Say "the light of Christ" to most members of the LDS Church and they'll think "conscience." Unless, of course, the person you're talking with is President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Packer was trained as an educator. He's famous for doing his homework. And his response to the words "light of Christ" could fill pages. In fact, it already does. The light of Christ was the topic of a talk he gave to mission presidents back in 2004.
I bring this up because I was recently given a copy of "Mine Errand From the Lord," President Packer's new collection of thoughts and insights, and quickly checked the index under "Light of Christ." I was pleased to see he'd included several generous swaths from that talk in his book. It's a favorite.
President Packer writes, "Wherever there is human life, there is the Spirit of Christ. Every living soul is possessed of it. It is the sponsor of everything that is good."
Paying attention to that light means more than simply listening to our conscience. President Packer says the light of Christ will give us wisdom, call out feelings of affection and make us sharper. He even uncorks a touch of the poet when he declares, "The Spirit of Christ can enlighten the inventor, the scientist, the painter, the sculptor, the composer, the performer, the architect, the author ... This Spirit can prompt the farmer in his field and fisherman on his boat."
Such thoughts keep me noticing the word "light" wherever I go. Few religions use the word "light" more than the Quakers and the Mormons. The Quakers build their faith around it. The hallmark Quaker scripture is John 1:9: "That was the true Light, which lightest every man that cometh into the world."
When Quakers try to help people, they often say, "Hold him in the Light."
One old Quaker author showed me a line from Milton's "Paradise Lost" — "Hail holy Light, off-spring of heaven's First Born."
And just as the light of Christ pervades the world, the word "light" pervades Mormonism itself. It's in the temple. It's in our hymns — "Teach Me to Walk in the Light," "Lead Kindly Light." It appears in the Book of Mormon more than 100 times and it streams through our lessons and talks.
In 19th-century America, people called the Colt .45 pistol "The Equalizer."
President Packer shows that the true "equalizer" is really much more positive, generous and "enlightening" than that.
Earlier, I said President Packer waxed poetic when discussing such things. Allow me to be self-serving once again and end with a poem I wrote — a poem prompted by all the scriptures President Packer quotes in his book to show how the light touches every atom of the world:
HALO
There's a point of view
that sees the world
silhouetted against the sun —
all the time.
With backlighting,
a fine old church
looks even finer.
(Was it Gilbert or Sullivan
who said, She could very well
pass for 43, in the dusk,
with the light behind her?)
When all seems lost,
I remember that
some worms do glow
and in the dark heart
of the world,
clumps of coal
are slowly crowning the earth
with diamonds.
Jerry Johnston is a Deseret News staff writer. "New Harmony" appears weekly in the Mormon Times section.
E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com