Cornucopia

“And What Do The Women Do?”

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I credit any awareness I have of gender issues in the church to the challenging, patient, and frank discussions that take place within the bloggernacle. Reading the first-hand experiences shared by many sincere sisters here has forced me to reconsider the paradigm I was comfortable in — the one where men and women have separate but equally valuable roles in God’s plan. Now I’m more inclined to view these strongly typed gender roles as reflective of the church’s situation in a specific time and culture. This week I went with the missionaries to visit a less-active member in our ward. She is an amazing sister who has started attending church again recently. She is working through a lot of family drama, but has found strength in the Lord and in her faith. Since she is not deeply familiar with church doctrines, the missionaries have started visiting her weekly to study together from the Gospel Principles manual. The lesson this week was on the sacrament. The lesson moved into a discussion on ordinances and the priesthood. This sister has not had the chance to enter the temple, so she asked several questions about the ordinances performed there. We talked a little about temple work, and the role of the priesthood in officiating in the ordinances. She asked, “You mean the men?” I said that was so. She asked if the women played a role in the temple ordinances. I replied that…

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SS Lesson - Old Testament

Old Testament Lesson 21 Study Notes: 1 Samuel 2-3; 8

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One can reasonably argue that the book of Judges shows us the decline of Israel to a situation in which they have to have a king to lead them, and that the treatment of women that we see in Judges is a sign of that decline. One can also argue that Ruth is a response to that theme in Judges. How does the story of Hannah fit into that theme? Chapter 2 Verses 1-10: These verses are a song, perhaps not one that Hannah composed, but one she knew already and applied to herself, much as we might choose to sing a hymn that reflects our circumstances. Note the parts of this song: thanksgiving (1-2), a warning to the arrogant (3), the reversal of fortune (the high are brought down, the low are exalted—4-8), and an expression of confidence (9-10). (The song is, roughly, chiastic.) What is the overall theme of the poem? How does this song fit Hannah’s situation? How might it also be important to us? Are there parts that seem not to be relevant to Hannah’s situation? If so, what do you make of that? Verse 1: Most commentators suggest that the metaphor, “mine horn is exalted in the Lord,” is that of a proud animal carrying its head high? (Compare Psalm 92:10 and 89:18.) Does that make sense to you? Do you have an alternative interpretation? Verse 3: Against what does the Lord here? How does…

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Images, Latter-day Saint Images

Renewed Call for Photo Submissions

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Since instituting the “A Mormon Image” series last fall, our submissions have slowed from a glut to a trickle.  As a result, we thought we would issue a new call for photographs to be considered for inclusion in the series. The instructions for submissions can be found here and the images we have featured since kicking off the series can be viewed here.

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Guest Bloggers

Times & Seasons Welcomes Rana Lehr-Lehnardt

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Times & Seasons is happy to introduce our newest guest blogger, Rana Lehr-Lehnardt. Rana is a mother of three who just finished up her first semester teaching at the University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School. After spending several years in the D. C. area, Rana and her family are adjusting to life in Liberty, Missouri where her husband, Mark, has established a corporate and international trade practice. Before finding her way to the University of Missouri, Rana attended law school at BYU, clerked on the Tenth Circuit for Judge Terrence O’Brien, earned an L.L.M. from Columbia Law School, worked at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, and served as the legal adviser for the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. In her Missouri ward, Rana is in the YW presidency where she encourages the young women to question openly, think critically, and search diligently. Please give Rana a warm and hearty T&S welcome.

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Cornucopia

Mormon Site Muzzles Members

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ST. GEORGE–AP–August 10, 2010– Verna Watkins sits on her threadbare couch clutching a wrinkled tissue. Between sobs, she says, “I consider it the most sacred spiritual experience of my life . . . when the Three Nephites–divine beings–helped me change the tire on my Suburban. I spent two hours writing the story up to post to my Church’s website, and later I found out that they wouldn’t approve it. My own Church rejected the event most important to my faith.” Ms. Watkins is one of many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–commonly known as Mormons–who feels betrayed by their church after it launched a website earlier this summer, but then took it down after only two months. While LDS Church Public Relations officials claimed that the site was removed in anticipation of a redesign, many Church members felt that the real problem was that the website solicited personal religious feelings–what Mormons call a “testimony”–as well as statements on doctrinal matters. When these poured in, Church leaders were overwhelmed by unorthodox material and left with a dilemma: either permit the unapproved material, which violates what they consider their obligation to “keep the doctrine pure,” or disallow their own members’ beliefs. Many Mormons felt betrayed when told by their Church that their beliefs were not approved. As one BYU sociology professor explained, “Mormons are allowed a lot of leeway in their personal beliefs, as long as they do…

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Cornucopia

Calling Silos

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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, since you’d have twenty people teaching gospel doctrine and nobody teaching the nine-year-olds. However, perhaps we could allow people to pick the general areas they’re interested in. For example, you could divide ward and stake callings into: Teaching Leadership Clerk Provident Living (things like employment, emergency preparedness, education, etc.) Activities Music Then ward leaders could call people in areas they feel enthusiastic about. Another thought as I’m writing this — how about moving some of these more to the stake level? When it comes to certain specific activites — choir, book club, game nights — a lot of wards have one or two interested people, but not enough to sustain the activity. By moving, say, music to a stake level, you end up with enough resources to do really cool things you can’t do at the ward level. Yeah, there’s be some coordination issues, and it wouldn’t work well in geographically widespread areas, but I think people are willing to make sacrifices to be engaged in things they enjoy.

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Cornucopia

Nexus of Harmony

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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 am, to look at the ones who are happy and the ones who are bitter and ask, “How did you get there?” And patterns start to emerge. I see life as extending along four axes — “I” (my relationship with myself), “IT” (my relationship with things and ideas), “YOU” (my relationship with other individuals), and “US” (my relationship with groups of people). When I think of the people who’ve been my greatest role models, they tend to be the ones who have developed character along all four of those axes. The combination of curiosity, gratitude, confidence, and friendly conversationability is just beautiful. “Nexus of harmony” is my word for them. They’re the ones whose mere presence makes things go better. You like to have them involved in your projects at school, work, and church. Somehow, just by being part of the team they ensure that the project will get done, and that everyone will have a good time doing it. But they’re about more than just getting things done effectively. At an individual level, these are good people. You feel comfortable with them. They are…

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SS Lesson - Old Testament
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The story of Ruth occurs “in the days when the judges ruled” (Ruth 1:1). It is not, strictly speaking, in chronological order. Indeed, from here on out, you may wish to consult the Old Testament chronology in the Bible Dictionary if you wish to see the historical connectedness of the various stories. What do Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah have in common? Why is it appropriate that this lesson is about these three women? The story of Ruth is completely different than any of the stories we have read so far. God is only mentioned obliquely and plays no intervening role in the story, nor do any of his prophets or judges. It is not about a struggle between the forces of good and evil. It is a simple love story of sorts about common people, living common lives. They are not the heroic (or anti-heroic) individuals we have seen so far in the Old Testament. Why is this book scripture? How do we see Jesus Christ in it? Ruth is short enough to read be aloud in one sitting. Try doing so, preferably with someone else, perhaps your spouse or children, or a good friend. Try reading for the full impact of the story. If you are the reader, you may even want to practice once or twice before you read it aloud for someone else. But as you read, don’t stop here and there to discuss what this or…

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Cornucopia

Noel’s Memorial Service

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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 thought that struck me was how distinctive the group was. The surfers that gathered there became a foreign community to the rest of us, like I imagine a group of Amish or Hasidic Jews (or Mormons!) would be. The wetsuits acted like ritual attire, visually uniting the group (whose individuals are normally remarkably colorful) in smooth, somber black. Watching the service from the shore, I had a glimpse of how loved ones waiting outside the temple during a wedding ceremony might feel. The river served as a natural, physical temple, separating the initiates from the merely curious. I could watch the service, but I was too far away to hear the words that were spoken. Once the surfers had paddled into the river, they formed a tight circle around the gigantic wreath of flowers. In the circle, they floated on their surfboards (I didn’t know that surfboards are buoyant enough for a person to sit and float on). I couldn’t tell how the service was led, but there must have been some coordination. At times during the service, the group would all clap together, or…

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Book Reviews

Review: Losing My Religion

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I admit that when approaching William Lobdell’s Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America — and Found Unexpected Peace (HarperCollins, 2009), I expected the standard debunking treatment that is so familiar in news and entertainment media these days. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a balanced and engaging narrative that mixes accounts of the stories Lobell covered while a religion reporter for the Los Angeles Times with details of his own journey into, then out of, faith. Lobdell’s journey and reporting Lobdell’s journey began in his late twenties, when he first attended the Mariners Church, a nondenominational megachurch in Orange County. Ironically, that church is located just a couple of blocks away from the Newport Beach Temple. [The Mariners Church very kindly allowed their parking lot to be used for overflow parking during the public open house tours provided prior to the dedication of the temple in 2005.] Lobdell slowly grew in the faith, recovered his health, improved his marriage, got a big salary bump, and gained a spiritual mentor and friend in Hugh Hewitt, the blogging law professor and conservative commentator. So far, so good. Still in search of what he called “The Moment” (when an Evangelical has that born-again experience), Lobdell attended a weekend retreat at Hewitt’s urging. Lobdell’s account of that weekend alone merits the price of the book for any LDS reader. Lobdell describes a “cycle of singing, testimony,…

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Mormon Studies

Stop! Hamer time

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Next Friday and Saturday, May 21st and 22nd, John Hamer will be at Miller Eccles in southern California to discuss the history of the Community of Christ.  John’s work is fascinating, and if you’re in the area, I’d encourage you to attend one of the two events, either on Friday the 21st in Orange County, or Saturday the 22nd in Los Angeles. The event announcement (with lots of information about why you should attend) is this: Dear Friends: We are pleased to announce the next meeting of the Miller Eccles Group will be on Friday, May 21, 2010 (Villa Park) and Saturday may 22 (La Canada).  Both sessions will be at 7:30 p.m.  The speaker will be John Hamer, an independent historian and author (more about John below).  We anticipate a fascinating discussion of “The History of the Community of Christ.” The Speaker: John Hamer is president of the John Whitmer Association (the Community of Christ counterpart to the Mormon History Association) and the editor of John Whitmer Books.  He is also a mapmaker extraordinaire and has done a number of the special maps for the Joseph Smith Papers project. John is currently going to press with a beautiful book about the history of the Community of Christ. You can see a preview of what it will look like at this link. Check it out to see what an artist John is when it comes to map making and book design. The…

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Mormon Studies

Dialogue 2.0

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Searchable archives.  Free access to the entire vault of past articles.  Helpful starting points in a Classics section.  No more one-page-at-a-time clicking through the wacky — lovable in a quirky way, but definitely *not* user-friendly — old pdf-image page-by-page e-archives at the U library website.  Did I mention, we’re talking about searchable archives and free access to the vault? What are you still doing here?  Go check out Dialogue’s new website — or discuss in comments what you like about it best.  Take advantage of the free access.  (Starting in summer, the most recent two years will be subscription-only, but the rest of the vault remains free.) And a big kudos to the Dialogue crew.  Mormon studies has officially entered the new millennium.

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Cornucopia

Various Thoughts

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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 saw each other rarely. I had no idea that he was a celebrity in his sphere. Now that he’s gone, I really wish I had put in the effort to know him better. ***** I participated with Mormon Helping Hands yesterday. What an amazing gathering. I love to see how well we in the church come together. My only complaint is that the on-site management of the projects is usually pretty loose. We had about 300 people (or so I’m told), but I think that only about 1/3 of us were actually contributing at any time. That’s not due to lack of willingness, just that it’s hard to coordinate work between 300 people. ***** Zelophehad’s Daughters has posted their current “list of drafts”. To all the bloggers in the blogosphere, I encourage you to give them a hand — pick a couple of titles from their list and try writing posts based on them :) ***** My project manager at work went to school in Berkeley in the ’60s. He laments the lack of political activism among students today. As he put it, “The college…

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Cornucopia

Personality Tests and “Muchness”

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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 classifying the taker into some class or archetype. I think they’re fun, and even useful. They provide frameworks for looking at oneself and one’s relationships. I don’t expect that any of them are The One True Truth, but insofar as they offer guidance and understanding I’m certainly a fan of them. My biggest complaint with these kinds of tests is that the results only address quality, not quantity. To use the Color Code as an example, take the following two individuals: The Color Code test would return the same results for both of these people — primary red, secondary blue. But, obviously, that’s missing a big part of the story. Jill has a “muchness” (thanks Johnny Depp, for introducing me to that useful word) that Matt lacks. Culturally, we treat personality like an attribute (or set of attributes) when it’s really a skill (or set of skills). In other words, we treat personality like eye color: you can have brown eyes, or green eyes, or blue eyes, but you can’t have brown eyes AND blues eyes AND green eyes (well, unless you’ve got some freaky…

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Cornucopia, Latter-day Saint Images

A Mormon Image: Generations

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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 convert), but he led a moderate and principled life that will continue to serve as an example to me. His memory will be carried by his children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  This last fall, my wife and I were lucky enough to sneak away to Switzerland with our son and spend some time with him while he was still in good health.  Here we are visiting the grave of my late grandmother–my grandfather’s wife of 65 years. by Marc Bohn ___ These pictures are part of our ongoing series highlighting Mormon images. Comments to the post are welcome; all comments should be respectful. In addition we invite you to submit your own images to the Mormon Image series. Other images in the series can be found here. Rules and instructions, including submissions guidelines, can be found here.

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SS Lesson - Old Testament

OT Lesson 19 Study Notes: Judges 2; 4; 6-7; 13-16

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The notes this time are shorter than usual, for which you may well be grateful. I’ve had much more difficulty thinking of verse-by-verse study questions for these chapters. Judges The translation “judge” is misleading, for it suggests that the person it describes had judgment as his or her primary duty. However, the judges of Israel lived in a time before the powers of government had been separated into anything like legislative, executive, or judicial functions. As a result, “leader” or perhaps even “chief” would be a more accurate translation, for the people that the King James translation calls the judges of Israel were leaders more than they were judges. They were leaders of the groups they oversaw, persons to whom one could go for advice and good judgment, who would consult the law and use it to give wise advice or to make a wise decision—more than someone whose job was to apply the law to a case and render a judgment of guilty or innocent. And when necessary, they might act as a military leader. In addition, the word “judge” is misleading because of the way we think about law and judgment. We understand the rule of law and the function of a judge under that rule; however, the ancients did not see government as a matter of the rule of law. Of course they knew what laws were. But whereas we understand ourselves to be governed by laws…

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Cornucopia

Taking Happiness at Face Value

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“…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 the contrapositive: “if ( happy ) then { not wicked }”. Both of these readings reduce the rich context of the passage to a logical proposition, and these sorts of shallow reductions don’t often translate well to the complexity of real life. Even so, I think it’s worth considering the passage from both directions. I can’t tell how often I’ve heard said at church, “Those people out there sinning may look like they’re happy, but it’s not real happiness.” As my circle of friends has widened to include people of various lifestyles, I’ve found that, while yes, some of them are not happy, many of them are. If I’m reading Alma correctly here, my job isn’t to judge others’ happiness, nor their righteousness. Rather, my job is to come to righteousness through happiness, and to come to happiness through righteousness, and that perhaps through both of those approaches together, the blessings and peace of God may be manifest in my own life.

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