I am just waking from a dream in which I am attempting to position a Christ King on a lawn along with a very elaborate, but different cross, sort of rounded with pillars like a menorah. I am the photographer and there is a girl who is helping to arrange him for the best shot, a little closer, out of the shadow, but that won’t do as the cross will appear to be coming out of the top of his head in the photo. A serene tableau and we’ve set up several other figures and animals, (similar to setting up and photography the nativity, but an entirely different scene) and as per my mother’s voice, I’ve left a small clearing between him and the other beings. All are cast in a golden bronze and we’re on a raised and rounding lawn, with a built up white wall under an ancient tree.
When I wake I hear also in my head my explanation of being Mormon and how when asked I tell people that it is my culture and that it always will be a part of me—how can it not? When still my explanation is met with a quizzical look, I will say it is like having grown up in the Vatican and claiming that Catholicism in no way shaped you, for I grew up in Utah county, Utah, an hour south of the Salt Lake City capital, which in some ways evolved in a more liberal way with governmental institutions, and such while the small towns remained very unchanged in some regards.
Many are especially turned off by the story of Joseph Smith and when the young missionaries, dressed in white shirts and ties come to tell the story of how he prayed and the one true church was revealed to him, people scoff and gasp and wonder how it would be that a modern fourteen year old boy would have seen God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, but to me this is the best part of Mormonism and I have always found the story believable and profound, even if the religion took some wrong turns and is now very corporate in the way it operates—although still very big in its humanitarian efforts and is still teaching traditional moral values in a world desperately in need of these.
For the curious, I am no longer a practicing Mormon, but hold sacred and dear many of the tenets and more often than not find myself defending the saints who as everyday people are some of the nicest you'll meet and stick to their convictions and word in most cases. Can that not be applauded? But, best of all, is the idea that revelation is ALIVE and not only for the prophet who will make decisions for and on behalf of the whole body, but every man, woman and child is taught if they would like an answer they can meditate and pray, ask God and receive one!
Included below is a short biography of Joseph and how he saw God and Jesus and later the angel Moroni. The pictures we were shown as children included the Holy Ghost, or I imagined they did. The article of faith mentions receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Mormons do believe in the trinity as a whole made up of three distinct beings.
The photos were taken by me, an art project a few years ago in which I was attempting to show the masculine and feminine nature of Christ and all human beings being created in that nature. They didn't go anywhere, really not good enough, but we had a lot of fun trekking out to the beach and taking these at a random iron cross that stands in the dunes.