Today I’m at a L’Arche celebration at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.

Michael McDonald shared some films from the award-winning series, As I Am. The film above is about Musa, or Moses. When he was born, his birth mother saw that he had cerebral palsy. So she cast him onto a burning rubbish heap. Another woman came along and heard the baby’s cries. She pulled the infant from the flames and raised him, naming him “Moses pulled from the rubbish.” When his loving mother and her husband died of AIDS, Musa was taken in by L’Arche Kenya.

All the films in this series prompt us to be better people. But I’ll leave you with Nineteen Cranes. Reach out to those around you. Love them. Treasure them.

[The World Health Organization estimates nearly 20% of all living are suffering some form of disability.]

The John Whitney Historical Association met in Independence, Missouri, this weekend. This conference is an intimate gathering of those dedicated to study of the restoration faiths which arose from the teachings of Joseph Smith. Though I was only a second-time attendee, I still felt like I was returning to a gathering of friends and family.

Amidst this group, the struggles between factions of the “Mountain Saints” (~16M strong, who look to Salt Lake City for guidance) gain context as we embrace the similar struggles experienced by the “Prairie Saints” (~250K strong, who gathered to the banner of Joseph’s sons) and the “Sylvan Saints” (~20K strong, those who looked to Sidney Rigdon and then William Bickerton). We visited the Temple Lot and surrounding buildings of disparate denominations of Church of Jesus Christ (via covered wagon). It becomes clear that Joseph’s legacy spawned a diversity of religious expression peopled by good and earnest individuals. Continue reading →

Courtesy of retroland.com

In the past few days, the Church published the first volume of Saints, a massive volume that addresses the history of the early years of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as led by Joseph Smith Jr.

With slightly less fanfare, the Church has uploaded hundreds of pages of new sermons from the 1800s that had previously only been available to scholars, none of whom were able to read the archaic Pitman shorthand used by George D. Watt. LaJean Carruth is the pioneering scholar who learned how to decode the archaic Pitman.[ref]Modern Pitman is very different from the original Pitman that was available to George Watt, see the Wikipedia article on Pitman shorthand.[/ref] You can find these new transcriptions by logging in at history.lds.org, then searching for “CR 100 912” under Research: Church History Catalog.

As in the game “Mastermind,” it is by accumulating clues we trust that we are able to narrow down the possibilities for when events occurred. This was of particular interest to me this week. The new Church History, Saints, contained a sentence which, if accurate, would completely overturn a major portion of my conjectures regarding how plural marriage evolved in Nauvoo. Continue reading →

Dude – this is cool!

On Monday the Church will release the full text of Volume 1 of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days.[ref]At this moment, the Church History page leads with links to Saints content, as well as videos and articles.[/ref]

The initial few chapters have been rolling out in the Ensign and Liahona since February this year, and those with the Gospel Library app have been able to download these chapters under the “Church History” heading.

Elder Snow has championed this effort to make an accurate narrative history available. Saints is accessible, but the content reflects history rather than faith-promoting folklore (apologies to all the well-intentioned but inadequate storytellers of the past).

For those who desire solid history that won’t destroy your faith, I strongly recommend you read Saints.

I obviously haven’t had a chance to read all of Saints yet, but the opening chapters have clarified points that critics twist to try to destroy faith.

Volume 1 covers the history of matters affecting the Church from 1815 through 1846. This is a fascinating timeframe, where all modern beliefs and practices of the Church were introduced. I look forward to seeing how this volume discusses the events leading up to Joseph Smith’s death and the flight of most Church members from Nauvoo.

Until Monday, I challenge you to read the first seven chapter of Saints and share what “A Ha!” moment you experienced. Continue reading →