We’re sometimes obliged, as in this instance, to scrape the bottom of the barrel.  But the fact remains that this is the 176th consecutive Friday (out of the 177.5 total weeks of its existence) that Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture has published at least one new article:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/making-visible-the-beauty-and-goodness-of-the-gospel/     Read more

    The despicable murderer Syed Farooq and the despicable murderess Tashfeen Malik are receiving a great deal of attention, as they should.   But I see it as a moral duty not to permit the victims of their crime simply to be forgotten.  They were people, irreplaceable, infinitely valuable, with uniquely individual lives and experiences and hopes and capacities and potentials.   And they’re gone.  Lost to us.   Here are brief and, necessarily, grossly inadequate portraits of them,... Read more

    Interesting archaeological news out of Mexico City:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexico-experts-passageway-may-lead-to-aztec-ruler/2015/12/01/17eeaf54-988f-11e5-aca6-1ae3be6f06d2_story.html     Read more

    Jacob Hess suggests a way to help Latter-day Saints and their critics get beyond the hateful, polarizing rhetoric that has ensued in the wake of the Church’s policy explanation on homosexual marriages and children being raised in homosexual homes:   https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/jacob-hess/are-mormons-villains-or-just-people-with-different-story-about-their-ident   I’m not optimistic — demonizing and hating those with whom one disagrees seems to offer a perverse sort of gratification in all too many cases — but I like this article.     Read more

    Luke 22:35-38   a)  Jesus seems to be speaking metaphorically here, but his disciples misunderstand and take him literally.   b)  He’s definitely predicting an imminent time when society and dominant opinion will be hostile to the ancient Church.   c)  We should never have expected that society and dominant opinion would be friendly to the modern, restored Church.     Read more

    Neal Rappleye suggests a rich new meaning for the beloved but (perhaps) originally pagan symbol of the Christmas tree:   http://www.studioetquoquefide.com/2015/12/behold-love-of-god-christmas-vision.html     Read more

    An essay from the estimable Ralph Hancock:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandcity/2015/12/april-1971-nothing-new-here-just-same-ol-mormonism/     Read more

    Matthew 26:30-35 Mark 14:26-31 Luke 22:31-34 John 13:36-38 Compare Matthew 28:7, 10; Mark 16:7; Luke 22:39; John 16:32; 18:1; 21:15-17   One of the signs of the truthfulness of the gospel accounts is their forthright portrayal of what is usually regarded as the very human weakness of Peter, despite his subsequent reputation as the “Rock” and a “pillar” of the church.   There’s no attempt to whitewash or glorify him.     Read more

    As the next installment in the campaign “A Savior is Born,” the Gardiner Sisters perform a classic traditional Christmas carol:   https://www.mormon.org/christmas/gardiner-sisters     Read more

    I’ve always loved Gustav Holst’s beautiful setting of Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter.”  Listen, here, to choir and congregation sharing the wonder of the piece and its message:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ     Read more