Gosh, I really can’t express how much I loved this conversation with George. It felt like a celebration of life—and an invitation to live and love it more fully. This conversation explores the five covenants we make in the temple, with particular emphasis on the first and the last: obedience and consecration. George shares his personal journey of coming to know the true God and of developing his own desire to offer his obedience to Him. We explore what true freedom is, the gift of our own weaknesses, and how to answer the call to a life of generosity and service. And that, perhaps, what becomes unveiled as we truly align ourselves with these divine laws is our ability to see just how precious and beautiful life really is.

George Handley has taught at BYU in the fields of humanities and environmental studies for the past 28 years. He and his wife, Amy are the parents of four children and grandparents of four little ones. He is an incredible writer. His books include Hope of Nature, If Truth Were a Child, American Fork, and Home Waters.

*Just a heads up, towards the beginning of this episode, George mentions his brother’s death by suicide and speaks to how that profoundly impacted his life and spiritual journey. Please be aware if this is something you are sensitive to.

Follow George on Substack here.

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This conversation with Jennifer was especially meaningful to me because it explores embodiment, a pillar of my personal spirituality. Jennifer beautifully explains how our ordinances teach us the necessity of embodiment in discipleship. We perform ordinances with our bodies to symbolize that the spiritual journey requires more than intellectual belief—it calls for our whole selves. As Jennifer says, “Salvation isn’t a mental assent to a concept”; it is a lived journey that engages body, heart, mind, and spirit.

I was deeply moved by how Christ-centered this conversation felt. Jennifer helps us see how the ordinances of the restored gospel invite us into the sacred process of “putting on Christ.” We discuss how our will and desires part the veil, allowing God’s power to flow into us and truly transform us. We also reflect on the garment of the holy priesthood as another profound symbol of embodiment—one that teaches us about our divine identity and mission.

I hope this conversation inspires you to embrace this incredible gift God is offering us with your whole self and ignites a fire in you to take part in this great work of gathering Israel. I know it did for me

Jennifer C. Lane is a professor emerita of Religious Education at BYU–Hawaii, where she taught for nearly twenty years and served as Dean and Associate Academic Vice President for Curriculum. She earned a PhD in Religion from Claremont Graduate University and holds MA and BA degrees from BYU. After returning to Provo with her husband, Keith, she served as a Neal A. Maxwell Research Associate at BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute. She continues to research and write on temples, holiness, and discipleship and is the author of Let’s Talk about Temples and Ritual and Finding Christ in the Covenant Path: Ancient Insights for the Modern World.

Find Jennifer’s book, Finding Christ on the Covenant Path, which we referenced here.

Read Jennifer’s article “Embodied Knowledge of God” here.

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Jared Lambert is a historical linguist specializing in the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible. He is a former military linguist in the United States Army and previously served as the lead linguist over sacred materials for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, working directly with temple-related content. Jared holds multiple degrees across linguistics, history, and religious studies and is currently completing his PhD in historical linguistics. His work focuses on diachronic language development, temple theology, and the ways translation, symbolism, and later theological frameworks reshaped earlier biblical traditions, particularly surrounding covenant, priesthood, and the Divine Feminine. He teaches courses on biblical language and symbolism and creates public-facing content aimed at helping modern readers approach scripture with greater historical and linguistic clarity.

I was excited to sit down with Jared and hear his presentation on the creation story—especially as we’re just beginning the Old Testament in Come Follow Me, which opens with this account. Through a linguistic lens, Jared explores the ancient text’s etymological roots, revealing deeper meanings that resonate with both scientific and spiritual perspectives.

He shares powerful insights into Adam and Eve, the nature of God as understood by ancient Israelites, and a portrayal of God that closely resembles the one worshipped by Latter-day Saints today. Most impactful to me was his reinterpretation of Eve and the essential role she played in humanity’s story.

This conversation was fascinating and left me eager to learn more. We only scratched the surface of Jared’s work, and those interested can explore his classes, where he guides students on a linguistic journey through the scriptures. You can find a sign-up link in the show notes.

Sign up for Jared’s classes here

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I’m so excited to share this beautiful conversation I had with Jenet Erickson with you. Being just a few days away from Christmas, this felt like the perfect episode to share because it feels like it is just drenched in Jesus.

Jenet Erickson is an associate professor in Religious Education at Brigham Young University and a research fellow of the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute. She received a PhD in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota, after completing a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, and master’s degree in Linguistics at BYU. Jenet and her husband, Michael, have been blessed with two children. She has been a columnist on family issues for the Deseret News since 2013.

This conversation is an exploration of family and relationship, and why they sit at the very heart of God’s Great Work. Jenet states that “relationships are the core of flourishing. We are designed for love, we are designed for connection, we are designed to be in deep relationships.” We reflect on the vulnerability that comes with being in relationship, and yet how God invites us into ever deepening intimacy with Him and with one another. Jenet draws on temple symbols to help us better understand who God is and the kind of relationship He is inviting us into.

My ultimate takeaway from this precious conversation with Jenet is that we worship a God who cuts through all. Who will let nothing stand in His way, parting every barrier to meet His children exactly where they are. As Jenet says, “This is a love that will not let us go.”

Wishing each of you a Merry Christmas, and wishing you a moment to cut through all of the noise to find a moment of peace and connection with our Savior.

Listened to Jenet’s BYU devotional I referenced here.

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Hannah Packard Crowther is a beautiful human and a thought-provoking writer. She is the author of Gracing, published by Faith Matters, where she reflects on grace not simply as a theological idea, but as an everyday, lived partnership with God. She holds a master’s degree in biological science education from BYU, and she’s a longtime mother, an aspiring theologian and poet, and a beachcomber whenever she gets the chance. Hannah writes at the crossroads of embodied faith, justice, and beauty, and has an essay on prophecy coming out soon in Wayfare.

In this episode, Hannah and I delve into what temple work is truly about. As Hannah says, “There’s more to the project than linking names and checking off ordinances. We are linking souls and welding hearts from both sides of the veil.” Hannah and I explore temple ordinances as symbolic acts that reveal deeper truths about our relationships with God and each other. Hannah shares a touching family story that has reshaped her understanding of redemption and the healing that is made possible through this work.

We reflect on the journey back to God not as an individual task, but a deeply, unavoidably communal project “that is about coming home, together.” Ultimately, God is playing the long game when it comes to healing and redeeming His children.

Find Hannah’s book Gracing on Amazon and Book Shop.

Read Dancing with Christ and Redeeming, two powerful excerpts from Hannah’s book Gracing.

Follow Hannah on Substack at substack.com/@thisisgracing

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James is a fascinating human and Latter-day Saint, and brings a truly unique perspective to our faith. In his words, his family is Jewish on one side, Sikh on the other, and Mormon in the middle. He works as a historian for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is also a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, documentary filmmaker, scholar, and translator. He’s won the Association for Mormon letters awards in the Drama, Novel, and Creative Nonfiction categories, and has been a finalist in the Poetry and Criticism categories. He’s also one of a rotating cast of scholars on BYUtv’s Come Follow Up series. He is a frequent contributor to Wayfare and a co-author of the book Latter-day Sikh.

It was such a joy to sit down with James and talk temple. We begin by exploring his unique blend of Jewish, Sikh, and Mormon heritage, and how that has influenced his experience of ritual and sacred space in an LDS context. James speaks to the value of encountering ritual in other faiths as a way to prepare for the temple, as well as the role of religious imagination and the transformative power of fully inhabiting a story. We weave through stories, personal experiences, and poetry in our exploration of the temple journey.

My ultimate take away is that when we let the temple bleed out into every part of our life and who we are, every moment becomes the journey back to God. Life becomes the temple journey. As James says, “The temple is the invitation to develop eyes to see the holiness everywhere; that’s the spirit of endowment.”

Find James’ new book Latter-day Sikh at Deseret Book

Find James’ poetry collection Phoenix Song anywhere you buy books online

Find Song of Names wherever you buy books online.

Follow James on Substack at jamesgoldberg.substack.com

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Sarah is a writer, filmmaker, and recent PhD graduate in literature. Together with her husband, she is a co-author of The Book of Mormon Storybook and the human behind the Instagram account @forlittlesaints. She also works as the Root Director of Peacemaking at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

In this episode, Sarah shares her surprise in being invited onto the show due to not having a particularly strong relationship with the temple—yet this was precisely why I wanted to have a conversation with her. As someone who has had my own challenges in my temple journey, and who sees and feels the struggles many around me share, it felt important to have a conversation about the reality that our temple experience doesn’t always fit our ideals.

Together we discuss the journey of making peace with your experience, how to create space for the diversity of experiences within a community, and the spiritual practice of embracing the unknown. Sarah shares about her work with Mormon Women for Ethical Government and what she has learned about peacemaking, the importance of drawing out differences, and allowing things to be unresolved.

Sarah has also written beautifully about covenants. Together we explore the “impossible task” of making promises to give your absolute all to God, and the possibility that maybe the point of making covenants isn’t to perfectly keep them, but to deepen our relationship with Christ.

Read Sarah’s essay “Covenants by Immersion” on WayfareMagazine.org.

Preorder her new book, The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament, at forlittlesaints.com

Listen to Sarah read her scripture retellings for children in Scripture Stories for Little Saints, a new podcast from Faith Matters.

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Melinda W. Brown is an author and educator with a master’s degree in Christian Practice from Duke Divinity School, where she focused on Christian Education. She is the author of Eve and Adam: Discovering the Beautiful Balance (Deseret Book, 2020) and An Endowment of Love: Embracing Christ’s Covenant Way of Living and Loving.

In this episode, Mindy and I drop into the heart of the temple and what we believe God is intending to do in our lives through the temple. We explore what becomes possible when we move away from a “duty-bound, transactional” approach to God and the covenants we make with Him, and instead really see covenants for what they are—a deepening of relationship with Him and with each other.

We explore the value of involving the body in the act of temple rituals when making commitments to God, how to “mine symbols for new meanings”, and the reality that the temple might not be the place you feel God’s love most.

Ultimately, we both believe that the temple experience isn’t about earning Heaven in the future, but about teaching us how to experience Heaven here and now.

You can find Mindy’s book An Endowment of Love: Embracing Christ’s Covenant Way of Living and Loving on Amazon or at Deseret Book.

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It felt only right to begin this journey with sharing my own.

I grew up in the heart of Utah County in what I would refer to as a “cliche Mormon household.” Two faithful parents, seven children, a father who works at BYU—I was living the stereotype. But at age 15, due to a series of painful events and a battle with my mental health, I left the faith of my childhood.

I spent the next 8 years struggling, wandering, and searching for truth—until five years ago, when I had a miraculous, born-again encounter with Jesus Christ while living in Thailand.

I never wanted to come back to religion, but was guided to eventually read the Book of Mormon. I quickly received a witness of its truth.

A couple of years later I went through the temple for my endowment—but despite my extensive preparation it was not what I expected. The challenge of that experience initiated a journey of deeper study to find out what all of this is really about.

That journey continues today, and my hope is that you will join me as I continue to reach for understanding and meaning in this peculiar place that is The House of the Lord.

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Sanctuary: Discovering the Temple is a new podcast from Faith Matters where we hold curious, open, & honest conversations as we explore and re-discover the temple together. In this short introductory episode, host Larkin Swain welcomes you to the project and gives a brief explanation of her background. We would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] with your questions and suggestions.

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