milk & honey mamas

Theological Background by Kristen This week, two of my favorite people died. Both have influenced me deeply and both died far too young. One was a well-known scholar and the other was famous among her vast network of friends and family. Both were pillars of insight, wisdom, faith, humor, kindness, and life. I find that…

Theological Background by Kristen Remember playing the telephone game? One person whispers a phrase into the next person’s ear, going around and around trying—as goofily as possible—to discern the original phrase. Usually, of course, the phrase has been delightfully distorted and the group can laugh at the linguistic morphing. In the game, such shifts are…

Theological Background by Kristen In what we read as a few chapters between Enos and Words of Mormon, we find the records of a civilization over hundreds of years. We encounter these professedly vast people through the reports of a few men. Their accounts, and their identities, differ significantly. Enos records his own conversion experience…

Theological Background by Kristen Zenos wrote about olive trees. Olive trees, and Israel. Whoever Zenos was, his voice is lost to history. But it is not lost to Jacob. Zenos is perhaps to Jacob what Isaiah was to Nephi. He resonates with this story in a way that tells us something about what he understood…

Contributed by Kristen This is a repost from last year. All of our Easter posts, as well as resources, music and art can be found under the “Easter” tab. As a hospital Chaplain, one of the most common things I heard in hospital rooms was, “I know other people have it worse.” Objectively, they may…

Theological background by Kristen And so we come to the end of Nephi’s writing. The last of the family to remember Jerusalem, he has been a bridge writer. Nephi has identified with the prophecies of Isaiah as symbols of his family’s covenant relationship that will bring them from exile to reunion, from estrangement to restoration.…

Nephi’s interpretation of Isaiah, written for children by Kristen: Dear one, where do you go when you are sad, or hurt, or worried? What brings you comfort?  You know, Nephi got sad and worried too. He was very worried, because he loved his family so very much. He wanted them to know how much he…

Theological Background by Kristen What is Isaiah doing in the Book of Mormon? Scholars have been asking this question for a long time, and there are lots of different answers. What answers have you been given? Maybe we have some of the same ideas, maybe not. Maybe you love “the Isaiah chapters,” maybe your eyes…