Tens of thousands celebrated the beginning of the Christmas season Sunday evening through messages provided by leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional, a familiar tradition of many years, was delivered to a congregation gathered in the LDS Conference Center and broadcast to a worldwide audience via the Internet. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on Temple Square performed several Christmas hymns including “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” by Handel; “Noe! Noe!” and “Silent Night.”
President Thomas S. Monson presided at the event, which was conducted by President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, said one of the best parts about the Christmas season is its music, especially that performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Previous to his address, the choir performed “Carol of the Bells,” which he called, “one of the most beautiful Christmas melodies ever written.”
“Originally, it wasn’t a Christmas carol at all,” President Uchtdorf explained. “It was based on a centuries-old Ukrainian folk song known as ‘Shchedryk,’ often translated as ‘The Generous One.’”
This song, which is about a swallow that flies into a home and foretells good fortune in the next year, was sung by Ukrainian families at the beginning of a new year.
“I love its message of hope and optimism. Isn’t that the message of Christmas?” President Uchtdorf said.
Fittingly, the Christmas spirit is one of generosity, he said. The frantic pace and pressures surrounding Christmas may threaten to overpower that spirit. President Uchtdorf invited individuals to find a quiet moment to “acknowledge and offer heartfelt gratitude to ‘The Generous One.’ I ask that we consider the benevolent, beloved and boundless mercy of our compassionate Father in Heaven.”
In his remarks, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles highlighted additional details found in the Book of Mormon in reference to Christ’s birth.
He shared the account of Samuel the Lamanite who prophesied of the sign of both Christ’s birth and death — a day without darkness and three days of intense darkness respectively.
“The account of the first Christmas in the Book of Mormon helps us to learn and more fully understand that Jesus Christ is the ‘light which shineth in darkness’ (Doctrine and Covenants 10: 57-61),” Elder Bednar said. “In every season of our lives, in all of the circumstances we may encounter, and in each challenge we may face, Jesus Christ is the light that dispels fear, provides assurance and direction, and engenders enduring peace and joy.”
Many Christmas traditions include different kinds of light. “May the beautiful lights of every holiday season remind us of Him who is the source of all light,” he said.
Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy said Christmas has a divine ability to bring together families, friends and communities.
A tradition shared by many families during Christmastime is reading the account of the Savior’s birth in the book of Luke. In this account, an angel of the Lord announces the birth of the Lord to shepherds in that same country. “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10).
“The astonishing glory of God, which radiated from the unexpected heavenly messenger, had indeed struck fear in their hearts. But the news the angel had come to share was nothing to be afraid of,” Elder Clayton said. The announcement was that with the birth of Christ, the redemption of mankind had commenced, he said.
Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, shared two personal Christmas memories including her experience as a teenager in New Zealand when, on Christmas Day, her father learned that his father, her Grandpa Kjar, had passed away back home in Salt Lake City.
“Although I mourned his loss, I was blessed and comforted in my knowledge of the glorious plan of happiness,” Sister Burton said.
She then shared a Christmas memory from 1984 when, as a wife and mother of four young children, she was diagnosed with cancer six weeks before Christmas.
“Realizing perhaps better than ever before how fragile life was, Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness became more personal than ever before. Christmas was different that year,” Sister Burton said. “As much as I love everything about Christmas, the only things that seemed to matter were my eternal marriage, my family and my faith in and testimony of my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the plan.”
The devotional messages “made me feel grateful for my family,” said Scarlett Mendieta Ramirez, who attended the event at the Conference Center with her husband, Emmanuel Martinez.
For Alex de Paula, Elder Bednar’s remarks helped him connect the Christmas lights illuminating the streets and trees of downtown Salt Lake City with the Christmas season. “They are to [remind] us of the one who is the light of the world.”