In DC, one of the highlights of the holiday season is the Festival of Lights lighting ceremony, where the Church honors a featured world ambassador and invites the rest of the diplomatic community to participate as the 650,000 lights decorating the DC temple grounds are illuminated.

This year the honored ambassador was His Excellency Kenichiro Sasae, ambassador of Japan. As Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has spent many years in Asia and Japan, we were honored to have Gary and Lesa Stevenson visit with us.

The lighting ceremony was covered by Deseret News <ref>If you look carefully you can see my knee in the picture of soloist Sandra Turley. I was playing violin but also sing in the choir, so was not dressed in black.</ref> but perhaps a more delightful evening was the annual Temple Workers’ Christmas Devotional, held the previous Sunday evening in the Solemn Assembly Room of the DC temple. As Elder Stevenson was planning to be in town to honor His Excellency Kenichiro Sasae, he arranged to participate in the devotional.

That is where Elder Stevenson told us the story of the Christmas Tree Rock. Continue reading →

I would ask readers to watch this short clip of an exchange between Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Joseph Welch.  The occasion was McCarthy’s investigation of the US Army for supposed Communist ties. Mr. Welch was a lawyer for the Army.  He watched McCarthy destroy the reputations and livelihoods of dozens of people for no reason other than his own political grandstanding.  Many readers may have heard of “McCarthyism.”  In a nutshell it is this:  questioning the patriotism and loyalty of people to further your own political designs.

Evan McMullin, a Mormon presidential candidate, who garnered a large number of votes in the 2016 election, has proven himself a purveyor of McCarthyism.

First, watch this clip:

Here is what McMullin tweeted over the weekend:

“It must be clear that Donald Trump is not a loyal American and we should prepare for the next four years accordingly.”

I ask Evan McMullin:  have you no sense of decency, sir?  Do you really have the hubris to accuse the presidential elect of not being a loyal American?  Can you see how this is nothing more than McCarthyism, a cynical attempt to further your own political career by accusing somebody else of being disloyal?

Let me make this clear:  I have no problem with McMullin raising questions about Russia’s supposed involvement in the elections.  Personally, I think such claims are garbage, but McMullin has a right to raise concerns.  I also have no problem with him slamming Trump’s possible choice of Rex Tillerson as Sect of State.  I think Tillerson would be a great Sect of State, but McMullin is well within his rights to question that choice.

Where McMullin shows no decency is in his claim that Trump is “not a loyal American.”  Such a claim is simply ridiculous, and McMullin needs to be called out for his McCarthyism.

Remember, I was #neverMcMullin from the beginning.  The man is a warmonger and has no decency, at least when it comes to this issue.

Today, the Indianapolis West Stake received a new stake president. It is also the 200th anniversary of the statehood of Indiana, so the new stake president will lead us into the next century.

I was fortunate to know the previous stake president well, having served with him for about 6 years on the high council. I am amazed at the love and devotion this man (and his wife) have given to the stake over the past 9 years.

Recently, I rediscovered some old friends from the late 1980s while looking on Facebook. Over the years, she and her daughters became disaffected from the Church, and eventually left it. She told me that she felt “liberated” at leaving the Church.  For her, the Church had become too restrictive. I think she was tired from trying to earn her way into heaven, and so chose an easier path.

Sadly, many do not understand the gospel of Christ. We do not earn our way into heaven. We cannot earn our way into heaven. Unfortunately, previous statements from old LDS books suggest that grace doesn’t go much beyond resurrection, and obedience is the first law of heaven.  Happily, the recent teachings from the Brethren focus on grace, atonement, and the peace the gospel brings.

I know when I am properly focused on these things, the gospel is liberating for me. Not as the world offers freedom, but as God offers it. Not the peace the world offers, but the peace Christ gives.

I cannot explain to others the joy and peace I’ve felt serving in the temple.  To ponder upon the promises made in the initiatory, endowment and sealings.  There is great power and hope in those words.

And the things I’ve learned from my stake president over the past years are priceless. I have not found anything on earth that can match the wonders. Yes, being a Mormon can be challenging. It requires time and effort. It requires all of one’s heart and soul. But the spiritual rewards just cannot be compared.  All other things pale.  Fun times are passing, but the spiritual experiences I’ve had carry me through all the difficult times, with hope that I will be together with my loved ones in the Celestial Kingdom.

Sully is Clint Eastwood’s September 2016 film about the pilot that landed an Airbus A320 passenger airplane in the Hudson River off Manhattan on the afternoon of January 15, 2009. Both engines of the plane failed after a flock of geese collided with the plane shortly after takeoff. All aboard survived. The surprising “success” of the response was primarily attributed to the calm reaction of Pilots Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Sully) and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles.

The core conflict in Sully involves the tension between the seemingly obvious success of the response to the engine failure and the second guessing that occurs during formal investigations of any event, which in this case was being performed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The film also portrays Captain Sully questioning his actions, with dream sequences showing alternate outcomes, such as the plane crashing in the heart of the business district of New York City. Had Captain Sully been found to have erred in landing the plane in the Hudson, his career as a pilot and aeronautic safety expert would have ended, resulting in personal ruination.

The movie is relatively short. As a movie-goer, I would not expect Tom Hanks to play a protagonist who was ultimately found to be a failure. Yet Clint Eastwood does heighten the conflict enough that the pain the main character experiences feels real while we watch the film.

Sully provides viewers a chance to experience the roller coaster ride of fear and despair with Captain Sully while knowing that at the end the ride will come to a safe and happy ending. Continue reading →