Christmas Program #2

The shops and malls all across our prosperous land are filled with shoppers preparing for Christmas, that joyous, abundant holiday. Isn�t the abundance with which we celebrate the birth of the Saviour ironic when we contemplate the truly humble circumstances in which that unparalleled event took place.

One wonders if Mary and Joseph were �dismayed� as they realized where she was going to have to bring forth her first born son, the Only Begotten Son of the Father. Jeffrey Holland explored this idea in an article entitled �A Father�s Thoughts on Christmas� in the December 1977 issue of the Ensign.

As a father I have recently begun to think more often of Joseph, that strong, silent, almost unknown man who must have been more worthy than any other mortal man to be the guiding foster father of the living Son of God. It was Joseph, selected from among all men, who would teach Jesus to work. It was Joseph who taught Him the books of the law. It was Joseph who, in the seclusion of the shop, helped Him begin to understand who He was and ultimately what He was to become.

... what Joseph must have felt as he moved through the streets of a city not his own, with not a friend or kinsman in sight, or anyone willing to extend a helping hand. In these very last and most painful hours of her "confinement," Mary had ridden or walked approximately one hundred miles from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. Surely Joseph must have wept at her silent courage. Now, alone and unnoticed, they had to descend from human company to a stable, a grotto full of animals, there to bring forth the Son of God.

I wonder what emotions Joseph might have had as he cleared away the dung and debris. I wonder if he felt the sting of tears as he hurriedly tried to find the cleanest straw and hold the animals back. I wonder if he wondered: "Could there be a more unhealthy, a more disease-ridden, a more despicable circumstance in which a child could be born? Is this a place fit for a king? Should the mother of the Son of God be asked to enter the valley of the shadow of death in such a foul and unfamiliar place as this? Is it wrong to wish her some comfort? Is it right He should be born here?"

But I am certain Joseph did not mutter and Mary did not wail. They knew a great deal and did the best they could.

Perhaps these parents knew even then that in the beginning of His mortal life, as well as in the end, this baby son born to them would have to descend beneath every human pain and disappointment. He would do so to help those who also felt they had been born without advantage.

I've thought of Mary, too, this most favored mortal woman in the history of the world, who as a mere child received an angel who uttered to her those words that would change the course not only of her own life but also that of all human history: "Hail, thou virgin, who art highly favoured of the Lord. The Lord is with thee; for thou art chosen and blessed among women." (JST, Luke 1:28.) The nature of her spirit and the depth of her preparation were revealed in a response that shows both innocence and maturity: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." ( Luke 1:38 .)

... I have wondered if this young woman, something of a child herself, here bearing her first baby, might have wished her mother, or an aunt, or her sister, or a friend, to be near her through the labor. Surely the birth of such a son as this should command the aid and attention of every midwife in Judea. We all might wish that someone could have held her hand, cooled her brow, and when the ordeal was over, given her rest in crisp, cool linen.

But it was not to be so. With only Joseph's inexperienced assistance, she herself brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in the little clothes she had knowingly brought on her journey, and perhaps laid him on a pillow of hay.

Surely it must have been dismaying to Mary and Joseph to be in such humble circumstances at such a time, but would the story have had the same power if Christ had been born in more normal circumstances? Surely all this did not happen just because Caesar Augustus had a whim and send out a decree �that all the world should be taxed.� It happened this way to fulfill prophecy. Even these little details were part of Heavenly Father�s plan for the mortal life of His Firstborn.

How often are we dismayed over the circumstances of our lives? How often throughout our mortal lives do we need to remember the words:

God rest ye merry Gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save us all from Satan�s power,
When we were gone astray

Amuleck in Alma 40:26 reminds us of just what the consequences of going astray are:

But behold, an awful death cometh upon the wicked; for they die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness; for they are unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God; but they are cast out, and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup.

And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.

Yes, He came here for us, for each one of us, and he paid the price for our sins. In D&C 19:16-18 Christ says:

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit--and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink--

17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

President Ezra Taft Benson asked :

What can we possibly give to the Lord? Considering all that He has done and is doing for us, there is something that we might give Him in return. Christ's great gift to us was His life and sacrifice. Should that not then be our small gift to Him�our lives and sacrifices, not only now, but in the future?

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life. ("Jesus Christ�Gifts and Expectations," Christmas Devotional, Salt Lake City, Utah, 7 December 1986.)

The choir will now sing �In the Bleak Midwinter, Long Ago� after which the congregation will sing �It Came Upon the Midnight Clear�

In the Bleak Midwinter, Long Ago (music by Gustav Hosla, arranged by K. Lee Scott)

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Congregation p. 207)

Come, Let Us Praise (by Heinz Werner Zimmermann)

The image of that babe, born in stable, destined to die on a cross, has brought hope and courage into all the lives of those who accept the gospel he declared, even those in the most desperate of circumstances. Consider just one example of one who centered his hope on this Babe of Bethlehem. Consider Moroni. Imagine him standing on a hillside, overlooking his former homeland and think about these words which he wrote as he was finishing his father�s record.

5 Behold, my father hath made this record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not.
6 Behold, four hundred years have passed away since the coming of our Lord and Savior.
7 And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; ...
8... And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war.
9 And now, behold, I say no more concerning them, for there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land. (See Mormon 8:5-9)

�For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled.� ( Mormon 8:22)