Category: Life in the Church

  • “Twenty-Mark Note” Experiences

    Sheldon G.

    There is a certain category of life-experiences that I refer to as “Twenty-Mark Note” stories. The name for these experiences comes from a talk by the same name, given by President Packer at BYU-Idaho in 2002 (excerpted below).  I suspect that once you read President Packer’s remarks, you’ll immediately recall your own Twenty-Mark experiences:

  • The Road to the Temple

    The Road to the Temple

    Sheldon G.

     NPR recently did a story about a group of reporters’ visit to the newly constructed Draper Temple. The Draper Temple, by all appearances, is characteristically beautiful. I am as intrigued by the process of building a new temple, as I am by the end product itself. Some of the most marvelous stories from church history involve…

  • The Totality of Mortality

    Kathryn Lynard Soper

    When I picked up my manual to prepare to teach Gospel Doctrine this Sunday, I figured it would be a lesson about the spirit of Elijah (second week = section 2 = turning hearts, etc). I was surprised and delighted to find that Lesson 2 is instead about the atonement, highlighting powerhouse passages in Doctrine…

  • Times and Seasons 2008 Mormon of the Year: Mitt Romney

    Kent Larsen

    Image via Wikipedia After careful consideration, the staff of Times and Seasons has selected Mitt Romney as Mormon of the Year, our annual designation of the Mormon who had the greatest impact or influence on Mormons and Mormonism in 2008. During 2008 Romney concluded the most credible presidential campaign of any Mormon to date and…

  • The New Era 2.0

    Julie M. Smith

    The Church has a new website for youth, launched today.

  • Reviewing News about Mormonism for the Year

    Kent Larsen

    OK, now that we’re looking at the Mormon of the Year, I’d also like to look at what the big news stories were for the year. In a lot of ways its been a very busy news year, with, by my count, three big stories dominating: Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy The confusion of the LDS…

  • Who Should Be Mormon of the Year?

    Kent Larsen

    Its that time of year. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is traditionally the media’s time for reflection on the past year — the time when we see story after story on the best or most important stories of the year, or the most important person of the year (as Time magazine just…

  • Merry Christmas

    Marc Bohn

    God be thanked for the matchless gift of his only begotten. Merry Christmas everyone.

  • A Christmas Story

    Julie M. Smith

    If a story about football brought tears to my eyes, you know it’s gotta be good.

  • Is the pudding done?

    Kathryn Lynard Soper

    As far as holiday food goes, Thanksgiving tends to steal the spotlight. At our home Christmas Eve dinner is a true feast rivaling the best turkey-centered spreads our table has seen:

  • One Christmas, Everlasting

    Adam G.

    Merry Christmas from Christmases past!

  • Get thee behind me, Santa!

    Kathryn Lynard Soper

    I know, I know. There’s so much to love about the jolly fella. But he keeps getting in the way. Or not.

  • The First Annual Times & Seasons Sentence Diagramming Contest

    Julie M. Smith

    Your challenge: diagram the sacrament prayers.

  • Hugs and Kisses

    Craig H.

    It’s holiday season, which means more friends and family and greetings, in person or otherwise, than usual. Add to that a few weddings receptions and you can get downright sore from all the hugging and hand-wrenching. Not to mention confused by the vast array of possibilities for saying hello or goodbye or Merry Christmas or…

  • Tithing Settlement 2008

    Adam G.

    Tithing Settlement is a great part of the Christmas season.

  • Holding the Messiah

    Adam G.

    On the sweetness of Mormon life.

  • Christmas Devotional 2008

    Adam G.

    President Uchtdorf said that the angels came to the shepherds, the poor, not to the rich. At one point in my life that would have bugged me. Today I realized that the rich should want it that way. If you’re wealthy and still looking for something, you don’t want to be told that your wealth…

  • Release Time v. Early Morning Seminary

    Marc Bohn

    Below is a forward I recently received about a perceived effort to eliminate the release time seminary system in an Idaho school district. The email is from a CES employee to parents of students in the school district encouraging them to oppose one of several proposed schedules currently under consideration that apparently would restructure the…

  • Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin Has Passed Away

    Marc Bohn

    Elder Wirthlin died at 11:30 p.m. last night in his home. He was the oldest living apostle at 91. We invite you to share your memories and thoughts about Elder Wirthlin as we mourn his passing.

  • A More Fortunate Ensign Article

    Julie M. Smith

    Since I was rather critical of an Ensign article on the Word of Wisdom earlier this year, I feel obligated to point out that this month’s article on the Word of Wisdom is a much better piece.

  • What the Smith Boys Said This Year

    Julie M. Smith

    Previous installments can be accessed through this link.

  • Home

    Kathryn Lynard Soper

    Any minute now, it will begin: first one car, then another, then another will drive into our cul-de-sac and park in front of the house across the street. As they do on every holiday, the Bishop’s children are coming home.

  • Each in his Own Language

    Kent Larsen

    BYU’s Religious Studies Center recently announced that it had begun publishing books in Spanish, Portuguese, and German, an encouraging development, given how little is being produced outside of English. In his blog post about the news, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel writes: Today, it is estimated that there are nearly 7,000 spoken languages in the world, of…

  • The Gospel and Immigration

    Kent Larsen

    A High Priest I know is in crisis. He is an immigrant who, like many other Church members, came to the US without a visa, according to what I understand of the situation. After arriving here he joined the Church, and eventually fell in love and married a U.S. Citizen, a wonderful, faithful Church member.…

  • What Should Mormons Do?

    Kent Larsen

    The Associated Press reported yesterday that Mormon employees at the University of Phoenix benefited from discrimination based on religion, according to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The University settled the suit, paying $1.9 million to 52 employees (an average of more than $36,000 each!) and agreeing to a “zero-tolerance” policy to…

  • How the Other Half Preaches

    Julie M. Smith

    A pool in our area had a free admission day this summer and I’m nothing if not cheap so there we were. Imagine the delighted looks on my kids’ faces when they saw not only a FREE pool, but FREE inflatable bouncers, FREE snowcones, FREE hot dogs, FREE chips, and FREE games with prizes.

  • Just Say No (to members)

    Kylie Turley

    A few months ago, a sister in our ward asked my daughter to babysit. On a Monday evening. That’s right. Monday Evening. We try to be diligent with family home evening on Monday night, so the answer needed to be “no,” but I was a bit confused about how to convey that message.

  • Christmas Gifts for Kids

    Julie M. Smith

    Let’s take about Christmas.

  • Collateral Damage: Missionaries and Prop 8

    Marc Bohn

    An anti-Prop 8 organization has released a new commercial drawing Mormon missionaries into the fight over Proposition 8. To say the ad is inflammatory is putting it lightly.

  • 12 Questions for the LDS Newsroom, Part Two

    Dave Banack

    This is Part Two of responses provided by representatives of the LDS Newsroom to a set of questions submitted by T&S permabloggers. See Part One for the first six questions and responses.