SALT LAKE CITY — As one rocky week that ended with an apparent terrorist attack bled into another that began with a massive protest in Hong Kong, a senior leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Sunday night that world peace hinges on individual righteousness.
“War and conflict are the result of wickedness; peace is the product of righteousness,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, as he pointed to Jesus Christ as the author of peace: “Peace is our Savior’s promise and peace is our goal.”
He said Jesus Christ taught what the Apostle Paul called “the gospel of peace,”
“The Savior and his apostles had no program for world peace other than individual righteousness,” he said. “They mounted no opposition to the rule of Rome or to the regime of its local tyrants. They preached individual righteousness and taught that the children of God should love their enemies, and ‘live peaceably with all men.’”
He added, “We cannot have peace among nations without achieving general righteousness among the people who comprise them.”
President Oaks was the concluding speaker at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, where leaders offered warm messages of Christmas on a cold night to about 20,000 people at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The event, including Christmas hymns by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, was broadcast live around the world.
President Oaks said the formula for Christ’s promised peace is keeping his commandments. He concluded by quoting church President Russell M. Nelson, who last year called Christ “God’s transcendent gift — the gift of the Father to all of his children.”
President Oaks and the other speakers stood at a podium surrounded by more than a dozen Christmas trees as Latter-day Saints paused on a Sunday night to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Sister Joy D. Jones, Primary general president, evoked images of the church’s new film “The Christ Child,” an 18-minute dramatization of the birth of Jesus Christ.
She said Christmas memories, sights, sounds and smells join the holiness of the season as sacred feelings.
“We feel them every time we reflect on that little Bethlehem manger where so many prophecies, over centuries, all came together under a starry night sky — when our Redeemer and Savior was brought into the world as King of kings and Lord of lords.”
She said no material gift will last forever, but the birth of Christ met three requirements for being the perfect gift that keeps on giving.
First, it revealed something about the giver, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son.”
Second, it demonstrated that Heavenly Father knew what his children needed, a Savior and Redeemer to atone for their sins.
Finally, it holds its value forever, because Christ’s Atonement is infinite and eternal.
Elder Ulisses Soares, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, promised people a better Christmas if they take time for others. Elder Patrick Kearon, of the Presidency of the Seventy, asked them to focus on bringing a personal gift to Christ during the Christmas season.
Elder Soares said the angels who visited shepherds in the Christmas story may have brought a “needed comfort that God was aware of them and saw value in them as the chosen first witnesses of the newborn Lamb of God.”
In turn, the shepherds may have brought much-needed comfort to Mary and Joseph “that others knew of the divine miracle that they were a part of.”
“As we approach Christmas,” he said, “I wonder if we could become more like the angelic host by visiting modern shepherds to provide the good news of Christ, peace and comfort. And I wonder if we can become more like the shepherds by responding to the call to visit and minister to the modern Josephs and Marys in our neighborhoods and communities to provide reassurance that God loves them and is watching and caring for them.”
The church has encouraged its members and others to lift others through a social media campaign to Light the World one by one. Light the World Giving Machines, vending machines that allow users to donate money for a sheep or a polio vaccine or a pair of shoes for a family in a developing country, are spread throughout the nation, including Salt Lake City, Denver and New York, as well as in London and Manilla, among other locations.
So far, users have donated $1.6 million through the machines.
Elder Kearon asked people to prayerfully consider their Christmas focus and seek Christmas stillness.
“We must be careful not to be so busy and tired from trying to do too much that we miss the focus of the season and are unable to figuratively kneel at the manger, worship the newborn king, and bring our own personal gift to him,” he said.
He suggested church members consider temple service during the Christmas season as a way to correct their focus, magnify their joy and unite families. He said the season has a particular gift for each person.
“Seek for quiet, solitary moments when you can ponder, pray and feel the loving kindness of the one whose birth makes any joy in any life possible,” Elder Kearon added. “... Take time to be still, to breathe, to wonder. Look up. Focus in on his great gift — the knowledge of who you truly are, and the understanding that trials here are fleeting and that joy here is just the beginning of joy to come.”
The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performed songs including “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Unto Us a Child Is Born,” “Christmas Bells Are Ringing,” “Away in a Manger” and “Silent Night.”