(My Sacrament meeting talk on 12/18)
When I was about 6 or 7 my very busy mother decided it would be fun to teach Christmas carols to her children and all the neighbor kids so that we could then go caroling to the rest of the neighborhood. We met for several weeks in our small livingroom while my mom taught us as many songs as we could learn. At the end we made caramel popcorn balls, wrapped in red and green cellophane, to hand out, so at least if the neighbors didn’t like our voices, they might like our goodies. Sometimes when I want to remember bygone days feeling the Christmas spirit I think back to those few Decembers as it became a tradition for a while. It was so fun to walk around several blocks singing with our friends who also were in kindergarten thru 6th grade. There were at least 10 or 15 of us. I learned to love Christmas carols from that experience. I’ve loved caroling anytime I get an opportunity, whether it be on a boat on Lake Merritt in the Oakland Bay Area, for a Mutual activity, on the hills of Bethlehem, and especially in my car with my grandchildren.
The night before I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting the words and melody to the Christmas choir song “O Come Let Us Adore Him” were trapped in my mind. I went to sleep hearing it, spent half the night hearing it, and woke up hearing it. Now, being asked to speak, I’ve decided to use the words from “O Come All Ye Faithful” for my inspiration.
“O Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the king of angels. O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.”
O, Come…What a welcoming phrase. A warm invitation. To step forward, embrace, remember, celebrate all those that are filled with faith. I like being invited to things. I liked being invited to sing to our neighbors. It makes me feel special at the same time feeling part of something larger. But what does it mean to be faithful or full of faith? Are we full of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and if so, why, what do we have faith in?
The subject of faith is beyond exhaustive. We know that faith is a belief in things hoped for but not seen. In Alma 32:21 we read, “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true”.
I have not yet seen Jesus Christ in my mortal life, but I have faith that He lives and loves me, that He was born at the meridian of time and walked on this earth doing good, performing miracles and going about our Heavenly Father’s business. I have felt his spirit and influence in my life many times. I have had dreams of Him. I have turned to him as my great and perfect exemplar. When I fall on my knees or hide in my closet in despair or plead for his arms to be wrapped around me, His peace and comfort envelops me as He comes to me. I have hope for a brighter future. I feel faith-full and I know that when I repent and am forgiven I am worthy to come to Him. I feel joy and I seek His spirit in his holy temple and in the faces of the ordinance workers. I seek for and behold his face in the lost and downtrodden, the beggars and the homeless, knowing that they are not alone, that He loves all of us. I seek for and behold His face in my friends and family, in nature, and in the faces and voices of the members of the Mormon Tabernacle choir as they sing praises to Him. I behold His face in our Prophet Thomas S. Monson, in our apostles, and in our local stake and ward leaders, especially our Bishop, as they minister to us so kindly and lovingly.
I was reading online about Jenny Oaks Baker, the Grammy-nominated violinist daughter of Apostle Dallin H. Oaks. In her biography she mentions how she met her husband at a singles ward on the east coast. She was handing out programs at the door; he walked in. She climbed over several people to sit by him. He started trying to impress her by telling her his father had been a bishop, stake president, and now mission president. She then, which she swears she never ever does, responded with “Well my father’s an apostle!” What was he to say after that? I guess the yin and yang of courtship began. Game on.
As I thought about this anecdote I wondered why he didn’t come back with, “Well, my elder brother is Jesus Christ.” Then she could have said, “Mine, too” and they would have been even more united with all things in common. As we are. Knowing that Jesus Christ, our elder brother, who descended below all things so He could overcome all things, even death, the great and supernal sacrifice, so that all of us could overcome death, I feel triumphant!
Doctrine & Covenants 88:6-14 is so beautiful. It reads:
“He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehendeth all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;
As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand. And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. Now, verily I say unto you, that through the redemption which is made for you is brought to pass the resurrection from the dead.”
I journeyed to Israel in December, 1999. It was an interesting time to be in the Holy Land when Hanukah, Ramadan, Christmas, and the new millennium intersected. I travelled with a small tour group of 15. Because of the political unrest and rioting in Bethlehem we were un-able to enter the city safely. However, on one temperate evening as the sun was falling we gathered on the hills above Bethlehem to read scriptures and sing Christmas hymns. Several Bedouin women and their small children gathered around as it had become their custom to join in the music and perhaps look for a little handout. It was a magical and sacred experience made even more special by our guide, Daniel Rona, who pointed out one of the women gathered nearby as he told us the following story. For several years the woman, accompanied by her little boy who was 5 or 6 years old, had been coming to this gathering as Dan Rona brought a group of believers to her hillside. And then suddenly she stopped coming. Brother Rona learned from some of the other women that her little boy had died and she was too heartbroken to return. Filled with sorrow for this poor woman, who had no modern technology like a photograph from which to remember her son, Brother Rona began emailing past tour groups to see if anyone had taken a picture of this mother and child. For many months, he heard nothing. And then one day a photograph arrived in the mail of the child; one of the people had been going through his slides and found a picture of him. The next time Dan Rona took a group to the Bethlehem hills, amazingly the woman had returned with the group. She stood back and was shy. Brother Rona walked up to her and handed her a photograph of her little boy. She looked in shock and amazement and then knelt down, weeping tears of joy and gratitude. A simple gift really but worth everything to a grieving mother, to see her son’s face again.
I think this is how we will feel when we again see our loved ones, knowing that they live on because Heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten son for our sakes, to be resurrected and receive the opportunity for Eternal life.
Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation; sing all ye citizens of heav’n above! Glory to God, Glory in the highest. O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.
We know heavenly choirs sang in exultation to the shepherds gathering on the Bethlehem hills over 2000 years ago, singling Glory to God. A year ago this week, my friend’s 43 year old daughter, Krista, passed away from a brain tumor. Krista was in every way an exceptional daughter, wife, mother, and fellow-citizen of Christ. She was also blessed with a beautiful alto singing voice and was recorded in a studio singing some of her favorite songs. At the conclusion of her funeral, immediately after the closing prayer in a completely filled stake center in Plano TX, we in the audience heard Krista’s beautiful voice singing a capella “O My Father,” ringing out from the sound system. Her husband had arranged for her amazing recording to be played as a final soul-stirring gift to us, her friends and loved ones. The hushed room sat in silent tribute joining our personal testimonies to the words: “O my Father, thou that dwellest in the high and glorious place, when shall I regain thy presence and again behold thy face?...When I leave this frail existence, when I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you in your royal courts on high? Then at length, when I’ve completed all you sent me forth to do, with your mutual approbation let me come and dwell with you.” All of this because of the loving tender sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Several of Kristas’ former choir members heard Krista’s actual voice singing along with the recorded number. One in a choir of angels, singing in exultation.
This past Friday morning I received word that little 6-year old Spencer Felt, the grandson of another friend of mine, was finally receiving a heart transplant. For 3 months all who know and love this family have been hoping and praying for Spencer to be well enough to receive a new heart when one became available for him. Friday was the day. I was overcome with emotion as I received the text, being fully aware that somewhere some other group of citizens was mourning the loss of a child. I sent a prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father, not only for Spencer’s new heart, but for the sacrifice of one other so that Spencer could proceed forward with his destiny. And I sent a prayer of gratitude that our Savior and Eldest brother, Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer, so willingly laid down his life so we could live again.
I don’t know how Jesus did all of this. In the midst of my own personal great torment recently I wondered allowed to Heavenly Father, “How?” How was Jesus able to achieve such perfection when he was tormented and buffeted by Satan, experiencing EVERY temptation and sorrow so that he could succor us? What incomparable behavior and attributes did he develop such that he could be the Savior of the World and worlds without end?
And the answer I received was he submitted his will to the father. Not to the world, not to Satan, not to the voices of peer pressure around him, but solely to the Father. For me, then, that is the key. In learning to submit our will we take his yoke upon us, and learn of Him. By being yoked to Him, we can best learn of his perfected qualities, though only in our comparatively small ways.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “If we are meek, through our smaller but similar experiences we will come to appreciate Jesus’ perfected qualities even more. Then our adoration of him produces a desire for emulation of him”.
Elder Maxwell then quoted Joseph Smith by saying, “The Prophet Joseph Smith, whose own life was lived in a crescendo of self-improvement amid adversity, observed; The nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, ‘til he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, (he) arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his maker and is caught up to dwell with Him.” (Teachings p. 51)
The clearer one’s views, the more one sees “things as they really are,” the greater the happiness.
Yea, Lord, we greet thee, Born this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n. Son of the Father, Now in flesh appearing; O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, O Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ the Lord.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
