Beyond The Block

18/08/2024

In case you're discussing in Sunday School today!

31/10/2023

I just had a thought. In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), the priest and the Levite likely assured themselves that they were “thinking celestial” while they were on the road. It is quite possible that they were coming back from the Temple. This happened at the same time that they ignored the person in need. The Samaritan was likely NOT artificially reminding himself to “think celestial” when he stopped to save the life of a stranger. He had lived into the maturity of character such that his external behavior naturally matched his internal love for neighbor. No cute, oversimplified platitudes necessary.

Jesus did not ask, “Which of these three was thinking celestially?” No, Jesus asked, “Which of these three was loving his neighbor?” Almost all abuse and mistreatment of others in the Church comes from people determined to “think celestial.” Almost all true power and virtue in the church comes from those who are determined to love their neighbor no matter the physical or social cost.

05/10/2023

Why I Stay/My Testimony

03/10/2023

On thinking celestial

25/09/2023

The Black Menaces have taught us a lot about idolatry in The Church and we need to pay attention

23/08/2023

"The sin next to murder"
Caption note: coral horror = Korihor

16/08/2023

Jesus on the rich and the poor

10/08/2023

What is official doctrine?

09/08/2023

On another weaponized phrase

31/07/2023

Stop using this phrase!

21/07/2023

Social Justice in the Book of Mormon

12/02/2023

By now, many people have heard of this week's temple changes.

In the upcoming episode, we talk about one of the landmark talks given by a prophet about change. Here are some excerpts from this talk, President Woodruff's 1894 general conference talk on the Law of Adoption, where he expresses humility, curiosity, and openness to change. He essentially tells people that the Church has been sealing people wrongly, and now we are going to fix it.

"I want to say, as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we should now go on and progress. We have not got through revelation. We have not got through the work of God."

"You have acted up to all the light and knowledge that you have had; but you have now something more to do than what you have done. We have not fully carried out those principles in fulfillment of the revelations of God to us, in sealing the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. I have not felt satisfied, neither did President Taylor, neither has any man since the Prophet Joseph who has attended to the ordinance of adoption in the temples of our God. We have felt that there was more to be revealed upon this subject than we had received."

This 1894 talk may serve as an important parallel when we talk about the eventual sealing of LGBT families together! The restoration has not ended. IT'S JUST BEGINNING!!!

02/01/2023

We're back, and funnier than ever!!!

Check out our new episode on Matthew 1 and Luke 1 when it drops today!

Listen for how the concept of "family" is challenged and redefined in the NT. Listen for how patriarchy is subverted. Listen for how ethnic boundaries are transgressed. Listen for how God moves in the margins, accomplishing things outside the official institutional structures. Listen as Jesus comforts the afflicted and "afflicts" the comfortable. And listen as we pray for God's will to be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven, not just delayed until the next life.

We're back!!!!!!

02/01/2023

Sup

1 Like and we drop episode tomorrow

27/09/2022

Reading in and from the margins in the Book of Mormon

24/09/2022

There doesn't seem to be anything prophetic about distinguishing the first from the second commandment when such an exercise can be used to justify, in the name of God, either discrimination or radical inclusion.

03/09/2022

The Menaces and Bro. Jones are both quoted in this piece by Max Perry Mueller, author of Race and the Making of the Mormon People

A visiting volleyball player heard a racist heckler. LDS history sets the rest of the story apart.

27/07/2022

Mordecai was the cousin and adoptive father of Esther. While Esther occupies the queen’s throne, he works for the king in some capacity.

When Mordecai learns of the plot to exterminate the Jews, he is understandably distressed. He takes his loud lamentation all through the city and to the king’s gate, effectively turning his lament into a protest as well.

Esther, who had been sitting pretty in the palace about five years did not know about what was going on in the outside world, let alone the impending genocide of her people. Without this context, all she saw was Mordecai making a scene in sackcloth and ashes, so she sent him clothes, as if to say “pull yourself together, you are making a scene”. She probably meant well, but she didn’t know any better and ended up responding inappropriately, thinking (or wanting to think) the issue was clothes. Mordecai in turn refused the clothes. He didn’t want to be clothed. More to the point, he didn’t want to be silenced, pacified, ignored, or otherwise forced to compose himself because others were uncomfortable with his lament. He would be heard.

Mordecai had to remind Esther who she was and bridge the distance between her and her people that 5 years in the palace had created. He also had to tell her the truth about what was happening in their nation, even if it was unpleasant. The cost of not knowing was far greater than the cost of knowing. As James Baldwin wrote, “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things that you don’t see”. And after making her conscious, he told her what she needed to do: “Go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people”. And, as we learn from the rest of the story, it was when Queen Esther understood the plight of her people that she was able to help her people.

Like Vashti’s courage made way for Esther to become queen, Mordecai’s courage got Esther proximate to injustice that she might act appropriately.

26/07/2022

As short as the Book of Esther is, it is full of lessons about doing what’s right even when it’s hard or unpopular or even illegal.

Today, we’ll start with Queen Vashti. Like many other women in history, we don’t talk enough about her. In some interpretations of the story, she is read as petty and vain. But we will choose one that reads her as the courageous frontrunner to Esther that she is and learn from her.

Esther’s story begins with Queen Vashti, specifically Queen Vashti’s defiance of the king. At the end of a 6 month long party and display of political and military power, King Ahasuerus summoned her to a room full of drunken powerful men to basically show her off. As an object of the king’s possession, she’d likely be diminished and disrespected in some way.

Queen Vashti said no.

And in refusing, she not only embarrassed the king, but she broke the law and undermined the patriarchy so much that the power of the state had to be weaponized to address the threat she posed. In essence, they were afraid that if the queen says no to the king, all the other women might get the idea that they can say no to their husbands! (Esther 1:16-18)

The consequence was swift and severe. She was banished from the kingdom and we never see her name again in the text.

We can certainly learn from Queen Vashti’s courage to stand up for herself in the face of dehumanizing acts. One lesson is that we can’t compromise our dignity to make our existence more comfortable for others or to please them. Some things are far worse than losing a relationship, a position of power, wealth, social standing, etc. Still another lesson, Vashti’s courage cost her everything and she had to face the consequences alone. Doing what’s right is not guaranteed to protect you or prosper you. But even still, Vashti’s courage paved the way for Esther’s ascent to the throne and subsequent rescue of the Jews.

13/07/2022

We were so excited to sit down with Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming to discuss the recently released 2nd volume of their groundbreaking work Book of Mormon for the Least of These.

You heard us quote the first volume many times during the Book of Mormon year and we're extremely grateful that this work is now out in the world. We cannot overstate how impactful, prophetic, and necessary this work is and we know you will be better equipped to help build what MLK called "beloved community" for having prayerfully engaged Fatimah and Margaret's work.

Listen and then get yourself a copy of the book if you haven't already :)

They're back and we're discussing their newly released, much needed and anticipated Book of Mormon for the Least of These: Volume 2. We discuss some of the content in addition to the process and experience of writing this work at a very interesting time in human history.Find Book of Mormon for the L...

12/07/2022

Our episode with At Last She Said It dropped today. Hope you enjoy and tell your friends about them!

https://beyondtheblockpodcast.com/episodes/bonus-at-last-she-said-it-s1!df152

Joined today by our friends Susan and Cynthia of At Last She Said It. Our dialogue focuses on what brought them into their ministry, their goals, and how women navigate membership in the church.

10/07/2022

Multiple times in this week’s reading, the servants and outcasts display wisdom that the mighty don’t have. It’s was a young servant girl that brought Elisha to Naaman’s attention and then later it was Naaman’s servants who encouraged him to follow Elisha’s instructions so that the Lord could work his miracles through his prophet. Later, when Israel is experiencing a severe famine it was outcast lepers that brought the news of easily accessible provisions and then servants that encouraged the king to investigate - wisdom the king didn’t have that eventually saved Israel from famine.

This theme of God working miracles and moving their purposes through the least of these isn’t new. At the beginning of our study this year, we acknowledged that part of the “big story” of the Bible would be a pattern of God working through and with the “other” - the refugee, the barren woman, the last born son, the slave, the poor, etc. Oftentimes, it is those in these situations through whom God will show their majesty, instruct their people, and save them from destruction.

We had a wonderful conversation with our friends over at At Last She Said It earlier today (that we’re excited to release soon) and it was a great reminder that many of the solutions to many of our institutional problems can be solved by simply listening to those with the least power.

05/07/2022

Previously on the podcast, we’ve referenced one the famous Elisha stories in this week’s reading to talk about our gratitude for those who have supported us and our cause as well as the source of our strength and stamina in this work.

When Elisha’s prophetic power gets him in trouble with the King of Aram, the King sends a whole army to capture him. When the servant of Elisha saw the army surrounding their city, he understandably worries. Elisha, however, responds with the famous words in 2 Kings 6:16: “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.”

The following verse is how we describe our own experience since starting this project we call Beyond the Block: “…The Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha”. We feel that since beginning what was a scary and vulnerable but necessary work, our eyes have been opened to see so many who are not just understanding of our work, but supportive of it and even actively doing work themselves. Further, we have felt and seen the divine support us throughout this journey in many ways. Bottom line is, though it sometimes feels otherwise, we’re not alone and the Lord has helped us to see that.

In this season of rest, we pray that you who have let us be part of your journey or have joined us in ours have your eyes open and know that those who are working for your success and affirmation are far more than those who are against it.

We love you. God be with you all.

29/06/2022

Imagine being Israel’s king, turning to false gods, turning your people to false gods, building temples and altars to those false gods AND THEN having the audacity to call the prophet who decreed the consequential drought “troubler of Israel”. (1 Kings 18:17)

You are King Ahab, worst king of Israel to this point in the text (1 Kings 16:30).

Now imagine subscribing to queerphobic policies, limits on women’s voices and power, and refusal to grapple honestly or intentionally with its history of racism AND THEN having the audacity to call the people attempting to rectify those inequities “divisive”.

You are too much of American Christianity, claiming to follow the same Christ who prioritized justice for the least of these.

23/06/2022

People are complicated.

Last week, we talked about the faith, courage, and righteousness of David. This week, we spoke a lot of his flaws. He was the man who courageously slew Goliath and also the man who had Uriah killed so that he could take his wife.
Solomon was the man who wrote thousands of proverbs and has legendary wisdom. He was also almost everything a king shouldn’t be, as declared by the Lord - many wives and horses plus idolatry - not to mention imperialism and enslavement.

People are complex. Sacred texts are complex (partly because they’re written by people). We should be careful not to get caught up in binary thinking in how we assess the text, individuals, or our faith. It’s not all bad or all good. And our responsibility is to engage the bad and good appropriately and hold them in tension with one another. We sustain the brethren AND we hold them accountable for bigotry. We believe this is the restored church AND we acknowledge the problematic histories and policies. We believe the Bible to be the word of God AND we acknowledge the texts of terror and that it is a record with very human fingerprints.

All good or all bad would be easier to deal with. Perhaps that’s why we see people try so hard to only acknowledge one or the other. But with the prophets and patriarchs we’ve studied this year like Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and David, we’ve seen that they and their stories aren’t so cut and dry. We could just as easily say the same of our Latter-day prophets. You’ve heard us quote the wisdom of Brigham Young and criticize him in the same episode! Because of this, we have to exercise more care when reading the text and we should exercise more care when dealing with our leaders, our doctrine, and each other.

20/06/2022

Hello friends!

In case you haven't heard our most recent episode yet, we'll be taking a break from producing Come Follow Me podcast content.

As we're able we'll still be sharing our insights from the Come Follow Me on social media and we'll still do the occasional interview, general conference, and other topical episodes as necessary. We may very well return now and again for to discuss other CFM lessons, but for the time being, your boys must rest.

Love you all and thank you for your support!

15/06/2022

When the meets current events

12/06/2022

Just as Ruth used her privilege to help Naomi, and Boaz used his privilege to help Ruth and Naomi both, we must use our privilege to be allies to those on the margins. Both operated within the system already in place to help those dispossessed by it. The unnamed nearer kinsman to Naomi who declined the opportunity to purchase Naomi’s land and take Ruth to wife is an example of someone unwilling to divest of privilege. He was willing to redeem Naomi's land because that was beneficial, but when he learned that Ruth would come with the land, he feared what he would lose.

This is a trap all people of privilege can fall into. We'll rainbow wash our social media or throw up Black squares or make a Juneteenth ice cream flavor no one asked for because that's easy or could make us look good. But when it's time to do real work - which, at least initially, is often more difficult and more costly - we retreat.

When people begin to see that there is a cost to their allyship and that they stand to lose something (even while gaining more in the end), it can cause many to step away from proper allyship simply because it simply costs too much or it's too inconvenient. And, like the appropriately unnamed nearer kinsman, we end up nothing more than an unnamed footnote in the story of humanity. While there is likely to be a very real cost to becoming an ally—we should fear more what we lose if we don’t become an ally.