Welcoming Wayfare

In July 1841, Brigham Young was told by revelation that he did not need to travel extensively any longer, in partial reaction to the January 1841 proclamation to gather the Saints who were scattered abroad, back to Nauvoo. That same month, Henry David Thoreau wrote in a letter that humankind is to approach the world as “nature looking into nature,” aware of the ways we perceive it and ourselves by looking inwardly and outwardly, both. Those simultaneously conceived ideas pose a dilemma to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. Are we to huddle together and look at/talk to ourselves or are we a part of the world looking at and talking to the world? We are like someone walking in the woods and looking around. It is here. We are in the woods. Now what? 

Faith Matters Foundation is a non-profit organization that encourages the religion that, to quote Brigham Young, “embraces all truth, wherever found, in all the works of God and man.” That sounds very much like Thoreau. In December, Faith Matters launches a monthly magazine, Wayfare, which “seeks to be a companion and guide on the journey of faith.” It will include a broad array of non-fiction, poetry, and arts criticism; its editor is Zachary Davis. — Glen Nelson (wayfaremagazine.org)