April 2018 conference was big. Really big. Lots of changes. What are we all expecting for General Conference this weekend?

Given that the Conference talks are up within a day or so, we will not be live blogging this year. Instead, we will be blogging regarding significant talks or statements made during Conference.

We invite our readers to submit guest posts during the week or two after Conference to share which talks inspired them, and why they inspired you. Share your inspiration with us!

Thanks,

rameumptom

Welcome to the Saints vol 1, book club.

The manual is a very different history book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. First, it is written in narrative format, which means it is easy reading. Second, while it is inspiring, it faithfully discusses the more controversial issues that were often buried or intentionally ignored in the past. Third, it contains the experiences of several people, particularly women. Fourth, it uses many sources, from Lucy Mack Smith to Bushman’s Rough Stone Rolling to the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Continue reading →

While driving in Arlington, Virginia, we passed a building with a sign for the Church on the outside. What, we wondered, was this office building?

Talking with folks the other day, they explained that this is the building for the Singles’ Wards. Space is so tight in Northern Virginia near DC that leaders were prompted to consider how the unique needs of singles allowed them to think out of the box. Or in this case, think in the box, or in the shape of a boxy office building.

Parking is insanely constrained, so congregations are not able to meet simultaneously. The building in Alexandria on King Street holds its first set of meetings starting at 8a, then a second set of meetings starting at 11:30a, and the third and final set of meetings starting at 3p.

If the Church were stagnant or in decline, this wouldn’t be a problem. But the Church is growing steadily. And there’s no place to go.

When I heard the rumor that Conference might bring a realignment from a 3 hour worship format to a 2 hour format, I originally dismissed this as bunk. Apparently the Church had flirted with eliminating Sunday School in the past, but then didn’t change the overarching format. As my husband noted, when the possibility was discussed, Sunday School is the only meeting where men and women study together.

But as I contemplate the space challenges some congregations are facing due to growth, the idea of a shortened block begins to make sense.

At any rate, I am super excited for Conference next week. I have no idea what will happen, but I suspect more will happen than “mere” words of pastoral comfort and exhortation.

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.]