By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

…why insurance plans at LDS-owned institutions do not provide coverage for birth control? Last time I checked, our theology and official church policy statements would not support such an exclusion.

Seems we’re heavy on sermons lately. But this is a really good one for New Year’s Day. It’s from my dad, and will make it abundantly clear why I grew up thinking I was kind of dumb. (But he poached the Donne quote from me :) ).

“Wholesome, Hallowed, and Gracious”: Confronting the Winter’s Night

Warning/Apology: this is ridiculously long–you’ll have plenty of time to listen to both pieces while you read.

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I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. (Solomon 2:4)

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This guest post is from my friend, Jim Burklo, who is Associate Dean of Religious Life at USC. We were on a panel together last year at a conference sponsored by the Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy (presentations are on youtube, here and here). This is a slightly abbreviated version of his report of his visit to SLC. I would really like it if we made it through at least a few general comments about the perspective offered by a friendly visitor before we get sidetracked by the single paragraph on Prop. 8. Thanks.
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For an exotic cultural and religious experience without leaving the borders of the United States, pay a visit to the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Read the rest of this entry »

I admire all of your high-minded and spiritual conference traditions, your delicious cinnamon rolls, your conference bingo sheets, your righteously-themed candy dishes. I do! But the most consistent tradition at my house involves laundry.

Years ago, I gave up on matching socks and putting them in kids’ drawers. When I do laundry, I just throw all the socks in a big basket and it’s a free-for-all finding matching socks every day. (I know, I know. Sorry, mom–you did raise me better than that!) Twice a year, I match the socks and discard all the too-small, too-many-times-worn-outside-without-shoes, too hole-y, and mismatched ones. On Monday after conference, I buy socks.

OK–your turn: confess your weird traditions here!

for JS

A few weeks ago, the Relief Society lesson in our ward was about Eternal Marriage. By some demographic fluke, I am the only divorced person in my ward (and one of only two unmarried women). I really didn’t want to be there for the lesson, partly because it would be uncomfortable for me, and partly because my presence would make some of the women in the room feel less free to express their opinions, for fear of hurting my feelings.

How to teach ideals without making people who, for whatever reason, aren’t able to achieve them feel bad is a regular theme in the Bloggernacle, probably because we don’t have any good answers. I certainly don’t have any good answers (which, alas, doesn’t always stop me from pontificating about it when people say particularly hurtful things). But in this case, the teacher was a dear and wise friend, so as I bravely ran away, I was thinking about what I would say to her if she asked me how to teach this particular lesson without wounding me freshly, or re-opening old wounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Impossibly, my oldest son starts high school this week. I got all sappy about it on my friend Whitney Johnson’s blog. If you like that sort of thing, go on over there and have a look…

In Utah, runners smile and say hello. In Massachusetts, we studiously look at the ground when someone goes past. Is this a cultural difference that has to do with religion, or is it merely regional? (Or maybe it’s just that I look so wrecked when I’m trying to run at high altitude that people just want to make sure I’m still able to speak?)

Discuss.

I think it would be almost impossible to overstate Sister Okazaki’s impact on the Relief Society and the Church; there’s far more to say than we could say in a single post. This one is a guest post from my uncle, Bruce Haglund, who served as a missionary in Osaka under the Okazakis and enjoyed the gift of their lifelong friendship.
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In paying tribute to “Chieko-mom,” as she signed her correspondence to me, I acknowledge that this kind of recognition is something she never would have sought – she sought only to be a devoted wife and mother, a doting grandmother, and a diligent disciple of Christ in all dimensions of her exemplary life.

Chieko’s quest to “search diligently in the light of Christ” and to “lay hold upon every good thing,” as the prophet Mormon exhorted us to do, started on the big island of Hawaii where she was raised a Buddhist by earnest, honest, hard working, Japanese parents. Introduced to Mormon missionaries as a teenager, Chieko embraced the Gospel. I think she knew intuitively that the values of her parents and her heritage would resonate with her new faith. Read the rest of this entry »

(I know, I know. I should shut up already, or else get my own blog called “WIWIHS.”)

So, the other day, I was talking with some friends about Mormon intellectuals. Among the things we discussed was how folks whose spiritual gifts are on the brainy side can appropriately consecrate those gifts in the service of the Church and of their congregations, especially since Mormons sometimes seem uncomfortable or suspicious of too much thinkiness.

It’s hard to have a conversation like that without either laughing or crying at the hubris of it–indeed, if there’s anything that could possibly make me feel dumber or sound more idiotic than talking about being “intellectual”, with or without the indefinite article or the scare quotes, I would like to know what it is so that I’ll never accidentally do it. But I do think these are live questions for many people, and worth asking. Alas, most of our answers ended up sounding like “learn to keep your piehole shut and/or full of pie (preferably pie that you baked) in most church meetings.” This wasn’t entirely satisfying to me (!), and I’ve been thinking about it for the last few days. Read the rest of this entry »

Compare and contrast:

Teaching girls about Divine Nature, Individual Worth

Oh, never mind.

Not for Holy Week, exactly, but apt for Tax Day. :)

I will sing to the Lord, for he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Yea, he hath delivered my soul from the cries of the infant in the night; from sleeplessness  hath he (mostly) redeemed me.  From the toddler’s dangerous curiosity and the three-year-old’s “why” and the five-year-old’s bedwetting he has raised me up.

Therefore I will give thanks unto God among the heathen, in the playgroup will I shew forth his praises.

Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses, for they have been ever of old.   Turn thee unto me and have mercy, for I am brought low, I am made the mother of tweens. Read the rest of this entry »