Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), poet laureate of England (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
What better words to end the year with than those of Alfred, Lord Tennyson?
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Throughout Utah — and, no doubt, across the Western states generally — hundreds of thousands if not millions of listeners gather by their radios every Sunday night, seeking wisdom from the Interpreter Radio Show. They’re never disappointed. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
For the 22 December, 2024 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show, Steve Densley hosted special guests Jasmine and Don Bradley. They discussed Don’s recent Christmas essay for Interpreter, as well as Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson 3.
The conversation between Steve Densley and the Bradleys was recorded, edited to remove commercial breaks, and archived, and it is now available for y9ur listening pleasure — at your convenience
The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.
“Six Days in August” isn’t the only Interpreter Foundation film project underway: Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt of the Seventy (on the left) sits on Wednesday, 8 May 2024, for an interview with Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (right, foreground) and Junior Banza (right, background) as part of the Interpreter Foundation’s ongoing “Not By Bread Alone” video series.
Have you seen the latest videos from the Interpreter Foundation’s Not by Bread Alone project? They’re available in English here. And they’re available here in French. And another video will be arriving soon, in both languages. (I’ve already seen it.) We’re doing these videos in both English and French because the Saints of Francophone Africa and of Anglophone Africa, as well as their neighbors, are a principal audience for this effort. It is, after all, their story. But it’s a story that we also want the rest of the Church to come to know and to be inspired by.
St. Paul’s Cathedral on 29 December 1940, during the “Blitz.” Eighty-four years later, our prospects are probably somewhat less gloomy than they were for the United Kingdom — and, for that matter, for the United States of America. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)
Today is the last day for us to accomplish the 2024 New Year’s goals that we set for ourselves twelve months ago. But there’s very little time left. It’s perhaps a little late, frankly, to form that new exercise habit for this year. And no, you probably can’t read all four of the Standard Works by midnight. Not even if you binge-read Leviticus. Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro don’t work instantly, and most if not all surgical weight-loss centers are either (a) altogether closed today or (b) scheduled to close early in anticipation of tonight’s New Year’s Eve revels. And, anyway, it’s probably too late to set up an appointment. Still, you needn’t feel altogether down-hearted: I’m happy to announce that, for the remainder of the day today, right up until the ball drops at midnight, you can still make a donation to the tax-exempt Interpreter Foundation and receive a 2024 write-off for it from the kind folks who run the Internal Revenue Service. And that will make you feel a whole lot better about the year. End 2024 in glorious triumph!
John William Waterhouse, “The Crystal Ball” (1902), in a public domain image from Wikimedia Commons
Of course, you might reasonably want to postpone your donation for just a little while out of prudence, to see whether the Interpreter Foundation survives overnight and into tomorrow.
Almost a dozen years ago now, on a far-away message board, a pseudonymous critic going by the moniker Bond James Bond took it upon himself to prophesy. And this is what he said. This is what Bond James Bond said. He said:
By Jan. 1, 2014 Interpreter will be dead. . . . Either totally dead or down to token “blog” style postings. (Bond James Bond, 25 January 2013)
The Interpreter Foundation was about five and a half months old when Mr. Bond pronounced his oracle. But the Foundation seems to have survived past the beginning of January 2014. (Prediction, as the saying from Yogi Berra goes, is very difficult. Especially when it’s about the future.) Perhaps, though, Mr. Bond misread his crystal ball. Maybe he made a typographical error. It’s possible that he meant that Interpreter would be dead by the beginning of January 2024. (But then he’d still be a year off. It’s all so confusing!) Speaking for myself, personally, I’m on absolute pins and needles. Could tomorrow be the end for the Interpreter Foundation? Inquiring minds want to know!
Thanksgiving Point, west of I-15 at the north end of Utah Valley (fair use)
Please mark 6-8 August 2025 on your calendar for the upcoming annual FAIR conference, which will be held at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. In fact, you can already buy your ticket. As they always are, this FAIR conference should be a great deal of fun, not to mention edifying and informative and faith-promoting.
The basic principles of The Other Side Academy (TOSA)
The Other Side Academy and its associated projects, with which I’ve had some slight and intermittent contact over the years — I’ve spoken there two or three times and, in January 2024, I accompanied a group of its leaders on a marvelous and unique tour of Egypt — represents one of the most admirable, most phenomenal, charitable undertakings of which I know. I think very highly of this group and its leaders and of what they’ve done, and I want other people to hear about them. Here’s a great new milestone: “‘A dream come true’: First of its kind homeless village opens in Utah — with more units to come”
If you can’t bring yourself to support the Interpreter Foundation, or if you still have funds available to you for charitable purposes after your donation to Interpreter, The Other Side Academy is most definitely a cause that you should consider. And, if you don’t delay, a donation made before midnight tonight can still count with the IRS as a tax-deductible contribution for the current year — which, as of today, is 2024.