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Recent Posts
- Psaltery & Lyre’s New Site
- 123 Psaltery & Lyre: “Agricola Dreams of Flying” by J. Rose Lara
- 122 Psaltery & Lyre: “Communion: a love poem (a villanelle)” by Rachel Bollinger
- Book Review: Philip Metres’s Sand Opera
- 121 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Horsehead Nebula”
- Book Review: Monica Ong’s Silent Anatomies
- 120 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Return, pt. III” and “Gaia”
- Book Review: Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
- Book Review: Matthea Harvey, If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?
- Book Review: LoterÃa Cards and Fortune Poems: A Book of Lives
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The Sanctuary Archive
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My Own Personal Canon: Childhood House
Several years ago, in the midst of researching the process of canonization, or, how the Bible became what it is... -
Word up!
Energy.Follow through.Wherewithal. These are my words of the year from the years 2012, 2013, and 2014, as I’ve written... -
The Rotting Forest Floor in Our Own Personal Sacred Groves
Earlier in the fall, I was visiting a ward in Austin, Texas with friends. The high council speaker genuinely surprised... -
The Word on the Street
Last year, in “One Word,” I wrote about my family’s relatively new tradition of selecting a word for the year,... -
Speaking of Spirituality
Phyllis Barber is the author of eight books of fiction and creative nonfiction, including How I Got Cultured (voted one... -
A Letter from the Past for Today
I am a college writing teacher and every semester, I assign my students the argument classic “Letter from Birmingham Jail”... -
Battle Hymn of My Mormon Mother
First thing: It is somewhat appropriate that my tribute to my mom is showing up after Mother’s Day proper. My... -
3 Little Gurus
“The greatest advantage of not having children must be that you can go on believing that you are a nice... -
A Street-Legal Version of the Beatitudes
I am reading The Street-Legal Version of Mormon’s Book by BYU music professor Michael Hicks (and recently did a Mormon... -
The Pharisee Within
Today, I gave a talk in church about the last week of Jesus’ life. In the course of my talk... -
Thanks (but no thanks) for the Sabbath School
I’m halfhearted about Sunday School. Okay, less than half. I feel like a boy who’s been held back in, say,... -
Rain or Shine
When my then six year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes six years ago, I heard someone close... -
What We Talk About When We Talk About Culturally Constructed Holidays
Five out of six dentists agree that five out of the last six Valentine’s Days I’ve lived through have mostly... -
‘Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love
-Submitted by Michael Hicks I got choked up when I played that sacrament song today. It takes awhile to explain... -
One Word
I am a recovering perfectionist wannabe. Sometimes when I think about who I used to be, I marvel that I... -
Parenthood Juggle: From SAHM to Single Parent
I couldn’t quite believe my bishop had confidence in my ability to be in charge. “Are you sure about this?”... -
The Years of Magical Thinking
“I know the truth about Santa Claus, Mom. I know the answers now, the real answers,” my twelve year old... -
Words, Words, Words
Earlier this week, someone I didn’t know, someone I’ve never met, just a woman in pain, mistakenly thought I had... -
What Teaching Argument Taught Me About Talking Politics
Although I fancy myself an amateur city planner with dreams of working in the professional back-up dancer field, I actually... -
My Own Personal Canon: Desdemona’s Honeymoon from Hell
There are a few things I know really well in this world. I know how to make a delicious marinara... -
What to Do with Regret
I believe that as we spend quality time with love ones, stretch ourselves to live up to our potential, and... -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Singing Together
One week ago, I had just sat down on the piano bench in the Primary room and started to play... -
Christ Within
Today’s guest post comes to us from Bill. On a recent business trip to San Francisco, while on a walk... -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Pinewood Derby
Here is an example of just how swell my post-divorce home teachers were. During one Sunday afternoon visit, they asked... -
A Whole Lot of Craziness
It’s funny how one story can take on different meanings, reveal different themes, and speak to us in new ways... -
Starfish Beyond Mountains
Everyone knows the parable of the starfish. Some of us even have a framed print of the parable, maybe a... -
My Own Personal Canon: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
A little more than a year ago, I was on my way home from a ten-day vipassana meditation course. I... -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Tools, Tents, and Radiant Hope
Today’s powerful and inspiring Mutual Improvement Associations comes from our guest blogger, Mark. Let’s begin in typical LDS-sacrament-meeting-talk fashion and... -
PROUD
Part 1 — Setting the Stage Earlier this week I sat and thought about the weekend. Should I march in... -
Good Grief
But in that moment, I acknowledge the reality that it’s nearly impossible for me to go back, for my faith... -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Wednesday Nights
My son is a bit of a puppy dog, though more bounding Great Dane than docile lap dog. He is... -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Moving Day
This is the first of at least four pieces in a Sanctuary series – Mutual Improvement Associations – wherein I... -
My Own Personal Canon: The Learn’d Astronomer
Lately, I have been spending a portion of nearly every evening stargazing in my backyard. There is a beautiful quality... -
It is just a matter of semantics?
Today’s guest post comes to us from Andrew. I’ve spent the past several weeks euphemizing, dodging, and altering the narrative... -
A Preview of Things to Come?
My son is the only boy in his Primary class, which makes him the only soon-to-be Young Man in the... -
Onward and Upward
My son made a basket during the final game of his fifth grade basketball season yesterday! It was a beautiful... -
Where the Rubber Meets the Road
In the space of just four weeks during the most recent holiday season, I had to purchase three new tires... -
On Thin Places
I’ve been chewing my way through The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus Borg, a professor... -
My Own Personal Canon: Letter from Birmingham Jail
Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous April 1963 letter, written to his fellow southern clergymen, was not known to me, sadly,... -
My Own Personal Canon: Bootless Cries
Today I am thinking about a profound lesson I learned as a student at Ricks College. I am thinking about... -
Reboots: Comic Book Heroes, Origin Stories and Mormon Myth
As a kid I read a lot of comic books. I enjoyed studying the intricate character storylines consisting of... -
Ring Out, Wild Bells!
Is your ward like mine – that first Sunday of January brings another round of Sacrament Meeting talks on setting... -
Lighting the Way
When I moved to Texas several decades ago as a naive, hopelessly midwestern college student, adjustments had to be made.... -
My Own Personal Canon: Southern-fried Love
In Paul’s 2nd epistle to Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14-17, we read this ringing endorsement of inspired writings: But continue... -
Kitten Energy
I hope you’ve been enjoying our discussions of animal love (and non-love) this week here at Doves & Serpents. Considering... -
Going to the Dogs
The following piece is a guest submission by Claudia Ruptier ; Ron liked dogs. He just didn’t want one-even... -
Rotten to the Core
The Sanctuary may seem like an unusual place to discuss Facebook status post trends, but recently, I was so disturbed... -
Do You Realize?
Two powerful iconic men – Steve Jobs, technology visionary, and Fred Shuttlesworth, Civil Rights movement activist – died this week.... -
The Go-To Goddess
“What does God look like?” I asked my little girl as I tucked her into bed. “Well, he is old,... -
Meditation Station
If you were to open your green hymnbook emblazoned with that nifty gold Tabernacle organ icon to page hymn #144,...