Christmas talk, December 22, 2013

 I was asked to speak in Church on Christmas Sunday.  Following is a copy of my talk.

Years ago, in our 2^nd Christmas, Troy and I decided we needed to develop some Christmas traditions of our own.  I was 9 months pregnant and we were ready to begin our own family traditions.  We had heard of families that went into the mountains of northern Utah to cut down their own Christmas tree.  This sounded like a fine tradition, so we decided to try it.  We applied for and received a tree cutting permit.  Along with the permit came many instructions, including tagging your tree as soon as you cut it, not cutting down one tree, then finding a better one and abandoning the first and so forth.

The first of December, we ventured off to some place north of Tremonton.  We were driving our small 2WD pickup and had our little dog Ruben in tow.  It never occurred to us that it would be snowy in the mountains.  It was.  2WD doesn’t do so well in the snow.  After getting stuck, and finally finding someone to help us out,  we parked our truck on the road and hiked up to the forest.  Have you ever gone to the woods to cut down a Christmas tree?  It’s not exactly the way it sounds.  Wild grown trees are wild.  They have no shape, no structure.  We could find nothing.  We finally found a smaller Charlie Brown type tree and decided it would do.  This is when we discovered we didn’t bring a saw.  Yes, we are 3 hours from home, hiking in the snowy woods to cut a Christmas tree… and we didn’t bring a saw. 

We started the hike back to our truck, a little dejected and contemplating what to do next. It was cold and snow was threatening again.  And then we saw it.  The most beautiful, perfect Christmas tree, already cut and abandoned on the side of the road.  We could not believe our good fortune.  It was not tagged.  There was no one around.  It looked like it had just been abandoned. We picked that tree up and dragged it for miles back to our truck.

We loaded up and headed back down the mountain, stopping at a small roadside café for dinner.  We cheerily told our waitress about our trip and our good fortune and describe the beautiful tree to her.  We were sure someone had just abandoned it.  The waitress paused a moment, then said, “That family that just left as you walked in?  They just told me they cut down a beautiful, perfect tree, just like you are describing.  They left it on the side of the road while they went to get their truck.  When they returned, the tree was gone.”

We STOLE a Christmas tree!  We felt horrible.  But life is a journey, right.  Sometimes we do things without knowing they are wrong.  Sometimes, we forget thing, make mistakes.  But isn’t that what this life is all about?  A journey, to learn, to grow, to change.

Often when we read the Christmas story from the New Testament, we read from Luke.  Today, I want to read John’s version:

In John, Chapter 1, verse one, we read

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…”

Verse 3 says “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made…”   In 4, we are told that In him was Life (as in Eternal Life) and the life was the light of men.  In verse 9, we learn that He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

And in 14, it states, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”

Who is the Word?  Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Why is He called the Word?  Perhaps because He is a messenger of the Father.  In D&C 93:8, it says “Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—“. 

So, just an interesting thought here…  In 1st Nephi, we read of Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life.  Lehi’s son, Nephi wants to understand the vision, so he turns to Heavenly Father.  The Spirit of the Lord interprets the dream to Nephi.  In the vision, there is a path and along side the path is an iron rod. The path and the iron rod lead to the tree of life, a tree full of beautiful white fruit. The fruit of the tree we learn represents the Love of God.  Multitudes of people are pressing forward to that tree and are grasping that rod and holding tightly through mists of darkness, ridicule and other stumbling blocks. Nephi writes, “I beheld the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the Word of God.”

Often, we interpret that phrase “word of God” to mean the scriptures, which is accurate and  wonderful, but what if we take that one step further.  The Word of God is Jesus Christ… and when we cling to that Iron Rod, we are clinging to the Saviour Himself as he brings us to the Love of God and eternal Life.

I would like to focus the remainder of my remarks on grasping a hold of that Iron rod, the Word of God or Jesus Christ to bring back to our Heavenly Father.

Come unto me, the Saviour says again and again in the scriptures.  It doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done, His invitation is to all of us.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11;28-29)

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” (Psalms 55:22)

“….Come unto me ye blessed…” Alma 5:16

“…if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life…” 3 Nephi 9:14

“…Come unto me and be baptized in my name…” 3 Nephi 21:6, Moroni 7:34

The invitation is pure and simple.  “Come unto me.” 

His hands reach out to us, as the Christus statue at Temple Square in Salt Lake City,  inviting, beckoning and ready to grasp a hold  if we but reach for Him.  How is this possible? How is it that He lifts us, sustains us, gives us rest?

In the Living Christ, the testimony of the Apostles of our church it says “We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world.

 He was born as we were born, a small, helpless infant who had no knowledge of who He was and what his purpose was.  Just as we are born with no knowledge of who we are… that we, too are sons and daughters of God.  His earthly parents, Mary and step father Joseph were imperfect parents, just as we are imperfect parents, they were imperfect sons and daughters, just as we are.  Jesus Christ understands imperfections more than anyone. 

He grew spiritually much quicker than we do, for it says in Luke 2:40, “And the child grew and waxed strong in the spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him”.  What did it feel like to be His mother?  I wonder if sometimes Mary felt completely inadequate. 

By the age of 12, when Joseph and Mary thought they had lost Jesus and after 3 days found him teaching in the temple, Jesus knew who he was and understood his divine purpose.  “How is it that ye sought me,” He asked.  “Did ye not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”

He lived on earth as we do, through disappointments (His own half brothers did not support him, his neighbors and kinsfolk  in Nazareth thought him crazy), through immense Joys (raising his friend Lazarus from the dead), temptations (Satan tempting him to use his unique powers to bring glory to himself)  through intense sorrow (the betrayal by Judas, a beloved apostal) and through   agony and pain (in the Garden of Gethsemane). He understands EVERYTHING about us.  He understands our self-doubt, because he had to live it also.  He understands the pain of losing a child, a spouse, both spiritually and temporally.  He knows how we feel when we think it is hopeless.

Come unto me… and I will give you rest.  Come unto me.

The Mutual theme for next year is another “Come unto Christ” scripture.  It is found in Moroni 10:32 and says “Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness…”

The placement of the words in this invitation is significant.  He does not say deny yourselves of ungodliness, then be perfect, then come unto me.  He says “Come unto Christ” (first), and then “be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness…”

The Greek word for Perfect in the New Testament is teleios, which means finished.  The end of the verse found in Moroni 6:4 says that Christ “was the author and the finisher of their faith”. Therefore, Come unto Christ (first) and then be finished in him….  Come unto Him.  The rest just falls into place, a piece at a time.  I am not finished now.  Neither are you.  Come unto Him.  He created us, let him finish us. Let his atonement give us the power to understand and change the things we need to to become finished.  It does not matter that we can’t change everything…  That is why He is there.  Come Unto him.

I know that He lives.  I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can give us the power to change anything and everything.  He knows us, He loves us. He suffered human experiences so that he could help us and sustain us as we suffer our own. He is the Son of God, He is our Light and Life.  Because of Him, we can live.