program, which played a key role in the 2012 election. Campbell also runs the Black Women’s Roundtable, which advocates for policies to advance women, including appointing them to high-level positions in government. You can follow Campbell on twitter @coalitionbuildr
LaToya Ruby Frazier
LaToya Ruby Frazier is an acclaimed photographer and MacArthur Genius Award winner who treats her art like activism. Frazier’s photography focuses on images from industrial towns and cities across America that highlight the struggles of working-class Black families. Frazier’s powerful work illuminates how issues like racism, economic erosion, and environmental degradation make the “American dream” unattainable for most Black people. Frazier’s work was featured in the September 2020 issues of Vanity Fair, which featured the life and murder of Breonna Taylor.
Gabby Rivera
Gabby Rivera is a Queer activist and the author of Juliet Takes a Breath, a critically acclaimed coming-of-age story book about a queer Puerto Rican girl trying to figure out her identity. She’s also responsible for creating Marvel’s America Chavez, a comic featuring the franchise’s first queer, Latinx teen-girl superhero. Rivera serves as a Youth Programs Manager at GLSEN, a leading education organization focused on providing LGBTQ students with a safe experience at school. You can follow her on Twitter @QuirkyRican
Negin Farsad
Negin Farsad is a comedian and American-Muslim who uses her humor to call attention to social justice issues. Farsad is the acclaimed writer, director, and star of The Muslims are Coming!, a documentary meant to highlight and combat islamophobia by following American-Muslim comics on a tour around the United States. Farsad is also the author of How to Make White People Laugh, a memoir about the struggle of growing up Iranian-American after 9/11. Farsad’s work is proof that laughter can change the world. You can follow Farsad on Twitter @NeginFarsad
Ashton Applewhite
Ashton Applewhite is an anti-ageism activist and her book This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism flips the narrative on society’s view of aging (something to be avoided at all costs) to something positive, a process that unites us all. In Applewhite’s TedTalk, “Let’s end ageism” she address what she calls one of the last acceptable prejudices. “Aging is not a problem to be fixed or a disease to be cured,” she says. “It is a natural, powerful, lifelong process that unites us all.” You can follow Applewhite on Twitter @thischairrocks
Kimberley Chongyon Motley
Kimberley Chongyon Motley is an international human rights and civil rights attorney from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is the first and only attorney from the West to work in Afghanistan, where she spends 9 months out of the year fighting for the freedom of countless victims. Motley is the author of 2 books: Lawless: A lawyer’s unrelenting fight for justice in a war zone and Lawless: A Lawyer’s Unrelenting Fight for Justice in One of the World’s Most Dangerous Places. In Motley’s TEDGlobal talk she shares her knowledge and expertise on international law, as well as her hands-on experience approaching criminal, commercial, civil, and human rights issues.
Mariah Moore
Mariah Moore is is the Organizing Program Associate for Transgender Law Center. Her work includes fighting to ensure equity, equality and safety for the transgender community, especially Black transgender women. Moore was featured in The Guardian in 2020 for her work in New Orleans when the pandemic hit. Moore, just 32, organized other trans activists in cultivating an emergency Covid fund and raised more than $20,000 for transgender and nonbinary citizens at risk. This activism led Moore to creating House of Tulip, Louisiana’s first refuge for trans and nonbinary residents. You can donate and follow House of Tulip on Twitter @houseoftulipno
Erika Andiola
Erika Andiola is an immigration rights activist and the Chief Advocacy Officer for the organization RAICES, a non-profit organization that aims to provide legal services to immigrants and refugees. In 2012, Andiola appeared on the cover of Time magazine with 35 other immigrants living in the U.S. without papers. Her Twitter @ErikaAndiola handle says she is “undocumented and unafraid.” Andiola went viral in 2014 when a video surfaced of her, and other Latinx activists, confronting former Representative. Steve King (R-Iowa) over federal immigration policy. Andiola also co-founded the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, an organization that fights for immigrant rights in her home state.
Patrisse Cullors
Patrisse Cullors is not only an author, artist, and activist, she is the woman responsible for the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag. Cullors wrote the hashtag after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin in 2013. Before that Cullors founded the group Dignity and Power Now in 2012 to fight for law enforcement reform, and dignity and power for incarcerated individuals, and advocates for the rights of the LGBGTQ community, in Los Angeles County. In 2017 Cullors, and the other founders of Black Lives Matter, received the Sydney Foundation Peace Prize for “building a powerful movement for racial equality.” You can follow Cullors on Twitter @OsopePatrisse
Alice Wong
Alice Wong is a the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community which records and shares disability-related media. Wong’s advocacy for the disabled led to a national leadership profile and a 2013-2015 appointment to Obama’s National Council on Disability. In 2015, Wong attended the reception at the White House for the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act via telepresence robot. Wong is a writer and a podcaster. Her focus is on creating, amplifying and sharing disability media and culture. You can follow Wong on Twitter @DisVisibility
March 16, 2021
Outcry at Proposed Removal of Minerva Teichert Mural in Manti Temple
On March 12, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it would remove historic murals from the Salt Lake and Manti Temples as part of the renovation process, leaving many of us reeling.
Of particular concern is the erasure of the work of Minerva Teichert. Heather Belnap, BYU Associate Professor of Art History provides some context for the mural in the Manti Temple:
“In 1947, as part of the centennial celebration for the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Utah, Minerva Teichert was asked to paint a mural for the World Room in the Manti LDS Temple. Working day and night, she finished her magnificent ‘The Pageantry of History’ mural—which spans over 4,000 square feet—in only 23 days. She was completely exhausted and elated when she finished, and reported with satisfaction, ‘I am the first woman artist to ever be given such a commission in the church.’ Her entire career was centered around the telling of what she called ‘the Great Mormon story,’ and the Manti mural is her masterpiece.”
Many people have invested much of their lives to the study and preservation of LDS art. Writer and editor Lavina Fielding Anderson, one of the “September Six” infamously excommunicated in 1993 and yet has remained a devoted attendee of the Mormon church, feels deeply wounded by the impending loss. Her husband, Paul Anderson, was an architect and dedicated much of his life to the historic preservation of classic pioneer buildings, including several temples and tabernacles. Anderson was heavily involved with the work of Nauvoo Restoration. The dedication to art, architecture and historic preservation was central to the lives of Paul and Lavina.
Dialogue board member and art editor Andi Pitcher Davis reached out to Lavina Fielding Anderson, knowing how personally this would impact her. Here is Lavina’s response:
“On Wednesday and Thursday this week, I experienced such overwhelming sadness that I was almost paralyzed. I couldn’t stop crying. I was confused, baffled. It seemed inexplicable. The anniversary of Paul’s death is coming up at the end of the month, but no particular memory had triggered this pain. When I read the First Presidency’s announcement, I understood. Paul loved the pioneer temples and devoted his best efforts and most sensitive creativity to honoring their beauty and sacrifice. There is grieving on both sides of the veil over this decision, made all the more dreadful because the justification is numbers, numbers, numbers. I’m sick at heart.
“The April 2020 issue of the Journal of Mormon History published Paul’s 2004 essay on ‘Preserving the Manti Temple.’ It includes his terrible shock when the Logan Temple was ‘remodeled,’ meaning demolished to the walls, in the late 1970s. He literally saw a bulldozer driving around inside the structure. In that context, the preservation of the Manti Temple and its continued use of the live endowment was a triumph, thanks in large part to Paul’s boss, Florence Smith Jacobsen, and the devotion of Manti’s Saints, both past and present. Since my excommunication in 1993, two different First Presidencies have rejected my appeals for reinstatement, thus forbidding my entrance to the temple. For the first time, I’m not sorry about it.”
Pitcher emphasizes the pain of losing a site specific installation, “The World Room is a three story testament to the women of Mormonism who made this desert blossom as a rose. The removal of the Teichert mural is the ripping out of the still beating heart of the Mother.”
Professor Belnap beautifully summarizes our collective pain at the loss of Teichert and others’ art: “All of these artists painted with the conviction that theirs was a holy work, and these temple murals were sacred offerings. I have spent a lot of time with these pioneer artists and their art, and they have come to feel like old friends, even family. Their art has edified me, increased my connection to my heritage, and deepened my discipleship—and I know that it has blessed the lives of countless others.”
For many of us, Minerva Teichert is an oasis in a patriarchal desert. Almost all the paintings hung in Church spaces are both male focused and male produced. I heard recently in a podcast about Teichert that she submitted art to the Church to consider as the illustrations for the Book of Mormon. One can’t help but wonder how the Church might have been influenced had her more nuanced and inclusive works been used as opposed to Arnold Friberg’s muscle bound prophets. She tried to sell them to the Church but they didn’t want them, so she ended up donating them to BYU where they are on display at the Museum of Art, thanks in part to Paul Anderson. This mural erasure feels like not just another rejection of Minerva, but of the female voice, the feminine divine, and of our right to be in holy places.
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