First off, and most exciting, starting in Spring next year, I will be leading tours to the Holy Land through Sacred Space Tours.
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Come Follow Me— Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
This is the lesson you’ve all been waiting for. Most scripture wasn’t written for the purpose of “daily application” or even “how to live a righteous life.” If that’s what you’ve been looking for in the Old Testament, it’s probably been difficult. Schlimm calls this the “Searching for Saints” model of reading; it doesn’t work very well, because scripture was not intended to provide ideal models to emulate and liken. However, this lesson is the motherlode, because the chapters in question WERE intended to teach daily application and how to live right.
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Gearing Up For Isaiah
Yes, everyone’s favorite book is upon us. I’m not sure there’s any sarcasm there; I know lots of Latter-day Saints who love Isaiah. One of my uncles has actually memorized the entire book, in the KJV version. The next several weeks cover Isaiah, so I wanted to plug a few things. Continue reading
President J. Reuben Clark: Some Death before the Fall
On October 3, 1946, President J. Reuben Clark delivered a speech to the general Relief Society session of General Conference. Titled ” Our Wives and Our Mothers in the Eternal Plan” —reproduced here— it generated some internal discussion with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith.
Come Follow Me— Psalms
I have a plugin that will make Bible passages function as popups when you mouse over them, no need to click. However, it only works if there is a verse as well as a chapter number. So in many of the references below, where I intended the whole Psalm, I’ve had to add a “:1” to the reference make the popup work.
Psalms is one of the most-often quoted books in the New Testament. Psalm 110:4, in fact, is the most alluded-to passage in the New Testament. (The other two books quoted most often are Deuteronomy and Isaiah.)
For Latter-day Saints, Psalms is one of those many books we have a strong tradition… of ignoring. Yet, said President Benson,
The psalms in the Old Testament have a special food for the soul of one in distress.
How so? Well, Psalms are often prayers, songs, or both. They praise, ask, censure, worship, question, plead, and express frustration. Are you angry at God? So are some of the Psalms. Are you frustrated at how the wicked seem to prosper, while your own efforts at “living right” seem fruitlessly? There are Psalms expressing this frustration to God; I particularly like Psalm 73:1. Are you depressed? There are Psalms for that.
I think Psalms is a vastly underused pastoral resource, because we don’t know them. And that’s a shame. Among others, my favorites are Psalm 51 (that’s an entire post) because of the beautiful music and moving lyrics, and Psalm 73:1.
If I were a Bishop, during the OT year, I think I’d assign “talks” that included reading one or two thematic Psalms over the pulpit every Sunday, probably in a modern translation that was sensitive to literary aspects like Robert Alter’s (here piecemeal or here with the whole megillah .) And that’s because, the Psalms are highly literary poetry.
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Come Follow Me— Job
I suspect we’ve simply never been “competent readers”— or at least, not competent enough— to appreciate Job. (On the idea of “competent readers” see this excerpt from Brettler’s excellent How to Read the Bible
The Prayer of Ezra (chapter 9) and humility
Ezra lived in the Israelite “post-apocalyptic” period. The glorious kingdom was gone, the city of Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed, the Davidic line lost, God’s chosen people had been hauled to Babylon, and only a small remnant returned to try to rebuild the Temple. Ezra believed that these events were to due Israelite infidelity to the covenants they had made. Setting aside what those commandments were, Ezra’s prayer in chapter 9 strikes me as a model of how we should come before the Lord “with fear and trembling.” Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Ezra 1–8; Nehemiah 1–2; 4; 6; 8
(Reposted, but not updated) Ezra and Nehemiah originally constituted one book, so it works to treat them together. Let’s review the timeframe and story here. Continue reading
Announcements: FAIR Conference, the Holy Land, and Logos
A few quick announcements:
Come Follow Me- 1 Kings 17-19
(Reposted but not updated, so many of the links may not work.)
These are some of my favorite chapters. Elijah and his fiery talents inspired our creative fire-building on many a scout trip, and even managed to get the back of my head quite singed once. For some excellent background on that story of the fiery showdown, see John Tvedtnes, “Elijah, Champion of Israel’s God”, Ensign July 1990. Continue reading
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