WhiteEyebrows

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.

- George Bernard Shaw

I left the United States for the first time in 2000 to spend two years in Sao Paulo, Brazil doing Missionary service for my church. To take you back, this was before the average American even knew what a Muslim was and before Osama Bin Laden was a household name.

When I returned in August of 2002, something had drastically changed about my country. Flags flew on many more houses that usual. There were flags everywhere!  Some enterprising guy had also created a novel American Flag lapel pin which everyone seemed to be sporting. People had somehow become much more proud of their country than I’d ever seen them, and more willing to do anything for it.

Then it dawned on me.  I totally missed 9/11. Continue reading “Patriotism”

And Thus We Were Manipulated
Why Mormon Pop Music and CES Videos Bug Me

A while ago, on my way home from church, I was listening to a mix CD of Sunday music. When the song “His Hands” came on, I quickly pressed the next button, but unfortunately it was too late… the other person in my car had identified the tune. “I LOVE that song… why did you change it?” they said. So I was forced to go back and let them listen to it.

It took the rest of the trip home to try and explain the following:

Growing up, I listened to a lot of Mormon pop music. A lot. It mostly grew out of the fact that I often sang in church, so I tended to listen for new material, and to be part of that universe. I was practically an authority on all things Perry or Cope.

Continue reading “And Thus We Were Manipulated”

I thought I would write a little religion post today, realizing that I hadn’t posted on a religious topic since Christmas, so I’m past due.

In October of 1999, I had an incredible experience singing in my church’s semi-annual General Conference. I was part of a combined men’s chorus from BYU, singing in the Mormon Tabernacle for the final priesthood meeting which would ever be held there (the big conference center was just being finished). It was a great honor and opportunity. We sang this song: Continue reading “Why I Choose to be Religious”

Last night I was listening to a radio report on my way home from work which detailed with tiring accuracy (thanks PBS+NPR) the current reality and possible future eventualities of polar ice melting.

It was a briliant piece of scientific speculation, if I’ve ever heard one. When the words “likely” and “probable” are used more that “does” and “is”, then you know you’ve got a live one.

But it got me thinking; there is no better position to be in than that of an alarmist.

Continue reading “I Want to be an Alarmist When I Grow Up”

Elder Oaks visited our Stake Conference last sunday, and here are a few things that struck me. If you were in any of those sessions, or just want to make something up, feel free to add anything that struck you. Continue reading “Stuff Elder Oaks Said”

I will miss the way you used to wave to everyone with your cane.

I will miss your clarity when speaking on religious subjects.

I will miss the simplicity and purity of your personal convictions, of which you so often spoke.

I will miss the simple humility in which you walked around the world, accomplishing miracle after miracle.

I will miss your guiding hand over our great religious endeavor.

I will miss your grandfatherly jokes and wisdom.

I will miss the way in which you were unafraid of any question from any person.

I will miss your warm, disarming responses to those questions.

I will miss the pure love felt through each word you spoke.

I never knew you personally, but join the ranks of the millions who felt like we were your best friends.

God be with you, dear Gordon Bitner Hinckley, until we meet again.

Being that today is Sunday, and as a Christian, my 2nd to last gift idea will be religiously themed:

Christmas, after all, is a celebration of Christ’s birth; that “the Word was made flesh,” as John wrote. It is a celebration of the great step in God’s plan for the salvation and redemption of man.

I blogged earlier this year that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of its gift-less gratitude, and in recent years I have been the “scrooge” of the family, poo-pooing the materialism and gimme attitude that seemed to accompany each holiday season. Perhaps it was because of the poverty I experience in Brazil, or maybe it was just because I couldn’t ever seem to come up with an idea for any present anyone could give me that I would actually enjoy receiving.

Today, I have changed my mind. Christmas, I have decided, would be incomplete without the gift giving. I believe that gift giving in the correct way is critical to achieving the “true spirit of Christmas.”

Why do I say this when gifts seem to be the most prevalant evidence of the “commercialism” of this season? (Which I still think is a problem.)

I have come to a realization that true gift giving is not simply a celebration of the bounty of the year. It’s not fulfilling each other’s needs and wants. It’s not being surprised or thrilled on Christmas morning. It’s not giving to charities or causes to feel better about ourselves, or get a break on the imminent tax return. It’s not about waking up early and seeing what the ‘haul’ is this year.

Gifts, at the most basic level, are tangible expressions we make one toward another. Some gifts express romance (think of the jewelry commercials), others express friendliness. Some we give in hopes to receive reciprocal gifts, and yet others we give to show our creativity or to see the look of surprise on the recipient’s face.

The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas didn’t start with the 3 wise guys who travelled from a long way hauling precious metals and spices, as many would ascribe it to. The tradition of giving begins in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

God was the first to give a gift at Christmas time. The gift he gave was his Son. The motive behind the gift was love.

Christ then grew and fulfilled his mission. He gave the greatest gift of all, his expiating sacrifice, which inexplicably and miraculously pays for our human flaws, drawing us back to God and his perfection.

These two gifts, gifts of true love, are gifts of self.

So this year at Christmas, consider giving an extra gift; give back to God the one thing we have to give, the only thing doesn’t come from Him in the first place and is truly ours to give; your will. Give something of yourself, your time, your life over to him. He promises that ‘he who loses his life for [His] sake will find everlasting life.’

…and it’s true.