Utah Part 2- The Temple

Visiting the temple was a bizarre experience. Coming from the conference where I was engaging in dialogue with thoughtful Mormon theologians and students, I felt like I had set foot in another dimension. Visiting the temple means much more then just one building. It is a relatively large property that encapsulates a myriad of buildings, chapels, grounds, museums, and dining areas. The whole area is swarming with helpful Mormons who seem incredibly eager to assist you in any way possible: Give you directions, a tour, information or history, and even their own personal testimony. The tour guides are all young, prettily dressed women who come from all over the world. I know that serving at the temple is an option for missionary service(side note: all Mormon men are required to give two years of missionary service. Women only need do this if they experience a particular "calling". And even then, their term is only 18 months), however, I found it intriguing that only woman were fulfilling their service there. What is the rationale for this? I hesitate to speculate.

The two women who gave us the tour were completely sincere and passionate about their faith, sprinkling bits of their testimony amidst their explanations of Mormon history. At one point in the tour, we sat in front of a 10-12 foot statue of Jesus, and listened to a deep-God like voice speak about Mormonism. We concluded the tour by watching an hour long film dramatizing Joseph Smith's life. This was very revealing...all the controversial aspects of his history had been left out. Not only that, even the visual effects of the film seemed slightly one-sided. He was a handsome, blond haired, blued eyed man who looked incredibly pious the whole movie, while the people who opposed or persecuted the Mormons had stringy, greasy hair, rotten teeth, and spoke in snarls and grunts.

The temple square is an aesthetically beautiful place; every piece of architecture is exquisitely done. Nonetheless, I was very uneasy at this manifestation of their faith. Perhaps it was the pretty young girls, who, although earnest and sincere, almost seemed parrot-like in their affirmations of the truth. Maybe it was the realization that their faith was so tied to a location, and this presented a more cult-like feeling to the whole experience. Whatever the case, I was there too short a time...I wish I would have had more time to explore.

The Chicks: A tearjerking loss

Today's game was both exhilarating and heartbreaking. We lost with the close score of 13 to 8. Our defense was incredible. In fact, there were no scoring in 2/3 of the first half because they simply could not penetrate our defense. (And let me tell you, the guys in the opposing team were getting a tad frustrated). I believe we would have won if we could have played with our usual flare in our offensive game. We simply had way too many incompletes.

Near the end of the game, I could taste the victory. My vision became tunnel-like, looking for the holes in the defense, the noise of the crowd was droned out by my own heartbeat(okay, maybe there was only about 4 people on the sidelines), and even the huge Amazon man on the opposing team looked like he was made out of paper to me(he's not really from the Amazon but he seriously could have starred in "The last of the Mohicans"). In the end, even this primal-like aggression was not enough to score that final goal we needed. With a few seconds left in the game, one of our player's flags was pulled only a few inches from the touchdown line.

So, our current standings are 2:2. If you don't know what that means, it means we've won two and lost two. That's quite respectable when compared to our standings last year(which I will not reveal here for copyright(and embarassment) purposes). The news is starting to get around...the Chicks are dangerous. I found out from a "source" on the opposing team that an email had gone out a couple of days before the game warning everyone not to underestimate us. Mmmmmmmmm.......music to my ears!

The sights and sounds of Utah

"So where do you think your spirit was before this life?" "What do you think the relationship of your family will be after death?" "If you use the Bible as your only authority, why do you have so many denominations?"

These were just some of the questions I was asked by my new Latter Day Saint friends this past weekend in Utah. The weekend was fascinating, although it raised many more questions than it answered. I will share with you a few highlights.

First, having the freedom to ask questions and hear how I am percieved as an evangelical by someone of a different faith was intriguing. As my opening quotations illustrate, the questions asked were just as revealing as the answers given. For example, eternal marriage and families are an imporant belief for those of the LDS faith.

Second, the Dean of the Intercultural School at Fuller was one of the conference presenters . The paper he gave was itself a brilliant missiological reflection, and yet the real highlight was the compelling way in which he presented it. I felt I was witnessing someone speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit: courageous, truthful, compassionate, and filled with an authority that seemed to surpass his humanity.

Third, one of the presentations by a popular and prominent LDS theologian was incredible. She told a testimony of encountering Christ a few years ago and how that changed her life. After her story, there wasn't a member of our little Fuller group who wasn't thinking, "If she hasn't experience salvation, than none of us has."

So of course that raises many questions. There are, without a doubt, disturbing theological differences between the LDS church and the orthodox church. However, I begin to suspect that God is doing something within the confines of the LDS church. This woman is the most popular theology professor at Brigham Young University, and she has enormous influence over hundreds of students each year. And you know what she is teaching her students? They come in thinking that evangelicals believe that one can accept grace and then live however one chooses whereas Mormons work for their grace. She challenges that assumption, and from the "Quad" (the Mormon holy books which encompass the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants), shows how it is through Christ, and Christ alone, that salvation, and therefore true life, comes.

Confusing? Exciting? Disturbing? Join the crowd! I will save my commentary on the LDS temple(which we toured) for another entry...this one is becoming a tad too long.

I see....UTAH....in my future!

This weekend I head to Salt Lake City to attend a conference for Mormons and Evangelicals regarding both the need for and the potential pitfalls of dialogue. I will be going with a few other people from Fuller, and there will be some professors from Fuller speaking. This was a totally unexpected surprise and gift...and I cannot tell you how excited I am! I hope to be able to visit the temple, have interesting conversations with Mormons, and have at least one unexpected adventure. You can expect a blog entry following this weekend which will hopefully detail these three areas.

P.S. The Pasadena parking mafia must have caught word about this good news in my life. To pour a little rain on my parade, they issued me yet another parking ticket today while I was at work. My blood continues to heat at a slow simmer on this matter......

Now I may be biased.......

but the Chicks are really cool. I think we may have more plays up our sleeve than the standard NFL team. Tonight at practice, Coach Ipp ran us through some new twists and turns of plays that were already slightly twisted and turned. If you were in a Chicks huddle during a game, here is what you might hear when Ipp calls the play:

"Spread Right, Counter Left, Utah Right"
or
"Eye Pro, Twins Right,Smash, Hook, Center Shuffle, Guard Flat"

Don't be surprised if you idly turn on the T.V. some day and you see the first ever women's professional flag football league. If the WNBA did it, by golly, why not us? And seriously, who wouldn't want to watch us? Forget the "burly" guys in tights and shoulder pads(by the way, guys, those really went out in the 80's), because we are like lithe cheetahs on the field.

GO CHICKS!!

The Nobodies

The Nobodies

Who are not, but could be.
Who don’t speak languages, but dialects.
Who don’t have religions, but superstitions.
Who don’t create art, but handicrafts.
Who don’t have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who don’t have faces, but arms.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the police blotter of the local paper.
The nobodies, that are not worth the bullet that kills them

Eduardo Galeanao
The Book of Embraces
W. W. Norton, 1991

I don't believe it has ever occured to me that it is the powerful, educated, and affluent that often write history, thereby taking upon him/herself to describe the worlds of the nobodies.