If you want to renew the spirit of Christmas in your life this year, try exercising love and forgiveness beyond your own circle and contribute to the eternal goal of “peace on earth, good will toward man,” speakers said Sunday night at the annual First Presidency Christmas devotional of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Christmas is a time to extend ourselves beyond our normal ties of love and friendship,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency. “Peace, good will toward man’ is not just a message for those for whom we already have feelings of love and affection, such as fellow citizens of our church or nation, residents of our hometown or neighborhood or people of common culture. The heavenly hosts proclaim good will to all men, to casual friends, to strangers, even to enemies.”
Four devotional speakers emphasized the Savior’s personal gifts and teachings about the power of service, love and forgiveness.
“Christmas should be a time for forgiving, a time to heal old wounds and restore relationships that have gone awry,” President Oaks said.
The devotional included beloved Christmas carols performed by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. The talks and carols revered a personal, loving Christ, who was referred to in the devotional by nearly two dozen titles, ranging from King of Kings, Redeemer and Savior to King Emmanuel, Exemplar and Good Shepherd.
He was praised for his Atonement — Christ’s offering of personal forgiveness and universal resurrection that President Oaks called “the greatest gift in the history of mankind” — and for his grace, light, mercy, glorious resurrection, matchless teachings and more.
“Over a billion people will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season. The whole world should do so,” President Oaks said.
“Even in worldly terms, Jesus of Nazareth is the most important person who ever lived,” he said. “He is the principal subject of prophets and poets for over 6,000 years. He is the subject of the world’s greatest music and art. He is the greatest teacher who ever lived. Most important, he is the only begotten Son of God, the Eternal Father. He is the God to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is our Creator and Redeemer, the Savior and God of this world.”
“Latter-day Saints should be the friendliest and most considerate of all peoples”
President Oaks pointedly included Latter-day Saints in his invitation.
“The spirit of Christmas encourages us to use this season to step across barriers and promote understanding with people of all races, creeds and national origins,” he said. “Whether Latter-day Saints are in the majority, as we are in Utah, or in the minority as we are everywhere else, we should reach out to all the sons and daughters of God.
“We should extend the sincere hand of fellowship to all persons, those who are and those who are not of our faith, we should observe the command God has the Prophet Moses give to children of Israel: ‘If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.’”
President Oaks said he is saddened when he hears parents who are not Latter-day Saints in Utah sorrowing because they believe a Latter-day Saint child has ostracized their child because they are outside of the faith.
“I hope such instances are rare and diminishing. We ought to be the friendliest and most considerate of all peoples anywhere,” he said.
He counseled that Christmas should be a time to improve “the ways we give to our fellow man.”
“As we do so, as the giving spirit of Christmas permeates our thoughts and our actions, we will each be making our own contribution to the eternal goal of ‘peace on earth, good will toward man.’”
President Russell M. Nelson, the church’s 100-year-old prophet and president, attended the devotional along with his second counselor, President Henry B. Eyring.
Elder Quentin L. Cook: Who will be prepared to greet Christ at his Second Coming
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the Church of Jesus Christ “Light the World” initiative that seeks to turn people’s thoughts to Christ each Christmas season, an effort paired with Giving Machines that encourage giving to those in need and providing Christlike service.
Recalling a past department store window display that asked, “If Christ came tonight, to whom would he come?” Elder Cook noted that President Nelson has urged all people to rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ.
“Accordingly, the banner might more properly have said, ‘If Christ came tonight, who would be prepared to greet him?’” Elder Cook said.
He also shared five ways to behold Christ and the gifts he provided.
First, through his miraculous birth he inherited from his father the power of eternal life and from his mortal mother the power to die.
Second, he successfully fulfilled his mission by living a perfect life devoted to the poor, needy, sick and afflicted.
Third, he bore all sin and pain to sanctify the world: “The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest event and gift that has ever occurred in the history of mankind,” Elder Cook said. “All of us have sinned, and it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can obtain mercy and live with God.”
Fourth, prepare for his Second Coming.
Fifth, “Our love of God and our fellow man is the ultimate test of the condition of our spirit,” Elder Cook said. “If we love God, we will keep His commandments, and if we love our fellow man, we will serve them and essentially be the Savior’s hands.”
“Have a glorious Christmas centered on Jesus Christ,” he said.
Decorations and carols
The devotional began after a sunset that turned both clouds and contrails to brilliant shades of pink under pale blue skies on a nice, dry winter’s day with temperatures that reached the low 40s.
Outside the Conference Center, the trees were bedecked with green or red lights. Inside, more than 30 Christmas trees decorated a stand that also included deep red poinsettias. The women of the Tabernacle Choir wore red dresses. The men wore dark blue suits and red ties.
The orchestra’s horns opened the devotional with notes from “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The choir and orchestra also performed “Sussex Carol” — “On Christmas night all Christians sing to hear the news the angels bring” — “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” and “And the Glory of the Lord” from Handel’s “Messiah.”
Christ came to fix us when we feel broken
Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, said that Isaiah promised Christ would gather his lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom.
“If we remember anything or feel anything this Christmas season, it should be that we are his,” she said. “He was born to lift each one of us personally. And if he’s anyone’s, he is most certainly yours. Christ, the babe was born for you.”
Isaiah also warned that like sheep, we all have gone astray, she said.
“Tonight, I submit that we are all injured lambs in need of the Good Shepherd who will cradle us in the arms of his love, because to be mortal means we have things about us that feel broken, that need fixing,” Sister Runia said.
She invited church members to try a thought during the sacrament service each Sunday.
“If you’re feeling crushed, imagine him calling you by name, and go to him,” she said. “See your Savior in your mind’s eye with his arms open and bright countenance extended to you saying, ‘I knew you would feel like this. That’s why I came to Earth and suffered what I did.’ His help, his grace is available to you right now, not at the end of the road when you feel like you have things perfectly together.”
Three gifts that bring true and lasting joy
Elder S. Mark Palmer of the Presidency of the Seventy recalled a toy that brought temporary happiness to him when he was a boy. Then he shared three gifts that he said bring true and lasting joy — the gifts of testimony, forgiveness and a Christlike love of all spiritual gifts such as love.
Testimony “is such a personal gift, and when freely given without guile, it reveals the deepest expressions of our soul. More precious than gold, frankincense or myrrh, pure testimony of Jesus, Christ as our personal Savior and Redeemer is the very center of all that we celebrate at Christmas,” he said.
Freely and frankly forgiving others frees one from the poison of bitterness, judgment or vengeance, said Elder Palmer, a native of New Zealand who assists members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in supervising the church’s South America Northwest, Africa Central, Africa South and Asia North areas.
He noted that gold, frankincense and myrrh can be ordered from Amazon.com.
“You’ll never find the other gifts we’ve spoken of in any store,” he said. “They are gifts without a price, yet they will bring lasting and true joy to both the receiver and the giver.”
The devotional will be available for on-demand viewing on Gospel Library and Gospel Media. Recordings in most languages will be available in about a week, a church release said.
