The Book of Exodus can be divided into three parts: First, we witness the power of the Lord as he extends his arm against Pharaoh, sending the ten plagues and finally parting the Sea of Reeds, which swallows up Pharoah and his army, letting Moses and the Israelites escape into the wilderness. In the second part, Moses will ascend Mount Sinai and receive the law (Torah). The final section of the book is devoted to the construction and description of the tabernacle, or the portable temple the Israelites will carry with them over the next 38 years they spend in the desert.
A three-part division is also seen in the Sinai episode where the people are gathered at the bottom, the elders are partway up, and Moses is on top speaking with God. We see a similar tripartite division in the third section’s description of the tabernacle with its courtyard, Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies.
Later mystics and teachers would use these three-fold divisions to describe the soul’s journey to God, labeling the stages with terms such as ‘purification,’ contemplation,’ and ‘union’.
Riley and Shiloh talk about being born again as an emptying that is necessary to being filled with all that God has waiting for us to experience. What is waiting for us when we're able to empty ourselves every day? Is there a way to start over, even emptying our very concepts of God to allow the divine to work within us into something new and wondrous every day? The LDS Bible Dictionary's definition of repentance is "a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world." As repentance is a daily process, then we must learn to see God, ourselves, and the world anew every day. Although we may have been "born again" yesterday and the day before that, as Alma asks, "if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26). We hope you enjoy! ...
In this episode, Christopher and Riley discuss being present to our values and how we spend our time. They reminisce about the 60-second TV spots “Family. Isn’t It About . . . Time?” (Remember those?) Using these TV spots as a springboard, they talk about the process of formulating values, the difference between the quantity of time and quality of time, and the importance of being present to our values and how we spend our time. Whatever our subjective judgments about which activities might help us attain or keep what we value, hearing God in the process is a function of being present to the “still small voice” that speaks guidance to us in the moments along the way. ...
Riley and Christopher return to the topic of the Beatitudes, this time discussing the fifth out of eight Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). They explore mercy in light of it’s apparent opposite, justice, and seek a conjunction of opposites in the justice and mercy of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. ...
