Triangles and Squares

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a lay ministry. The sermons you hear in our chapels are delivered by people who won’t be fired if the congregation doesn’t like what they hear. I’ve attended dozens of Sunday services in other denominations, and it seems to me this one difference makes our meetings fresher, more meaningful and more eclectic. Just a few weeks ago I was surprised and delighted to hear Rumi (a 13th-century Persian poet) quoted from an LDS pulpit: “Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”