Category: Cornucopia
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Calling Silos
Julie’s post on scouts has me thinking about how we do callings in the church. Several people pointed out that since scout leaders are called rather than volunteering, you end up with people who aren’t enthusiastic or engaged in the program. I understand that you can’t just let everyone pick their own callings in church,…
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Nexus of Harmony
I’m a believer in having role models (and anti-role models). One of the great things about sharing the world with billions of other people is that you get insights into where you might end up depending on the paths you take. I like to watch people who are twenty or thirty years older than I…
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Scouts, Again
I know the relationship between the Church and BSA has been discussed to death in the bloggernacle, but I want to share two recent experiences anyway.
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Noel’s Memorial Service
The memorial service was held in the mouth of the Russian River. Not on the beach by the river, but right in the water. Over a hundred surfers gathered there, clad in their wetsuits. They paddled on their surfboards into the river, pulling a massive floral wreath out on the water with them. The first…
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Various Thoughts
Photo of Noel Robinson by Todd Glaser My cousin died this week. He was a surfer, Noel Robinson. All the surfing sites have pieces on him (this one is my favorite — what a great picture!), and there’s been a huge response from the surfing community. Noel and I got along well, but we only…
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Personality Tests and “Muchness”
A friend of mine came to visit a couple weeks ago, and he had me take the “Color Code” personality test. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. It divides people into red (control-oriented), blue (intimacy-oriented), yellow (socially-oriented), and white (peace-oriented) personalities. There are plenty of tests like this — Myers-Briggs, enneagrams, etc. — that result in…
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A Mormon Image: Generations
In honor of my grandfather, who passed away yesterday at the tender age of 93, I thought I’d post a few photographs. He was a kind and generous man who was always upright in his dealings and loved to surround himself with family. He was not a member of the Church (my mother is a…
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Taking Happiness at Face Value
“…wickedness never was happiness.” — Alma 41:10 I’ve only ever heard this phrase from the scriptures used as an encouragement toward righteousness — “if you are wicked, then you won’t be happy, so be righteous!” But reducing the scripture to a causal relationship like “if ( wicked ) then { not happy }” necessarily implies…
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LDS Church unveils green meetinghouse prototype
This week the presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled the first solar-powered LDS meetinghouse in Farmington, Utah. The building is one of five green prototypes being developed for LDS chapels in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada—and the building program will eventually expand across the US and around the world. The…
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OT Lesson 18 Study Notes: Joshua 1-6, 23-24
Joshua 1 Verse 1: Why is Moses referred to as the Lord’s servant, but Joshua as Moses’ minister, official, or aide? Why not call Joshua Moses’ servant or, even better, the Lord’s servant? Compare Exodus 24:13 and 33:11, as well as Numbers 11:28, but notice that in the latter two, though the King James translation…
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Luke’s Spiritual Journey
I’ve asked several of my friends from different religious backgrounds to share the stories of their spiritual paths through life — what they believe, and why. This is the response of my friend Luke. Despite having looked into many religious movements as part of my graduate studies, I find writing about my own spiritual journey…
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At home on Earth, in any corner of the garden
I posted this on Civil Religion as an introduction to Earth and environmentalism in Mormon teaching and experience. Thought it might be of interest here, as well. Earth played a prominent role in Joseph Smith’s vision of the cosmos, beginning with the importance of Creation in what we call “the plan of salvation”. The Genesis…
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Introducing, Me
We T&S bloggers are pretty impersonal. Our posts tell about the kinds of things we think about, but we don’t share much about who we are or what we do. So here’s a bit about me.
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A Mormon Image: San Diego Temple at Sunrise
[Editors: As the San Diego Union-Tribune takes a look at the current temple renovation, this image seemed fitting.] Early morning at the San Diego Temple (just 1 of over 100 photos I took of the Temple that morning!).
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The eighth circle of Paradise: Saint Damien of Molokai and Jonathan Napela in Kalaupapa
Sunday evening I attended a screening of a preliminary cut of the documentary “The Soul of Kalaupapa.” The film examines the ecumenical legacy of the leper’s colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Kalaupapa was brought to recent prominence by last year’s canonization of Saint Damien of Molokai, the key figure in the community’s history. …
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Approaching Diversity
The text for today’s blog post is brought to you by BYU Speeches, specifically, “Weightier Matters“, by Dallin H. Oaks (does anyone here know if speeches are quoted, underlined, or italicized?). In part of his talk, Elder Oaks discusses diversity in terms of means vs. ends. Specifically, he says, “Since diversity is a condition, a…
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A Monastery for Families
My wife and her friends chat together in the quad while the kids play outside. This last week, one of her friends said, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all just buy some land and move out there together?” This kind of sentiment is what I’m all about. We just need some place, some…
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What is the doctrinal status of the car-wreck story?
It’s a story we’ve all heard, and it’s still in wide circulation. For instance, from the current YW manual: President Spencer W. Kimball told the following true story: “A few years ago a young couple who lived in northern Utah came to Salt Lake City for their marriage. They did not want to bother with…
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More on Social Justice
The Church Newsroom’s blog has a link to a post by Michael Otterson, Head of Public Affairs, on the recent social justice issue.
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David Paulsen’s “I’ve a Mother There”
BYU philosophy professor David Paulsen presented a paper titled “‘I’ve a Mother There’: A Historiographical Study of Portrayals of Heavenly Mother in Mormon Discourse” at the recent BYU Studies Symposium.
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Stopping the Flood When the Dams Burst
A friend of mine told a story from when she was a seminary student. As I recall it, one student, let’s call him Eusebius, had had perfect attendance for three years. The attendance policy allowed a fifteen-minute late window. The teacher would shut the door fifteen minutes after class started, and any students who came…
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Institutionalized Lying
Currently I serve as the Primary chorister in my ward. (Call it the curse of anyone who can sing and direct music.) The assigned song for March was “Follow the Prophet.” In case you’re not familiar with the song, it was written so that children around the world can mumble through the 400 verses, followed…
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The blotted page of the book of nature
Despite a unique cosmology that has at times inspired artistic creation for a wider American audience, there is no Mormon astrology. Someone who knew Mormonism only through its scriptural texts might be forgiven for finding this omission curious.
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12 Walks to Zion
I’m not ready to leave my “building Zion” discussion just yet. Where does the New Jerusalem come from? If you asked my peers, parents, seminary teachers, and Sunday school instructors, you might receive visions like these:
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What If the Rank & File Really are Stupid?
That is, what if they really are perniciously ignorant or uneducated or immature or tenuous neophytes or fragile (speaking of both intellect and testimony)? What if they’re as hopeless as some in and out of the Church so often say and treat them as being?
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Are We Mormon, or Are We Dancer?
In my previous job, I served as co-chair on the college diversity council. It was not a position I was qualified for, but one in which I learned a lot. While there, I noticed that “black” is a culturally acceptable word again. I’m interested in the words we use to describe races, ethnicities, and cultures.…
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Priesthood Session in a Nutshell
President Eyring conducted, with music by a BYU priesthood choir (with an expressive and energetic conductor) and talks by Elder Oaks, Elder Rasband, YM President Beck, and the First Presidency. This was an amazingly upbeat meeting. President Monson called this one of the best priesthood meetings he ever attended.
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Easter Sunday
Because Easter is not a biblical term (and has pagan origins), some suggest that “Resurrection Sunday” would be a better term. The word itself only appears once in the King James Bible at Acts 12:4, where is is better translated as “Passover.” So significant was the event of that Sunday morning that Christians since have…