Contents

New Year's greeting
Prophetic thought
Tsunami aid
United in prayer
Martin Luther King: "Creative extremists"
Out of the best books
Sunday School notebook
Upcoming events and observances

There are some days that I wish each of you could sit where I sit and see what I see when it comes to MESJ. I have the very interesting privilege of being MESJ’s Public Liaison. This means I get to read (and answer) all the email, as well as attend all the meetings, socials, and activities. I have heard a lot, read a lot, and learned a lot.

In thinking over this past year of 2004, I smile to think of all the lives and communities that MESJ has been involved with. In 2004, we started our newsletter, Anxiously Engaged, and I feel this has been particularly impactful for those on our email list who may be unable to get involved in a “hands on” kind of way. Reading the newsletter reminds us that we are not alone in our pursuit for peace, justice, and equality.

Also in 2004, we had two resolution conferences in January and May (you can view the new resolutions on women’s empowerment and immigration online) and MESJ continued its involvement with International Woman’s Day and the Coalition of Religious Communities in Utah. The Utah County chapter was re-formed, and the Las Vegas chapter was started. Each chapter participated in their own community’s events and issues.

I hope in 2005 to see more chapters form; I have my particular eye on Los Angeles and Washington DC. Anxiously Engaged will continue to go out each month, and I encourage you to write in your questions and comments. I hope to see local members at resolutions conferences and MESJ- sponsored family home evenings or other activities. (The Salt Lake chapter will start off the year with our traditional Martin Luther King Day celebration and FHE in January.)

Thank you for your participation and your interest in focusing your faith on creating a better society for us all.

Two anniversaries important to MESJ fall in January. January 15 is the anniversary of the 1998 First Presidency letter encouraging Latter-day Saints to become involved, of their own initiative, in worthy causes to improve their communities. January 16 is the anniversary of the first MESJ meeting, which was inspired by the First Presidency's letter.

This month's prophetic thought is an except from the First Presidency's January 15, 1998, call for citizen participation.

We wish to reiterate the divine counsel that members "should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness" (D&C 58:27) while using gospel principles as a guide and while cooperating with other like-minded individuals.

Through such wise participation as citizens, we are then in better compliance with this scripture: "Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and … he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them" (D&C 134:1).

Therefore, as in the past, we urge members of the Church to be full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs.

Source: "News of the Church,” Ensign ( April 1998): 77.

We've all been horrified by the mounting death count from the recent tsunami in Asia. At the time of this writing, the number of estimated deaths was expected to pass 150,000. Many times that number are still at risk of disease and death. Some five million people are reported to be homeless.

In a statement about the tsunami issued on December 29, 2004, the First Presidency urged Latter-day Saints to be especially generous in their January fast offerings. If you haven't already done so, please supplement your regular fast offering this month with an extra donation for the aid of tsunami survivors.

The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion is now over 1300, plus about 300 deaths of other Coalition troops and U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The official number of U.S. troops who have been wounded in Iraq is close to 10,000.

The number of civilian deaths in Iraq as a result of the invasion is difficult to determine. One estimate places the number between 15,000 and 17,000 (Iraq Body Count). A controversial study by researchers at John Hopkins, published in The Lancet, gives a much higher estimate of 100,000. About 85% of those deaths are alleged to have been caused by Coalition forces (specifically, air strikes and artillery).

Please remember in your prayers the safety of all who are endangered by the ongoing military actions in Iraq. And pray for peace.

Is there a cause related to MESJ's mission statement and principles that you would like to encourage us to remember in our prayers? Contact the Media Director at jcduffy@hotmail.com. Please include Anxiously Engaged in the subject line.

The following excerpts are taken from Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963. King had been incarcerated after helping to lead a nonviolent protest. He wrote this letter in response to a statement by a group of white clergy, who had condemned the protest as "unwise and untimely" and who deplored what they called the "extreme measures" of the civil rights movement.

I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to 6e solid rock of human dignity.

. . . Though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . . " So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime---the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Be sure to check out MESJ's Martin Luther King-themed family home evening ideas and electronic greeting cards (thumbnails below).

Editor's note: The scriptures encourage us to "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" (D&C 88:118). In that spirit, we invite readers to submit reviews of books about the intersection of faith and social activism that you find enlightening or inspiring.

The Heart of Christianity, Rediscovering a Life of Faith
by Marcus Borg (Harper San Francisco, 2003)

Marcus Borg is a Christian scholar who promotes a new way of seeing Christianity. This "emerging" vision has been developing for over a hundred years and has recently become a major grassroots movement within mainline denominations. This movement may be interesting to MESJ as an example of how people in other faith communities seek to apply their faith to social issues of today.

The new vision of Christianity that Borg discusses "is the product of Christianity's encounter with the modern and postmodern world, including science, historical scholarship, religious pluralism, and cultural diversity." Because of this encounter, many Christians today have a new "awareness of how Christianity has contributed to racism, sexism, nationalism, exclusivism, and other harmful ideologies."

The entire seventh chapter of Borg's book is dedicated to social and political transformation.
Borg writes, "The Bible is political as well as personal. It combines sharp political criticism and passionate political advocacy: radical criticism of systems of domination and impassioned advocacy of an alternative social vision. Protesting the nightmare of injustice, its central voices proclaim God's dream of justice, a dream for the earth. Criticism and advocacy are grounded in their understanding of the character and passion of God: a God of love and justice whose passion for our life together is the Kingdom of God."

This must-read book shows not only a newly emerging approach to religious and social-political issues, but also a rediscovery, a "restoration" of faith for Christians whose faith may have been questioned, shaken, or even shattered. This book will be of interest to Latter-day Saints who experience the Restoration as an ongoing call for spiritual renewal and social transformation.

Send book review submissions to the Media Director at jcduffy@hotmail.com. Please include Anxiously Engaged in the subject line.

This issue of Anxiously Engaged introduces a new regular feature. For the past year, I've been trying a new kind of journaling which I call my "Sunday School notebook." Every Sunday, I record my thoughts about the assigned reading for that week's Sunday School lesson. My reflections touch on many different aspects of my life, but one recurring theme is social activism. What do the scriptures say that can guide my activism and nurture my faith that my efforts make a difference?

This year, of course, the Sunday School curriculum centers on the Doctrine and Covenants. As you read the D&C this year and discuss it in your home wards or branches, I invite you to take note of passages that offer you insight on matters related to social activism. Every month, in Anxiously Engaged's "Sunday School notebook," I'll share thoughts that have occurred to me during that month's assigned readings from the D&C; I encourage you to submit thoughts as well. This could be something approaching the Sunday School discussion you've always dreamed of having!

To kick off this feature of the newsletter, here are some thoughts to wrap up this past year's reading of the Book of Mormon:

Reading the Book of Mormon this year, I've been struck by how bleak it is. I'm used to talking about the cycle of Book of Mormon history: the people are righteous, they prosper, they become proud, they fall into wickedness, they get chastised, they repent, they prosper. This year, I noticed that the cycle's lop-sided: things go wrong more often than they go right. And in the end, two civilizations--the Nephites and the Jaredites--self-destruct, despite the best efforts of prophets and other faithful people to prevent that.

I worry at times that I may live to see my society self-destruct. Near the end of the Book of Mormon, following the destruction of the Nephites, Moroni warns latter-day readers against materialism (Mormon 8:35-41). It's not hard for me to see the relevance of that warning. People in my society aspire to an opulent lifestyle that could not possibly be sustained if it were enjoyed by every person on earth. Even the life of moderate luxury that people like me enjoy--my own car, hot running water, enough electricity to run a household full of appliances, including the computer I'm writing this on--even that life may not be environmentally sustainable. We can't go on like this forever: in a big way, something has to change.

So what am I doing about it? What can anyone do about it? How do you change hearts in a way that will transform society? That's a core question of the Book of Mormon. Changing hearts through their witness is what the Book of Mormon prophets are always trying to do. Sometimes they're successful. Many times they're not. But they go on trying. Reading the Book of Mormon this year has had me praying for a change in my own heart--for a greater spirit of temperance, charity, and genuine concern for others. I've been praying to know how to use my talents to inspire people within my reach to embrace the values that I believe are needed to keep society from self-destructing. And I pray to be a better example of those values myself, which means doing better at following the example of Christ.

Send submissions to the "Sunday School Notebook" to the Media Director at jcduffy@hotmail.com. Please include Anxiously Engaged in the subject line.

Jan. 1	New Year's Day  (family home evening ideas, greeting cards)
Jan. 15	LAS VEGAS: Martin Luther King celebration
Jan. 15	Anniversary of First Presidency letter on citizen participation (1998)
Jan. 16	Anniversary of first MESJ meeting (2002)
Jan. 17	Martin Luther King Holiday  (family home evening ideas, greeting cards)
Jan. 17	SALT LAKE: Martin Luther King family home evening
Jan. 26	SAN FRANCISCO: Roundtable--Reading for Awareness
Jan. 28	LAS VEGAS: Cultural Diversity in Music and Dance