What a
glorious season we are in, one that draws us closer to each other and to our
Heavenly Father! Usually during the Christmas season With Wondering Awe,
we listened to the young children–yes, truly Angels We Have Heard on High–sing
hymns and carols that radiate Joy to the World....” We listen to
talented ward, community members, and missionaries who “touch their harps of gold” and let
“their heavenly music float/O’er all the weary world.” Today, and the rest of
our lives, we must allow “the Dear Christ in.” We all must sense something burn
within us. That is the spirit of Christ.
In the
precious Christmas hymn Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful that we sing at least
once or twice at Christmas come three wondrous strains: “Come, all ye
faithful,” “Come, and behold Him,” and “Oh, come, let us adore Him.” I
sincerely believe that each of these phrases deserves special treatment and
explanation.
“Come, all ye faithful”
During this
Christmas season, the faithful followers of Christ congregate to sing joyous
hymns to Him. Note that the Lord did not say, however,
“Come, all ye faithful” for just this season. Instead, the words merely state,
rather succinctly, “Come, all ye faithful.” The Lord wants us to be faithful
every minute of the day, every day of the week, and every week of the year.
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| Christmas tree at the Mission Home |
Thankfully,
at Christmas time, we tend to listen to our hearts more than to our heads, the
spiritual more than cerebral, the perennial more than the ephemeral. We seem to
want to fix our lives so that they are in accordance with the Lord's. Yes, we
tend to “come unto Christ and adore Him.” Wouldn't it be nice if every year, we
had twelve Decembers? Then we wouldn't have to be trying to repent every 12th
month or trying to add kindness to our repertoire of Christmas thoughtfulness.
Instead of an annual event of repenting and striving to be like the Father and
His Holy Son, it would become a daily activity. Every day would become an act
of kindness. We would actually smile because we would have forgotten how to be
sad. Every day we would finally reach out to those most in need. Every day we
would understand each other’s feelings. Every day would become a glorious one
where the sun would shine and brighten lives. Every day would bring us closer
to our Savior. Every day we would know whose we really are: For we are the
Father’s, and He loves us deeply. As one poet penned:
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| Sister Hammon in front of the Mission Home Christmas tree |
An Ode to
Christmas
Decembers
come and go, like winds in east.
But for those
brief 30 days, our hearts stretch just a bit more.
We sometimes
sense in ourselves a gratification
that cannot
be quenched without our first giving
of ourselves
to others most in need.
It is at that
moment, this sense of oneness
with our own
hearts, when we finally understand
our true
place in the universe.
We come to
know that we, indeed, have hearts to give
and feelings
of love to share with others.
This feeling,
if carried for more than thirty days,
would endow
us with the true gifts from our Father.
Surely, then,
we would reach out more than before.
Alas, the
essence of the trueness of Christ’s message
would fold
our worrisome cares into large gray bundles
and whisk
them downstream, away from us at last.
Then for 365
days, we would come and be His again.
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| Sisters Myers and Fountaine with Sister Hammon. They helped decorate the Christmas tree! |
“Come,
and behold Him”
The shepherds
“came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in the
manger”(Luke 2:16). After the shepherds had seen the Christ child, they
returned to their flocks and herds and families, “glorifying and praising God
for all the things that they had heard and seen....” (Luke 2:20). There also
came “wise men from the east to Jerusalem” (Matthew 2:1) and began asking
about: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east, and are come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). And we know not how many
others came to “behold him” as he lay in the manger or worked by His father’s
side.
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| Carolers from the Riverside Stake |
We do know,
though, that Lamoni’s father, the great king over all of the Lamanites, after
he had heard the preachings of Aaron, lifted his voice to his God: “O, God,
Aaron hath told me there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God,
wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give all my sins to know thee,
and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma
27:18). Thus, we see that the King also desired to “Come, and Behold Him” and
was willing to give away all of his sins to become a pure vessel. And he did.
When he rose from his spiritual trance, he stood forth “and did minister unto
them, insomuch that his whole household were converted unto the Lord” (Alma
27:23).
Often, we
believe that to “behold God” we must be completely spiritually pure. In one
sense that is correct, but in another, we can behold God–through daily
communion with Him and understanding who He really is. Plus, our hearts can be
filled with Him always if we but “yield our hearts to God” (see Helaman 3:35).
Consider the words of (Christina Rossetti, “My Gift”)
What can I
give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a
shepherd
I would bring
a lamb,
If I were a
Wise Man
I would do my
part,—
Yet what I
can I give Him, give my heart.
Thus, the
question hinges on this: “What are we willing to do in our lives in order to
“behold Him”? Are we willing to do what He asks us to do? Are we willing to
give away all of our sins? Are we willing to yield our hearts to God?
“Oh, come let us
adore Him”
What does it
really mean to “Come and to adore Him? As I have sung this hymn over the past
several years and in two different languages, I have come to adore Him. Who is
Him? Or in more appropriate English Who is He? According to that great Old
Testament prophet Isaiah, He is called “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace....(Isaiah )...the Lord Omnipotent
who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity.... Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all
things from the beginning” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “At the Summit of the Ages,” Ensign,
Nov. 1999, 72).
The ancient
Prophet Moroni, as he ended his work and closed the abridgment of the record of
God’s dealings with His people, which is the Book of Mormon, called upon all
who read his ending passage: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in
him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of
all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is
his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ”
(Moroni 10:32).
Thus, the
challenge: “Come, all ye faithful....come, let us behold Him...[and] come let
us adore Him.” The real goal is to “Come Unto Christ.” May we accept the
challenge and experience the glorious days that the Nephites of old had with
the Savior that we may at some time "thrust [our own] hands into his side,
and ...feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet...[that we may]
see with [our own] eyes and...feel with [our own] hands, and...know of a surety
and...bear record, that it was He, of whom it was written by the prophets, that
should come...[that when we have] all gone forth and...witnessed for
[ourselves], [we] can cry out with one accord, saying: Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High
God! And then [we will] fall down at the
feet of Jesus [our Savior and Brother], and...worship him" (3 Nephi
11:15-17) who is the Truth and the Light and the Prince of Peace is my prayer
and Christmas challenge....
