Christmas

I've had a fair number of stray thoughts about Christmas, and I wanted to take a minute to put a few of them in words, for myself and for any others that might find them interesting.



A few weeks ago, one of our stake presidency members attended our sacrament meeting and shared an interesting thought from the following scriptures:
Luke 2:1-20 
We always read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2, and it's a good thing that we do.  It's a true story, and important to the salvation of every soul that ever lived, but he is of the opinion that we sometimes miss a very important part of the story: what was happening on the other side of the world?
Helaman 14:2-8 
3 Nephi 1:2-22 
The wicked Nephites had reached a low in their society of epic proportions: this is Nazi Germany, Rwandan massacre levels of evil.  They had resolved to kill all the Christians, if the sign foretold by Samuel the Lamanite didn't come in time.

The day before the killing, Nephi, the prophet, spent his whole day praying to the Lord, and the Lord responds to his prayer.  He comes to Nephi, and what hope He brings!  "On the morrow come I into the world"--think about that.  Today, I'm speaking with you as Jehovah, the great God of Heaven and Earth, Creator and King, and tomorrow, I will be a little baby in a manger back in Jerusalem.  What a condescension! What a poignant moment between the Lord and his prophet, and what comfort it must have brought to Nephi's heart to know He was coming.  Is it any wonder that concourses of angels sang "Peace on Earth, Good will toward men!"  With His birth, tens of thousands of innocent Nephite lives were saved!

(Yeah, that's the singer from Prince of Egypt.)

While I was driving back to Idaho last week, this song came up on my Ipod, and I rewound it a few times to listen to the words.  I was struck by the words in the third verse:

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations,
Ye have seen his natal star!

In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to associate with some real intellectuals.  I've noticed a tendency; it's so easy, when we are focused on studying something, to focus on the importance of the thing that we are studying.  It would have been so easy for the magi, whatever their positions, to get caught up in the importance of the matters that were important to their kingdoms and their lands, but it struck me; whatever things they were thinking about simply paled in comparison to the "brighter visions" that "beamed afar".  He is the great Desire of nations.  He brings peace and hope like nothing else.  There is literally not a thing that they could have been pondering of greater significance than that of the birth of a poor carpenter's son in Bethlehem.  

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Now, what if God Himself should be born once two thousand years ago?  How would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of God's own Son, His birth and life, and death and resurrection.  The light of the stars, who "light the universe with their admonishing smile," is the light of that same Son of God, Jesus Christ.  I believe it, and I testify it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen!

(With apologies for the poor organization and lack of transitions; particularly to my various English and grammar teachers from over the years, who must be thoroughly disappointed in me.)