Mama and I are in Canton, MO this weekend, attending the college graduation of our second son, Jeff. Jeff graduates summa cum laude with a 3.9283 GPA, has been the president of his fraternity and will be missed at Culver-Stockton College. He is graduating on his birthday.
C-SC is affiliated with the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, and the Humanities Division (which includes the Religion Department) gives an award each year to the student who most promotes Christianity on campus. It is not an award for evangelizing but more of an award for promoting Christian values and Christian faith - for being the best example of Christianity. Jeff won the award this year.
I am proud of my son and the man he is - an example of being comfortable with his faith, unconditionally loving of everyone and, at the core, just a good person. He is loved by all, and that is the best tribute I could give him.
Love you, Jeff. Happy Birthday!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
I Am Grateful for the Thorns in My Flesh
I love D&C 137:9. It says:
This says to me that it isn't our works, in and of themselves, that will be used to judge us but rather the desire of our hearts that produces those works. That is a great comfort to me, and it allows me to be more charitable toward others who act in a way that is contrary to how I would act (who perform "works" that I would not perform).
I also love 2 Nephi 4, especially for the glimpse it gives into the soul of a conflicted prophet, but my favorite verse in regard to the benefit of recognizing our weakness is 2 Corinthians 12.
Verse 7 says:
I think that message is consistent with the others, since I believe "I should be exalted above measure" refers to how Paul would tend to see himself without his weaknesses. Verses 5 and 6 say, in part:
As much as I don't like my own "thorns in the flesh", they do keep me humble, since I, too, would tend to glory of myself without them. For that reason, I am grateful for them
For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.
This says to me that it isn't our works, in and of themselves, that will be used to judge us but rather the desire of our hearts that produces those works. That is a great comfort to me, and it allows me to be more charitable toward others who act in a way that is contrary to how I would act (who perform "works" that I would not perform).
I also love 2 Nephi 4, especially for the glimpse it gives into the soul of a conflicted prophet, but my favorite verse in regard to the benefit of recognizing our weakness is 2 Corinthians 12.
Verse 7 says:
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
I think that message is consistent with the others, since I believe "I should be exalted above measure" refers to how Paul would tend to see himself without his weaknesses. Verses 5 and 6 say, in part:
yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory
As much as I don't like my own "thorns in the flesh", they do keep me humble, since I, too, would tend to glory of myself without them. For that reason, I am grateful for them
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Learning to Receive with Gratitude
Being unemployed three times in my life has beaten the pride out of me when it comes to receiving help from others.
Our oldest son served a mission because our former ward supported him fully - paying all the costs of his mission. The Bishop came to us, even though he knew we would be moving soon after my son left for the MTC, and said that multiple members had asked him if they could pay for our son's mission. Technically, our son wasn't a member of that ward for even one day after he left the MTC - but those ward members supported him, anyway.
Some time ago, a member of our Bishopric handed my wife an envelope on Sunday saying simply, "I was told to give this to you." It had a card ("Have yourself a merry little shopping spree.") and a fairly significant amount of cash in it.
The thing is, we weren't on church assistance at the time - and hadn't been for over a year, but some people knew how tight our finances were. It might have been easy in the past (before my periods of unemployment)to have my pride hurt and to argue or be offended somehow by the envelope - but life's kicked that crap out of me.
Now, I'm just touched and grateful for the gesture and the expression of love behind it.
Our oldest son served a mission because our former ward supported him fully - paying all the costs of his mission. The Bishop came to us, even though he knew we would be moving soon after my son left for the MTC, and said that multiple members had asked him if they could pay for our son's mission. Technically, our son wasn't a member of that ward for even one day after he left the MTC - but those ward members supported him, anyway.
Some time ago, a member of our Bishopric handed my wife an envelope on Sunday saying simply, "I was told to give this to you." It had a card ("Have yourself a merry little shopping spree.") and a fairly significant amount of cash in it.
The thing is, we weren't on church assistance at the time - and hadn't been for over a year, but some people knew how tight our finances were. It might have been easy in the past (before my periods of unemployment)to have my pride hurt and to argue or be offended somehow by the envelope - but life's kicked that crap out of me.
Now, I'm just touched and grateful for the gesture and the expression of love behind it.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Atonement Only Works When Individuals and Groups are Broken
The Astonishment of Redemption - Jacob ( By Common Consent)
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Purest and Simplest Way to Make Sacrament Meeting a True Worship Service and a Revelatory Experience
I have read quite a few comments from people decrying a lack of emphasis on Christ in our Sacrament Meetings. They acknowledge the prayers in his name and the sacrament itself, but they are concerend about how often the talks are not focused on Jesus or Heavenly Father in an obvious (or even implied) way.
I have been in such Sacrament Meetings, and I understand that concern. I even agree with it to the extent that it happens, which, I agree, is too often. My response is pretty straightforward, since I believe the "solution" is quite simple.
The central issue is not at "The Church" level. It's an issue in individual wards and branches, since the Branch Presidents and Bishops are the ones who are responsible for the topics assigned as Sacrament Meeting talks. Too many of them still don't understand fully what it means to have a meeting set aside as a worship service - and too many of them still assign topics for Sacrament Meeting that will be addressed in Sunday School and/or should be reserved for the third hour in Priesthood and Relief Society meetings, but when they catch that vision and "get it" with regard to Sacrament Meeting, it's wonderful. I've lived in wards where that happened, and I've visited wards and branches where that happens, and there is a marked difference in those congregations that spills over into other areas, as well.
For the last few years, I have had the good fortune of being in a position from which I can mention that to local leaders and be taken seriously, and I have done so and will continue to do so. It sounds simplistic, but I believe making Sacrament Meeting a true worship service (a "revelatory experience" - as Elder Bednar said in the recent CHI training) can do more for a ward than just about anything else - and it certainly is the simplest and purest of the options.
I have been in such Sacrament Meetings, and I understand that concern. I even agree with it to the extent that it happens, which, I agree, is too often. My response is pretty straightforward, since I believe the "solution" is quite simple.
The central issue is not at "The Church" level. It's an issue in individual wards and branches, since the Branch Presidents and Bishops are the ones who are responsible for the topics assigned as Sacrament Meeting talks. Too many of them still don't understand fully what it means to have a meeting set aside as a worship service - and too many of them still assign topics for Sacrament Meeting that will be addressed in Sunday School and/or should be reserved for the third hour in Priesthood and Relief Society meetings, but when they catch that vision and "get it" with regard to Sacrament Meeting, it's wonderful. I've lived in wards where that happened, and I've visited wards and branches where that happens, and there is a marked difference in those congregations that spills over into other areas, as well.
For the last few years, I have had the good fortune of being in a position from which I can mention that to local leaders and be taken seriously, and I have done so and will continue to do so. It sounds simplistic, but I believe making Sacrament Meeting a true worship service (a "revelatory experience" - as Elder Bednar said in the recent CHI training) can do more for a ward than just about anything else - and it certainly is the simplest and purest of the options.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Sunday School Lesson: Prophecy, Seership & Revelation are Not the Same Thing
Last Sunday, we did a bridge lesson between Apostasy & Restoration and Prophets & Revelation.
I drew a simple timeline on the chalkboard from Adam & Eve to today. I asked everyone to list where in our scriptures we have extended periods of no recorded revelations. We identified four gaps of at least 200 years (and explicitly left out most of the Old Testament and Ether, since they covered thousands of years and were written largely as sweeping genealogical statements rather than careful histories): the end of the Old Testament (roughly 400BC - Jesus' birth); Omni (with its "stuff happened and I gave the plates to the next guy" summary); 4 Nephi (four generations of righteousness); the end of the New Testament to the Doctrine & Covenants. I mentioned the Dead Sea Scrolls and what I consider to be revelation to others outside our scriptural canon as exceptions to theses periods of silence, but we focused on our Standard Works.
We talked about how the Jews at the time of Christ were divided in many ways, just like the Christians at the time of Joseph were divided in many ways - but that one of the few things they all agreed on was that "scriptures" had stopped. Interpretations continued, but God no longer gave scripture. Thus, there were two clear instances of "Great Apostasy" in our Judeo-Christian history: the Jewish apostasy from Malachi to Jesus and the Christian apostasy that started when the Bible was canonized.
We then focused on the definitions of "prophet", "seer" and "revelator". I mentioned that we tend to roll them together into one practical word - "prophetseerandrevelator" - without distinguishing the unique meanings of each term. We talked about how prophecy in ancient times was reading the signs of the times and predicting the results of continued or changed actions; seership is seeing things in ways that cannot be seen naturally, particularly with the help of divine tools; revelation is the uncovering / revealing of things that have been hidden. At that point, the lesson took an interesting turn.
One of the students asked how OD 2 (lifting the Priesthood ban) fits into this - if it was a revelation based on the definition we had discussed. (The student who asked is very bright.) I told the class that I had promised them when I was called as their teacher that I always would be honest with them about how I see things personally. I grinned and said that I was about to tell them the Gospel According to Ray, then I told them that I see OD 2 precisely as revelation in that context, since it uncovered the fact that the ban had been instituted without revelation - that the ban originally had not been based on revelation but that foundation had been obscured and lost over time as the ban continued. I mentioned that Pres. McKay stated later that the ban was policy not doctrine and that OD 2 "revealed" that flawed foundation officially. I then used OD 1 (the Manifesto) as an example of prophecy, as opposed to revelation, since Wilford Woodruff said explicitly that he had seen a vision of what would happen to the Church if polygamy continued ("reading the signs of the times and predicting the results of continued actions").
They all seemed to understand that distinction, and I was glad the question was asked, since I hadn't thought to use the declarations as an example.
I drew a simple timeline on the chalkboard from Adam & Eve to today. I asked everyone to list where in our scriptures we have extended periods of no recorded revelations. We identified four gaps of at least 200 years (and explicitly left out most of the Old Testament and Ether, since they covered thousands of years and were written largely as sweeping genealogical statements rather than careful histories): the end of the Old Testament (roughly 400BC - Jesus' birth); Omni (with its "stuff happened and I gave the plates to the next guy" summary); 4 Nephi (four generations of righteousness); the end of the New Testament to the Doctrine & Covenants. I mentioned the Dead Sea Scrolls and what I consider to be revelation to others outside our scriptural canon as exceptions to theses periods of silence, but we focused on our Standard Works.
We talked about how the Jews at the time of Christ were divided in many ways, just like the Christians at the time of Joseph were divided in many ways - but that one of the few things they all agreed on was that "scriptures" had stopped. Interpretations continued, but God no longer gave scripture. Thus, there were two clear instances of "Great Apostasy" in our Judeo-Christian history: the Jewish apostasy from Malachi to Jesus and the Christian apostasy that started when the Bible was canonized.
We then focused on the definitions of "prophet", "seer" and "revelator". I mentioned that we tend to roll them together into one practical word - "prophetseerandrevelator" - without distinguishing the unique meanings of each term. We talked about how prophecy in ancient times was reading the signs of the times and predicting the results of continued or changed actions; seership is seeing things in ways that cannot be seen naturally, particularly with the help of divine tools; revelation is the uncovering / revealing of things that have been hidden. At that point, the lesson took an interesting turn.
One of the students asked how OD 2 (lifting the Priesthood ban) fits into this - if it was a revelation based on the definition we had discussed. (The student who asked is very bright.) I told the class that I had promised them when I was called as their teacher that I always would be honest with them about how I see things personally. I grinned and said that I was about to tell them the Gospel According to Ray, then I told them that I see OD 2 precisely as revelation in that context, since it uncovered the fact that the ban had been instituted without revelation - that the ban originally had not been based on revelation but that foundation had been obscured and lost over time as the ban continued. I mentioned that Pres. McKay stated later that the ban was policy not doctrine and that OD 2 "revealed" that flawed foundation officially. I then used OD 1 (the Manifesto) as an example of prophecy, as opposed to revelation, since Wilford Woodruff said explicitly that he had seen a vision of what would happen to the Church if polygamy continued ("reading the signs of the times and predicting the results of continued actions").
They all seemed to understand that distinction, and I was glad the question was asked, since I hadn't thought to use the declarations as an example.
Friday, May 10, 2013
A Wonderful Sacrament Meeting Experience: God Bless Truly Humble and Selfless Saints
The following experience happened some time ago, but it came to mind tonight - so I thought I would write a post about it. I hope it touches someone and is an answer to prayer in some way:
I normally like to arrive at least 30 minutes early when I am visiting a ward or branch as part of my calling, but, due to circumstances I don't need to detail here, I arrived at the branch I was visiting with only about 5 minutes to spare. When I walked in and spoke with the Branch President, he told me that they had just realized as the young men were preparing the sacrament this morning that they were out of cups for the water. They were discussing what to do as a result.
They had decided to shift the sacrament to the end of the meeting, so the Branch President could drive home and bring a bunch of small drinking cups from his house. It would be a bit awkward and difficult to manage, but it was the only solution that came to mind. I suggested they go ahead and follow that plan, but that I would call someone in my home ward (which met at the exact same time as the branch) and see if they had any extra sacrament cups - and ask if anyone in that ward would be willing to miss their own meetings and attend the branch that day in order to allow the branch to use regular cups for the sacrament at the end of their meeting. The Branch President left to go home to get his cups, and I called a few numbers I had on my cell phone until I reached the High Priests Group Leader.
He stepped out of the chapel to take my call just as my ward was singing the opening hymn. He then went back into the chapel, spoke with someone in the Young Men's Presidency, called me back and told me he would bring four sleeves of cups to the branch right away - enough that they could use them again for a couple of weeks if they were unable to get more of their own right away. This good man told his wife and sons what was going on, left Sacrament Meeting before the sacrament was passed, drove 40 minutes to the branch, handed me the cups, then turned around and drove back to his ward without taking the sacrament in the branch - because he had to get back in time to teach the lesson during the last hour to his own high priests.
I took the cups to the priests at the sacrament table in the middle of the final talk, and they finished preparing the trays and the table just as the final special musical number was ending - an absolutely gorgeous solo about the birth of Jesus. They literally were lowering the covering on the sacrament as the final note was ending.
There's something amazing about hearing the sacrament prayer said immediately following a beautiful musical number - when the Spirit is so strong you can feel it almost tangibly. There's also something truly touching about listening to that prayer ("are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son") while picturing the good man who made it all possible driving alone for another 40 minutes back to his own building, having missed participating himself so that he could make it happen for others and still perform the very mundane tasks of his calling.
I know it's a "small thing" in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly brought to my mind the verse:
I normally like to arrive at least 30 minutes early when I am visiting a ward or branch as part of my calling, but, due to circumstances I don't need to detail here, I arrived at the branch I was visiting with only about 5 minutes to spare. When I walked in and spoke with the Branch President, he told me that they had just realized as the young men were preparing the sacrament this morning that they were out of cups for the water. They were discussing what to do as a result.
They had decided to shift the sacrament to the end of the meeting, so the Branch President could drive home and bring a bunch of small drinking cups from his house. It would be a bit awkward and difficult to manage, but it was the only solution that came to mind. I suggested they go ahead and follow that plan, but that I would call someone in my home ward (which met at the exact same time as the branch) and see if they had any extra sacrament cups - and ask if anyone in that ward would be willing to miss their own meetings and attend the branch that day in order to allow the branch to use regular cups for the sacrament at the end of their meeting. The Branch President left to go home to get his cups, and I called a few numbers I had on my cell phone until I reached the High Priests Group Leader.
He stepped out of the chapel to take my call just as my ward was singing the opening hymn. He then went back into the chapel, spoke with someone in the Young Men's Presidency, called me back and told me he would bring four sleeves of cups to the branch right away - enough that they could use them again for a couple of weeks if they were unable to get more of their own right away. This good man told his wife and sons what was going on, left Sacrament Meeting before the sacrament was passed, drove 40 minutes to the branch, handed me the cups, then turned around and drove back to his ward without taking the sacrament in the branch - because he had to get back in time to teach the lesson during the last hour to his own high priests.
I took the cups to the priests at the sacrament table in the middle of the final talk, and they finished preparing the trays and the table just as the final special musical number was ending - an absolutely gorgeous solo about the birth of Jesus. They literally were lowering the covering on the sacrament as the final note was ending.
There's something amazing about hearing the sacrament prayer said immediately following a beautiful musical number - when the Spirit is so strong you can feel it almost tangibly. There's also something truly touching about listening to that prayer ("are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son") while picturing the good man who made it all possible driving alone for another 40 minutes back to his own building, having missed participating himself so that he could make it happen for others and still perform the very mundane tasks of his calling.
I know it's a "small thing" in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly brought to my mind the verse:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Dealing with Our Own Personal Dissent
Dealing with Our Own Personal Dissent - Jeff Lindsay (Mormanity)
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The Difficulties and Benefits of Online Congregations
A friend of mine who participates quite actively online at one particular Mormon-themed blog asked me a couple of years ago how I felt about the possibility of the LDS Church establashing online wards and/or branches. The following was my response to him (again, a couple of years ago, so the initial information is a bit dated by now):
That was my initial reaction. I certainly am open to other views and suggestions.
It is happening now in some areas with Seminary for those who can't attend the traditional early morning classes. Our stake is part of the pilot program, and I have been impressed overall - even though I was skeptical a bit at first, given my background in education and instructional software. In a couple of years, when the Church has gone through the entire four-year cycle of classes and has time to work out system bug issues, I can see it being rolled out broadly for all students who have been doing home-study Seminary. It is not designed as a replacement for traditional Seminary, but it is a wonderful program and effort.
I agree totally with the recent statement in General Conference about the danger of losing tangible, physical contact in the temptation to interact more and more online, but I also believe strongly in the power of online interaction - obviously, given my rather prolific participation in the Bloggernacle. There is great potential for something like that to be a positive force, but there also is great potential for negative influences in a setting like that. Can you imagine a testimony meeting (or any meeting, really) in a setting where concerted hacking is a possibility?
There are issues that would have to be reconciled (like how to handle things like the sacrament), but if the sacrament is not being taken anyway (since the people aren't attending anyway) . . . [Note: My friend suggested mailing congregants a packet of pre-blessed bread and water that could be used at the appropriate time. There are plenty of factors about that suggestions that concern me, but I don't rule it out automatically.]
Overall, I really like and would support the idea if it could be limited to those who are in locations and situations where they simply can't attend. I wouldn't want it to be a substitute for physical attendance with people who are capable of attending the traditional services. To me, a HUGE part of charity and true Zionist community is learning to interact with, serve and actually love those with whom I disagree, even passionately about some things - and I'm not sure a virtual ward would be able to provide that in quite the same way as a traditional ward can.
Rather than seeing it as virtual ward (with all of the callings associated with the traditional organization), I can see the basic format of the Sunday Meetings being broadcast live - with talks, prayers, classes, etc. provided by a core group of members. Again, however, it probably would need to be "restricted" to members identified by their Branch Presidents, Mission Presidents and Bishops as not being able to attend the traditional services - through a user name and password like is in place to access lds.org's stake and ward directories section.
That was my initial reaction. I certainly am open to other views and suggestions.
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