And Yet, We Believe

Our church meetings have had a very similar feel or vibe for basically our whole lives. Maybe a few things have changed here and there, but it has been pretty consistent for a lot of years. What would a revamp look like? Would there be a benefit in refocusing our meetings on the Savior? Could we make room for more spiritual experiences and connections with God?

What did Jesus look like? And, notably, why does it matter?   Depictions of Jesus have changed a lot over time, from dark skin and light skin to gentle and fierce. But the most important thing is that everybody is able to see themselves in deity, and understand that they too are divine.   In this episode, we reference the following images and book if you want to see them. Warner Sallman, Head of C...

We are probably all guilty of participating in negative conversations on the internet. Why are they so easy to fall into? We know it is tempting to want to set someone straight and point out all the ways they are causing harm with their viewpoint. But what would happen if we just kept scrolling? We acknowledge that sometimes we have to say something. We don’t want people to sit back and be doormat...

Is it possible for two people to feel very differently about the same Sunday School lesson? You bet. Is it possible for one person to feel welcome in their ward, and another person to feel unwelcome in the same ward? For sure. Sometimes we get so locked in on our own experience that we end up invalidating the experience of others. In this episode we talk about how we’ve seen this happen, and how w...

Talking about hope can go in so many different directions. We try to keep it away from a toxic positivity version as much as we can. Hope can be in specific things or more broad. In this episode, we talk about the story from the Bible where Jesus joins two men on the road to Emmaus. Join us as we dive into what we can learn about hope from this story. 

We all have a bunch of different things that make up our identity—from our favorite sports teams to our preferred political party. The problem comes when those things get in the way of living a Christ-like life. If a part of our identity is making us hateful toward another group of people, then our priorities are mixed up.

Is change possible in the church? We may not have access to make official changes for the whole church, but we can absolutely advocate for change in our homes and wards. As Sister Becky Craven said, “Enduring to the end means changing to the end.” Change may be scary, but it is necessary as we work to build Zion here on earth.

Mercy might be the only thing that can heal our society. We talk in this episode about how showing mercy means recognizing and centering the human dignity in another person. It doesn’t mean excusing behavior, but it does mean seeking to understand even those who are wildly different from us.

When we go to church, are we having the same experience as the person sitting next to us? When we try to explain our spiritual experiences, can we ever explain what we have felt or learned in a way that the other person will fully understand? Since our perspectives and experiences are vastly different, that means it is up to each one of us to make room for everyone, regardless of how they are show...

What does it really mean to repent? And is that the same thing as being forgiven? In the Church we tend to teach repentance as being a transactional list of steps, when it may be more about just turning our hearts to God.

Receiving revelation can be messy. We always thought the leadership of the church received revelation as a complete and prepared package, possibly through a light-filled conduit directly from God. But we have recently learned that the process could look quite different. We also discuss what personal revelation looks like and how we may need to stretch beyond our current capabilities to figure out...

We hear a lot about "traditional family values" around us in society today--but it doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. Are we loving our neighbor when their family looks different from ours? Are we trying to be as loving and inclusive as the Savior was?

"Lord, is it I?" Is there a more humbling and difficult question we are called to ask? In this episode, we get into some scriptures and some behavioral psychology, and we talk about the divided and difficult issues our American society is facing right now. How can we be peacemakers in the myriad of conversations happening online right now? We might need to start by asking, Lord, is it I?

This was a great and vulnerable conversation. We almost never hear about how patriarchy harms men, both in the Church and in society. But it's a real thing, showing up as suppressed and unprocessed emotions, worthiness anxiety, and in countless other ways. And this means even more to us, as the parents of four boys.

Do we really, truly, actually believe we are all children of Heavenly Parents? Our theology tells us that we are literal children of Heavenly Parents, thus making us all siblings. So if we believe that, do we have a greater responsibility to care for one another? Are we only required to care for those who are baptized into our church? Does this belief dictate how we are to treat immigrants and mem...

We all go through this process--order, disorder, reorder. But sometimes just knowing that it's a process, and that there's something that comes after the painful disorder, is enough to keep us pushing through.

Raise your hand if you feel like you are never doing quite enough at church? Unfortunately, we have adopted a culture of always needing to do "more." More ministering. More temple attendance. More service. More scripture reading. Those can all be good things, but not if they make us overwhelmed or over-burdened. The gospel isn't a checklist that keeps growing into eternity.

In this episode, we talked about times from scripture and Church history when actions were attributed to God that don't jive with the idea of our Heavenly Parents loving all of Their children--and how to reconcile that.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into certainty. Key takeaway: certainty is the opposite of faith!

We try hard for the things we post to be faith-promoting, even if we're talking about difficult things. There is space in this church for people who have questions and concerns, but still love the gospel. That's us. Here is a top 5 from each of us on things we love about the gospel, even as question-having, deconstructing, finding-where-we-fit Latter-day Saints.

In this episode, we talk about living others "too much" but also why we feel a need to pass judgment on others. Why do we do this?! Is there a time or place where we have finally "arrived" and we get to judge others freely? Will any of us on earth ever get to cast that first stone? We don't think that's how it works. Watch the video and let us know what you think!

What does it mean for the church to be true? Does it mean it only teaches truth? Or that it has all the truth? In this episode, we dig into how we as Latter-day Saints approach this, and how hopefully we’re being inclusive and loving of those of other faiths.

In this episode, we talk all about the social community or connection at church. Should the church be our primary source for community? What's the purpose of social connection at church?

Filming right before the 4th of July, we dipped our toes into whether we should have patriotic songs, talks, etc. in our worship services. And while patriotism is a noble thing, it probably doesn't belong mixed in with our worship of God and our Savior Jesus Christ on Sundays.

In this episode, we talk all about prayer. I think it is safe to say that most of us were raised placing a lot of stock or weight on prayers. "Ask and it shall be given," etc. But what happens when our prayers aren't answered? Can we ever share in a testimony that things aren't tied up in a bow and were still sitting in the messy middle?