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Pharisees and the Word of Wisdom

Deseret News - Today I thought I would provide my insider's list of foods and drinks that are and are not allowed based on the Word of Wisdom. It is a list compiled over many years of listening to people offer their enlightened insights and interpretation of Doctrine and Covenants 89. OK, I don't have a list. But if I had kept one it would knock your socks off, proverbially speaking. Several weeks ago I was in my brother's ward in Arlington, Va. The gospel doctrine teacher is Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah. The lesson was on D&C 89. When he began he said something...

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From boy band to Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Salt Lake Tribune - In the 1990s, performing in the British boy band Awesome, Alex Boyé's backup singers wore silver spandex and moved like more soulful versions of the Backstreet Boys. On YouTube, you can witness Boyé dancing in front of a row of trombones and trumpets, channeling Motown. Fast forward 14 years to June, when he offered soaring solo performances of American spirituals in cities across the Midwest, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing gospel chords behind him -- the biggest backup group ever, and probably the least expected. Boyé's showmanship garnered praise in every case, along with incredulous reactions from other blacks he...

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"Mormon Tabernacle Choir Day" is proclaimed on the event of 80th anniversary

Deseret News - One of Utah's most acclaimed organizations, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, commemorated on Sunday morning the 80th anniversary of its weekly program, "Music and the Spoken Word." The half-hour program is the world's longest-running continuous network broadcast. Among the program's celebrants was President Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who serves also as the choir's adviser. In remarks during a program after the weekly broadcast, President Monson said that as he sat in the audience at Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver during the choir's final concert on its recent tour, he offered a silent prayer...

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The journeys of modern Mormon pioneers

Deseret News - The term "Mormon Pioneer" brings to mind images of oxen-drawn wagons and handcarts in the famous migration to Utah that began in 1847. Especially if you live in North America. But for Latter-day Saints outside the church's U.S. homeland or its long-established congregations in western Europe, "pioneer" is as likely to describe a current or recent state of being -- not an antiquity. So in the global church vernacular, the upcoming Pioneer Day holiday on July 24 may be just the marker for the beginning of an era that will not be exhausted as long as the church and its members...

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The Church sets the record straight on Plaza incident

Mormon Newsroom - There has been a good deal of publicity surrounding an incident where two men were cited for trespassing because of belligerent and profane behavior on the Church Plaza, which is an extension of the Salt Lake City Temple grounds and Church headquarters. While this property is owned by the Church, we want it to be a place of beauty and serenity in downtown Salt Lake City for everyone. As we said earlier on this matter, these men were asked to stop engaging in behavior deemed inappropriate for any couple on the Plaza. There was much more involved than a simple kiss...

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The reawakening of modesty

STL Today - One evening several days before the 1963 high school prom at St. Mary's High School, all attendees were required to bring their prom dresses to the convent for vetting by our principal, Mother Mary Cajetan. Everybody knew up front that no strapless dress would be approved — not, anyway, without tacked-on wide straps, improvised modesty panels and who knew what all, so why bother? Necklines judged too low would be raised with lace insertions. Spaghetti straps would be bulked up. At the time, I have to say, it seemed excessive: What sort of God would consign a girl to eternal damnation...

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Saving historic LDS chapels

Salt Lake Tribune - One glance around the 1924 Yale Ward Chapel and Martine Smith was hooked. Previously worshipping in a spanking new Mormon meetinghouse in Louisiana, Smith was dazzled by the light playing on Jesus' robe in the stained-glass window in Yale's chapel, the white pews with dark wood trim, the vaulted ceiling and sloping floor. "I felt inspired and elevated," says Smith, who has been going to the Salt Lake City chapel for the past 14 years. "And every Sunday I still do." The Yale meetinghouse is among a handful of historic chapels that still exist from The Church of Jesus Christ of...

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The building of temples still provides opportunities to serve

Deseret News - They only had four weeks. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was changed to Dec. 16, 2006. Robert Homer, president of the South Jordan Utah Highland Stake, moved his members into action. Because of the change there wasn't enough to time to coordinate fully among the 26 Mormon stakes in the new temple district. The designated spot for the groundbreaking was hard-packed by early construction traffic. "It was solid," Homer said. The cold earth had to be coaxed out bit by bit with picks. A ceremonial trough in the ground was filled with soft soil. A tent...

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God's Words Never Cease: The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Continuing Revelation

Mormon Newsroom -

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The voice of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Speaks

LDS Church News - For the past 19 years, Lloyd D. Newell has introduced the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to audiences in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, in the Conference Center and on stages at various concert venues in many states and nations. His is the voice that provides the narration for the choir's weekly network broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word." On concert tours, his announcements give audiences a personalized glimpse into the lives of members of the choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. On the concert tour from June 18-30, for example, his narration included interesting bits of information, such as the last...