“So what do you write?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It never fails. Starter conversations go like this:

“So what do you do?”

“I’m a writer and editor.”

“What do you write?”

I finally have a good standing-on-one-foot answer that encapsulates all of my books. “My writing is about the intersection between the church and the real world.” That’s what my books have in common:

• Listen, Learn and Love: Improving Latter-day Saint Culture, by Richard Ostler, co-edited by Marci McPhee. Many faithful children of our Heavenly Parents find it difficult to stay in the Church, not because of doctrine or a lack of desire to keep the commandments, but because of Latter-day Saint culture. The good news is that we need not wait to be more welcoming and inclusive. We can all be part of the solution.
• Gay Latter-day Saint Crossroads: My Journey, Your Journey, and a Scripture-based Path Forward, by Evan Smith, edited by Marci McPhee. How can we connect God’s imperative to love everyone with church teachings about our LGBTQ siblings? Crossroads is by a former bishop and stake presidency counselor whose son is gay. With the mind of a lawyer, he examines scriptures and church teachings to look for a more hopeful path forward. Free navigable e-book or pdf at GayLDSCrossroads.org
• Fifty-Five Days of Faith: The Remarkable Life of Dick and Marsha Lavin, by Marsha Lavin, edited by Marci McPhee. Would I join a church in which only half of my children could fully participate because of their African lineage? Dick and Marsha Lavin made that tough decision on April 14, 1978. After searching for years, their family, including their two biological children and their two adopted black children, felt right about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But at that time, the Church did not allow blacks to hold the priesthood. Fifty-five days after they joined the church, the revelation on priesthood was announced: all worthy male Church members age twelve and older were now eligible for priesthood ordination. Read more here.
• Girls’ Camp: Ideas for Today’s Leaders, edited by Marci McPhee and Julia B. Blake. Divine nature is strengthened by being in nature. But how do you translate Mormonspeak for nonmember friends at girls’ camp? How do you hold to modesty standards while making every girl feel accepted? What about campers with special needs or diet restrictions? How do you break up cliques at camp? Read more here.
• Sunday Lessons and Activities for Kids, edited by Marci McPhee. In these pages are memorable stories of the exuberant joy as well as the real-world challenges of working with children. For example, how do you deal with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day at church when not every child has one of each at home? And how do you teach children “honor thy father and mother” (the 4th commandment of the Tenth Commandments) when you know some children are being abused at home? Plus ready-to-use ideas for channeling boundless energy, staffing challenges, bullying, children’s music for a lifetime, kids with special needs, building a celestial nursery, pint-sized service projects, and behavior management. Read more here.

The real world/the church world. My writing seeks to be the connector. Join me on the journey.

-Marci