Evan Stephens tithing slip protest

This past Sunday's tithing slip fell out of my wallet today and I noticed that there's a blank on the very bottom for "other". What if all the tithe paying Moho's decided that on a certain Sunday we'd all donate to "other" and specify something like the "Evan Stephens fund"? (Stephens may have been a Moho. Quinn says yes. The Brethren say no.)

Just what would this accomplish, you ask? It's a good question that deserves a good answer. One I don't have at the moment. Besides, maybe there's a better way to show our solidarity. Maybe we're already doing it by blogging. I guess we could create our own Moho Temple day or night sometime. Or perhaps something more inclusive, like the uniform thing again or the Matis and Scott & Sarah gatherings in Utah, but something anyone anywhere could participate in. Yes, blogging and Facebooking work well for that. Just some random thoughts.

Brother Stephens wrote more than 80 hymns, 18 of which are in the current English hymbook. Here's an excerpt from one of my favorites:

Purify our hearts, Our Savior
Let us go not far astray
That we may be counted worthy
Of thy Spirit day by day
When temptations are before us
Give us strength to overcome
Always guard us in our wanderings
Till we leave our earthly home

(#183, In Remembrance of Thy Suffering)

I don't send him flowers

My wife enjoyed her Valentine's flowers and I enjoyed giving them to her. Several family gatherings brought much warmth to this cold three day weekend. Church was uplifting. Not a single anti-gay remark. One of my dear neighbors came over and put his arm around me as we headed home. His touch is always welcome. Such blessings of family, faith and friends. I'm a lucky man.

Of course I thought a few times about the man I love. I’ll see him today or tomorrow in the ordinary course of our work. This long-time straight friend will tell me about his weekend and I’ll tell him about mine. I’ll look for the sparkle in his eyes, I’ll hear his voice and laughter once again, I’ll see his smile and that will be enough.

Video Satirizes Bureaucracy

The following video is about NASA, but it's easy to see how this dynamic may apply to discussions about proposed changes at 47 East South Temple or within the church office building. Or perhaps not. Let me know what you think.

I heard about this video in this report on NPR.

My Entire Life a Fraud?

I wrote the following to one of our fellow Moho Bloggers. One of his friends let me know he wasn't comfortable with my linking to his post, so I've removed that link from this post and from the list of blogs I'm publicly following. 

"Thanks for sharing such an intense post. I related to some of your statements because they recalled the black and white, either/or thinking I did quite a bit of when I was suicidally depressed.

In your post I saw words like: all, gone, anymore, lost all my faith, didn't try, I guess I lied to myself, too late, I don't think that I'll ever be happy.

I remember thinking my entire life had been a fraud and that anything good I'd done was an illusion. Now of course, I realize my black and white thinking was the cause of most of my pain.

To me one of the greatest things in your post was this admission: I even thought that I had a light feeling, one time. I thought that I felt His arms, a love, a peace, a release.

In my opinion you did feel these things and you can feel them again, even right now. Our Savior's love is unconditional, right now, for you and me and everyone else on the planet. One of my favorite hymns is Our Savior's Love and how it breaks through clouds of stife.

So much for my soap box."

What Would Lincoln Do?

What would Lincoln do if he were here to help us? I don't know, but I love this quotation:

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew." --A.Lincoln