Weavers, Not Rippers

 David Brooks, “A Nation of Weavers”, February 18, 2019

I start with the pain. A couple times a week I give a speech somewhere in the country about social isolation and social fragmentation. Very often a parent comes up to me afterward and says, “My daughter took her life when she was 14.” Or, “My son died of an overdose when he was 20.”

Their eyes flood with tears. I don’t know what to say. I squeeze a shoulder just to try to be present with them, but the crying does not stop. As it turns to weeping they rush out of the auditorium and I am left with my own futility. What can I say to these parents? What can I say to the parents still around who don’t yet know they may soon become those parents?

This kind of pain is an epidemic in our society. When you cover the sociology beat as I do, you see other kinds of pain. The African-American woman in Greenville who is indignant because young black kids in her neighborhood face injustice just as gross as she did in 1953. The college student in the Midwest who is convinced that she is the only one haunted by compulsive thoughts about her own worthlessness. The Trump-supporting small-business man in Louisiana who silently clenches his fists in rage as guests at a dinner party disparage his whole way of life.

These different kinds of pain share a common thread: our lack of healthy connection to each other, our inability to see the full dignity of each other, and the resulting culture of fear, distrust, tribalism, shaming and strife.

On Dec. 7, 1941, countless Americans saw that their nation was in peril and walked into recruiting stations. We don’t have anything as dramatic as Pearl Harbor, but when 47,000 Americans kill themselves every year and 72,000 more die from drug addiction, isn’t that a silent Pearl Harbor? When the basic norms of decency, civility and truthfulness are under threat, isn’t that a silent Pearl Harbor? Aren’t we all called at moments like these to do something extra?

My something extra was starting something nine months ago at the Aspen Institute called Weave: The Social Fabric Project. The first core idea was that social isolation is the problem underlying a lot of our other problems. The second idea was that this problem is being solved by people around the country, at the local level, who are building community and weaving the social fabric. How can we learn from their example and nationalize their effect?

We traveled around the country and found them everywhere. We’d plop into big cities like Houston and small towns like Wilkesboro, N.C., and we’d find 25 to 100 community “Weavers” almost immediately. This is a movement that doesn’t know it’s a movement.

Some of them work at organizations: a vet who helps other mentally ill vets in New Orleans; a guy who runs a boxing gym in Appalachian Ohio where he nominally teaches young men boxing, but really teaches them life; a woman who was in the process of leaving the Englewood neighborhood in Chicago when she saw two little girls playing with broken bottles in the empty lot across the street. She turned to her husband and said: We’re not moving away from that. We’re not going to be just another family that abandoned this place.

Many others do their weaving in the course of everyday life — because that’s what neighbors do. One lady in Florida said she doesn’t have time to volunteer, but that’s because she spends 40 hours a week looking out for local kids and visiting sick folks in the hospital. We go into neighborhoods and ask, “Who is trusted here?” In one neighborhood it was the guy who collects the fees at the parking garage.

We’re living with the excesses of 60 years of hyperindividualism. There’s a lot of emphasis in our culture on personal freedom, self-interest, self-expression, the idea that life is an individual journey toward personal fulfillment. You do you. But Weavers share an ethos that puts relationship over self. We are born into relationships, and the measure of our life is in the quality of our relationships. We precedes me.

Whether they live in red or blue America, they often use the same terms and embody the same values — deep hospitality, showing up for people and keep showing up. They are somewheres, not anywheres — firmly planted in their local community. I met one guy in Ohio who began his work by standing in the town square with a sign: “Defend Youngstown.”

The phrase we heard most was “the whole person.” Whether you are a teacher, a nurse or a neighbor, you have to see and touch the whole person — the trauma, the insecurities and the dreams as much as the body and the brain.

But the trait that leaps out above all others is “radical mutuality”: We are all completely equal, regardless of where society ranks us. “I am broken; I need others to survive,” an afterschool program leader in Houston told us. “We don’t do things for people. We don’t do things to people. We do things with people,” said a woman who builds community for teenagers in New Orleans.

Being around these people has been one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. Obviously, it’s made me want to be more neighborly, to be more active and intentional in how I extend care.

But it has also changed my moral lens. I’ve become so impatient with the politicians I cover! They are so self-absorbed! Social scientists tell us that selfishness is natural, people are motivated by money, power and status. But Weavers are not motivated by any of these things. They want to live in right relation with others and to serve the community good.

Their example has shown me that we don’t just have a sociological problem; we have a moral problem. We all create a shared moral ecology through the daily decisions of our lives. When we stereotype, abuse, impugn motives and lie about each other, we’ve ripped the social fabric and encouraged more ugliness. When we love across boundaries, listen patiently, see deeply and make someone feel known, we’ve woven it and reinforced generosity. As Charles Péguy said, “The revolution is moral or not at all.”

So the big question is: How do we take the success the Weavers are having on the local level and make it national? The Weavers are building relationships one by one, which takes time. Relationships do not scale.

But norms scale. If you can change the culture, you can change behavior on a large scale. If you can change the lens through which people see the world, as these Weavers have changed mine, then you can change the way people want to be in the world and act in the world. So that’s our job. To shift the culture so that it emphasizes individualism less and relationalism more.

Culture changes when a small group of people, often on the margins of society, find a better way to live, and other people begin to copy them. These Weavers have found a better way to live. We at Weave — and all of us — need to illuminate their example, synthesize their values so we understand what it means to be a relationalist and not an individualist. We need to create hubs where these decentralized networks can come together for solidarity and support. We need to create a shared Weaver identity. In 1960, few people called themselves feminists. By 1980, millions did. Just creating that social identity and that sense of mutual purpose is an act of great power.

I guess my ask is that you declare your own personal declaration of interdependence and decide to become a Weaver instead of a ripper. This is partly about communication. Every time you assault and stereotype a person, you’ve ripped the social fabric. Every time you see that person deeply and make him or her feel known, you’ve woven it.

We also need to have faith in each other. Right now, millions of people all over are responding to the crisis we all feel. We in the news media focus on Donald Trump and don’t cover them, but they are the most important social force in America right now. Renewal is building, relationship by relationship, community by community. It will spread and spread as the sparks fly upward.

~ David Brooks, “A Nation of Weavers”, February 18, 2019

Matthew 9:16

 Note to self: Remember. Continue to engage in the work of creating a way of life and physical surroundings where more of your time can be and is devoted to good that is invisible and eternal—and less of your time is obligated to the maintenance of physical things that perish, spoil, and fade.

Matthew 9:16

2020: Watching “the elect”, those who have made sacred covenants, be deceived.

It’s been foretold.  But hope is not gone.  Keep going.  Do not let your heart fail. Love God. Read His word with humility and never use it for self-justification.  Keep anger and pride out of your heart.  Love of God and others is what opens us to personal revelation and casts out fear.

This from Jeffrey R. Holland in October of 2009

“Prophecies regarding the last days often refer to large-scale calamities such as earthquakes or famines or floods. These in turn may be linked to widespread economic or political upheavals of one kind or another.

“But there is one kind of latter-day destruction that has always sounded to me more personal than public, more individual than collective—a warning, perhaps more applicable inside the Church than outside it. The Savior warned that in the last days even those of the covenant, the very elect, could be deceived by the enemy of truth.

“If we think of this as a form of spiritual destruction, it may cast light on another latter-day prophecy. Think of the heart as the figurative center of our faith, the poetic location of our loyalties and our values; then consider Jesus’s declaration that in the last days “men’s hearts [shall fail] them.”

“The encouraging thing, of course, is that our Father in Heaven knows all of these latter-day dangers, these troubles of the heart and soul, and has given counsel and protections regarding them...

“The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times—including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.” That phrase—taken from Moroni’s final lines of testimony, written 1,000 years after Lehi’s vision—is a...testimony of the only true way.”

From “Safety for the Soul”, October 2009

To be perfected in Him is to learn, from Him, how to love and bless as fearlessly and wisely and well as He does.

"Build Zion", "Do Your Best"

 Two nebulous phrases in our theological discourses:

1. Build Zion

2. Do your best

If it helps:

Gordon B. Hinckley's definition of the phrase "build Zion":

"We can improve, and when all is said and done that's what this is all about: improvement, changing our lives so that we can help people change their lives and be better. And let's build Zion on the earth. That's what it is all about."

(Tacoma Washington Regional Conference, 19 Aug 1995)

David Bednar's definition of the phrase "do your best":

"You honor your covenants and are pressing forward."

(Evening with a General Authority, 25 Feb 2020)

Perspective and Family History

Researching genealogy does tend to keep my own current challenges in perspective. 

I already knew that one of my ancestors, Mary, who was living on the Iowa frontier, was the only surviving child of her parents by the time she was was 15 years old.  Her mother died of cholera when Mary was barely 13. 

Some new details discovered: Her father subsequently married a widow who was trying to raise and support her 3 orphaned stepchildren, ages 10-14 and two of her own children ages 7 and 4.

Within a year, Mary’s new stepmother died. Months afterwards, Mary’s father died.  

In other words, what I learned was that, in that family of six children ages 5-15, one of those orphaned children had lost both parents and a new stepmother, two had lost both parents and a new stepfather, and three had, lost their mother, their father, their stepmother and their stepfather to death.

How hard for those children those losses were. How hard it must have been for their parents and step-parents to know they were dying and leaving thieir children behind.

These six surviving children had no extended family members in the community. As was common in that era and that part of the world, they were split up and taken in by several different families in the area. Some of those families moved away. As I looked into the lives of those children I learned that some of those children lost contact with each other within a year, and were not able to find their siblings for another 50 years.

Perspective.

Sacrilege. Today.

Have you seen the photo of the President of the United States holding up a Bible and glaring at the camera at St. John’s Episcopal Church today? 

The Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest and author, said in a statement, "Using the Bible as a prop while talking about sending in the military, bragging about how your country is the greatest in the world, and publicly mocking people on a daily basis, is pretty much the opposite of all Jesus stood for."

He added: "Let me be clear. This is revolting. The Bible is not a prop. A church is not a photo op. Religion is not a political tool. And God is not a plaything."

Amen.

sac•ri•lege săk′rə-lĭj

►

• n.
  Desecration, profanation, misuse, or theft of something regarded as sacred.
• n.
  The violation, desecration, or profanation of sacred things.
• n.
  In a more specific sense: The alienation to laymen or to common purposes of that which has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses.

Living far away. Still very close.

As a single woman I lived, for a time, in a predominantly Muslim country where the nearest temple was 1000 miles away, and the nearest organized believers with whom I might worship were 800 miles away and, due to geography and politics, would require me to fly there if I wished to attend.

My experience required that I live my religious life without fellow believers or ordinances: without temple worship and without weekly sacrament.

I appreciate regular temple worship and I am grateful for the ordinance of weekly sacramental renewal of covenants.  I am also grateful, in hindsight, for what I subconsciously learned during that period of time years ago...that participation in those ordinances is a blessing, and when they are not possible due to circumstances in the world where I am,  I am still fully able to find peace, revelation, connection, recommitment, and communication with God.  The memory of the covenants made with ordinances was enough.

At the time, I wasn’t surprised by that.

Certainly ordinances have, at times, assisted the levels of peace, revelation, recommitment, and divine connection in my life, and my participation in those ordinances is often a powerful assist. But when they are not available, the sense of loss is not acute, because that peace, revelation and divine connection and communication continues to be available.

The outward symbolism and reminders that those ordinances carry are blessed symbols and reminders of an inward commitment and connection.  And, for me, that inward commitment and connection does not change when the outward symbols are not possible.

I am deeply grateful for those ordinances and the reminders they offer.  And I am acutely aware of what I quietly regularly re-experienced far away, years ago: the reality of God’s loving sustenance being fully available for me, solo, as I reach out to Him


     .

Mosiah 12, in more current English

Two years later a man arrived in the city … and began to broadcast and publish among them, saying: “God has commanded me, saying—, ‘Go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have not repented of their evil doings; therefore, I will visit them in my anger as they continue in their iniquities and abominations. They are headed for deeply tragic consequences.’”

“He told me”, said the man, “that we, as a people are headed to extremely difficult times! And the Lord said to me: ‘Get the word out and prophecy. Tell them that God has told you that this generation, because of their iniquities, shall be conquered by another nation, and be oppressed; yea, and the people will have to flee from their homes to find safety, and shall be killed; and the vultures of the air, and the dogs, yea, and the wild beasts, shall devour their corpses. And the life of the president shall be valued as much as a t-shirt in a housefire; for the President shall know that I am the Lord.

‘Tell them that I will smite this, my people, with sore afflictions, yea, with famine and with deadly epidemic or virulent disease which will cause that they shall be miserable all the day long.

‘And furthermore, I will cause that they shall have burdens lashed upon their backs; and they shall be forced into hard labor.

‘And I will send destructive hailstorms among them; and they shall also be smitten with drought; and destructive insects shall pester their land also, and also devour their grain.

“And they shall be hit with a great epidemic—and all this will I do because of their sins and abominations.

“And if they do not repent, I will utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth.  But I will make sure that they leave a record of their history behind them, and I will preserve those records for other nations which shall possess the land so that I can show the abominations of this people to those other nations and they can learn from your experiences.’” 

This man predicted many other awful things that would happen as well.

And the response he received was this: the people were angry with him, and they arrested him and carried him bound before the president, and said, “Mr. President, we have brought a man before you who has been broadcasting horrible predictions and warnings concerning us all, and who says that God will destroy us all. And he also has predicted horrible things about you and says that your life shall considered of no more value than a t-shirt in a house fire. 

“And, not only that, he tells everyone that you will be like a dried weed which is run over by the beasts and walked on, and that you are like the fluff on a dandelion, easy for him to blow away into pieces.  

“And he tries to make people believe him by declaring that God has revealed this to him.  And he claims that unless you repent of what he calls your sins, and change what you are doing and your vision for this nation, what he says will happen to you will be unavoidable.

“And now, Mr. President, that’s ridiculous. What great evil have you done, or what great sins have your people committed, that we should be condemned by God and what right has this man to judge us or spread such inciting-to-riot kind of misinformation?

“Mr. President, we have done nothing wrong and you, Mr. President, have certainly not sinned; therefore, this man is spreading lies about you, and his ‘prophesies’ are libel and detrimental to you and to us and to our nation.

“We are an unparalleled military power, we shall not be conquered, or be conquered by our enemies; look at the power and wealth you have amassed, and that you will clearly continue to enjoy and increase.  This man is undermining the psychological stability of our nation

“We have arranged things so that we can destroy him in whatever way is most effective. The power is yours to arrange whatever you wish to happen to him.   And we will support you in doing anything you wish with him.”

So the president made arrangements that the man should be        (fill in the blank here)       and he commanded that those he had appointed to high positions in his government should gather themselves together and hold a council with him to discuss what he should do to put a stop to that man’s voice and influence in their nation.

Mosiah 2:4 The Purpose of the Task

When we were raising children we learned  the power of understanding that “the purpose of the task is to strengthen the relationship”.  For example, washing dishes with our son or daughter might have a visible immediate, short-term consequence: cleaner dishes.  But having clean dishes was not our purpose behind our washing of the dishes with that child.  Our purpose, which we needed to keep forefront in our minds while washing, was the strengthening of love in our relationship with that child.

I found, to my surprise, a parallel insight in King Benjamin’s speech in the Book of Mosiah.

In Mosiah 2:4 the people of Zarahemla are gathered to offer sacrifices and to give thanks that, among other things, King Benjamin “had taught them to keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men”.

Sounds to me that, even though scriptures often cite particular blessings that come as a consequence of keeping one commandment or another, we fool ourselves if we treat commandments as though they had being given to us so that we may receive particular blessings.  Blessings may be an immediate or delayed consequence of obedience to a commandment (just like cleaner dishes are a consequence of joint dishwashing) but it’s clear from this passage that the giving of specific blessings is not God’s purpose behind, nor His motivation for, His giving us commandments.  His real purpose is to enable us to rejoice and be filled with love towards Him and towards all.

Therefore, it also seems to me that if we think we are keeping Gods commandments, but we are not experiencing changes that make us more filled with love, we definitely need to rethink our understanding and assumptions and attitudes, and even our very character, in regards to the way we approach and comprehend the very concept of obedience to His commandments.  

This, of course, leads very well into Benjamin’s  Mosiah 3:19 discussion about yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putting off the natural (self-focused-what do I get from it?) man and becoming a saint through the atonement of Christ, and, in that process of connecting with Christ and embracing that amazing gift of his, becoming, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord sees fit to inflict upon us.   There is a clear difference between approaching commandments while you are doing that kind of change in your life, as opposed to approaching God’s commandments and attempting obedience all the while watching for or expecting specific blessings or positive consequences for our personal benefit or even for the specific benefit of someone else.

Furthermore, this change in perspective and approach described in Mosiah 3 leads well into Benjamin’s longer discussion, in chapter 4, of how such humility and a change in comprehension as we approach and seek to keep God’s commandments and follow His direction will cause us (and here it is again) to “always rejoice and be filled with the love of God” (Mosiah 4:12) which in turn will influence and make more joyful and loving our response to others, including what we teach our children and how we respond to people in need (vs. 13-18).

There are often very nice, very helpful, short-term personal consequences in our lives as we tackle the task of keeping commandments. but they are simply that: consequences.  God’s purpose, however, in inviting us to the task of keeping His commandments is not that we be able to receive positive, short-term, this life or the next, consequences that we hope for.  His purpose in that invitation is for us to become engaged in working with Him to strengthen the bonds of love in our relationships...with Him...and with each other.

Understanding that changes things considerably.

“There your heart will be also”. Hearts in a pandemic.

These verses came to mind today as I considered my plans for this week: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Thinking about what what each of us treasures...

The health and well-being of others?
Increased profits?
Financial status?
Compassion?
Generosity?
Self-interest?
Empowering those who struggle?
Keeping what we get for ourselves?
Each person receiving only what we think they “deserve”?
Getting what we want for the cheapest price, content to pay little to the workers who provide it?
Personal comfort or diversion?
Care for the poor and disabled?
Our business?
Our ability to care for those we love?
Escape from all difficulty?
Pleasure?

Thinking, listening and watching.

Thinking about what our politicians show that they value as they respond to the the competing voices in our society, all of those voices loud in their  responses to the current pandemic...I think their responses shine some illuminations upon what they each value...what they “treasure” both personally and professionally.

Listening to one of the painters I hired last week telling his buddy that he plans to spend his economic stimulus check on pot and beer...

Watching the protesters demanding a reopening of the economy...

Some because they want a haircut.
Some because they are unable to earn enough money to pay rent and buy food.

I did not see anyone protesting on behalf of someone else in trouble.  There may have been some, but all the ones I saw were self-interest...some responding to serious personal needs, others to frivolous ones.

I suspect that most of those who might have protested on behalf of others were too busy working to help those others.

What do these protests and demands and responses say about us as a society?   About how we care or do not care for each other’s health and well being?  How we pay our workers? How we do or do not teach provident living?  How we teach caring for the poor? How we did or did not value compassion and act upon it prior to this. How we do or do not value life other than our own? What we teach about the purpose of and wise use of what we have earned or received, or how well we understand that?  How well anyone does or does not care about any of the above.

We are where we are, in the midst of this conflict about policies and laws in response to this pandemic, not just because of a virus or “the economy”, but also because of our moral choices as a people and a society.

Our hearts have been, and are, tellingly, set upon our treasures.

“Oh be wise. What can I say more?”

Here are the 10 principles/moral foundations for a wise life that I found while reviewing Jacob’s “Oh Be Wise” sermon found in Jacob chapters 2-6.

1.  You will earn money.  Never let those riches cause you to see yourself as more important, or worthy, or entitled, or interesting, than someone else.

2. Recognize that what you earn materially in this life is a gift, and that you should treat all men and women as your brothers and sisters and be generous.  If, before you gained weath you were committed to being a faithful member of the kingdom of God, and you continue to be so, your foundation will be built upon love of God and love for others, and generosity will come more easily to you..

3. Treat others with kindness and respect—especially the person to whom you are married.  And do not enter into a marriage where that kindness and respect are not mutual.

4. Never treat anyone as an object.

5. Look to God, and do so with a clear, determined dedication to Him.  As you do so, He will be your counselor, your solace, your advocate, and the source of resolution for every wrong and every tragedy you encounter.

6. Love your spouse.  Be absolutely faithful to each other.

7. Never allow racism, sexism, nationalism, or other prejudices, including political prejudices, to become a part of who you are or to determine the choices you make.

8. You way to be at peace with God, the Father, is through your paying attention to his counsel and your embracing of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

9. God will show your your weaknesses.  When he does so, do not despair.  Remember that He does that so that you can work with Him to do good, and that as you work with Him, because of his grace and power, you and He will get good things done in spite of your weakness.

         (Grace, as defined in the era in which the Book of Mormon was translated:  “a ready, willingness to help”)

10. Counsel with the Lord.  He is full of love, wisdom, justice, and mercy and is interested in assisting you and counseling with you in every aspect of your life. Never let guilt, or fear, or despair prevent you from fully and honestly counseling with Him.

Watching Presidents

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump.

I have been privileged to live long enough to have watched them all in action and how society responded to their time in office.  And lately my work has had me immersed in reviewing newspapers from the era in which one of them served in office.  This has caused me to reflect on what I have observed over the decades as these men have come and gone

What I have learned:

Besides the political power they wield in lawmaking and policy making, either directly or through political appointments, they have immense empowering influence in society at large.  The people in society who share the president’s own personal moral and ethical standards feel more empowered and free to act upon those standards while he (or she, someday) is in office, whether or not those standards are legal.

A president who is unfaithful to his or her spouse creates a climate where those inclined to be similarly unfaithful, feel freer to do so.

Similarly, when we have had a president who is racist or bigoted, or who values civil rights, or who values power over honesty, or who values environmental protection, or who values accumulation of private wealth, or who values personal involvment in charitable work, or who values fiscal responsibility, or who demeans men or demeans women, or who is inclined to bully, or who values and respects thoughtful negotiation, etc. etc. we have seen increases of actions based upon those values within our society, as people who are inclined towards those values feel empowered to act upon them.

Therefore, I reject the idea that citizens should vote for a president simply based upon a candidate’s stated political policies alone, or how those policies will further his or her own personal wants or needs.  It is foolhardy to fail to consider any candidate’s personal moral and ethical standards and values because, inevitably, those moral or ethical standards will be magnified and fostered in your own community, schools, neighborhoods, in the media, and in the nation as a whole as people who hold similar values feel empowered to act upon them.

It is not just political platforms that we must be aware of.  The moral and ethical assumptions and values of the president wield immense influence upon the sense of empowerment of those in your own community who share them.

"And deny yourself of all ungodliness"

My friend, F. asked a question about the meaning of that phrase. It caused me to look more carefully at Moroni, chapter 10.  I think looking at the verses surrounding that verse in this chapter is helpful.  Thanks, F., for asking the question.

Verse

30—come unto Christ, (learn his word, watch and emulate his ways, seek his will and follow it with His kind of love) seek every good gift (all those gifts listed in verses 8-21 and more—given to various of his children—recognize them in each other. Recognize them in you.  Work together with those gifts)

31—arise from the dust (don’t believe that you are worthless nor only capable of insignificant, unworthy actions and situations)  and put on thy beautiful garments (rise to who God sees you as; his beloved and noble child, sent on an arduous journey) and strengthen thy stakes (strengthen your knowledge of and commitment to the most basic principles of the gospel, to which everything else is tied—love of God and of fellow men) and enlarge thy borders (catch a greater vision of the expansiveness, clarity  and inclusiveness of the gospel of Christ) forever (this is an eternal process, not a one and done) that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee (do you know what those covenants are?  Pre-mortal? Abrahamic?  Baptismal? Temple?  Likely all four) may be fulfilled.

32—Yea, come unto Christ  (see above) and be perfected in Him (learning his word, watching and emulating his ways, and seeking his will, and following it with His kind of love for God and others is the process of becoming whole and perfect.  See also the paragraph that is Matthew 5:43-48) and deny yourself of all ungodliness (as you go through this process of learning good, you will also go through a process of learning what is not good…as you recognize those, repent—change what you love—to reflect that learning); and if you shall deny yourself of all ungodliness (repent, change what you love as you recognize things in your life that are not good and in accordance to his ever-loving will) and love God with all your might, mind and strength (sometimes it takes that amount of love  of God to get us out of sins we love to indulge in) then is His grace (grace: His ready, powerful, willingness to help us) sufficient for you (enough) that by his grace (that, due to His ready, powerful, willingness to help you and your willingness to receive that help) ye may be perfect in Christ (we are able to come to love the Father, all men and every good thing as He does and respond as He does); and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can nowise deny the power of God (and if you go through this process of welcoming God’s powerful help in your efforts to repent and to become more loving and willing to work with the Father as Christ is, you will become a person who personally has experienced and KNOWS the power of God.)

33 If  ye, by the grace of God (if, through receiving His ready, powerful help throughout in your life and in the life to come, I might add) you  are perfected in Him (continue this process of discipleship  of coming unto Christ,–loving as He does, knowing first hand His power and increasing in comprehension of His ways and embracing those)  then are ye sanctified (made holy—more like God in purpose and understanding) by the grace of God (sanctification, holiness, is not something we can do on our own, it requires that we open ourselves to God’s ready willingness to help and embrace working with Him and repenting and receiving his help) through the shedding of the blood of Christ (repentance that completely erases the sins we are trying to deny ourselves is only possible because of Christ’s atonement for us), which is the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins (Christ’s atonement is a covenant that the Father made with us before we came here.  He promised us a savior that would provide a way for our sins to be remitted) that ye become holy (sanctified, more like He is) without spot (cleansed from sin)