While studying for the priesthood lesson.

It occurred to me some time ago that studying the priesthood lesson should be more than just reading it. And so I've taken to preparing the lesson as if I were going to be the instructor. Two weeks ago I was immersed in that process and reveling in the fact that I had just found how to get the Tabernacle Choir Christmas carol stream.

My practice is to cut-and-paste the text from the manual into a Word document and then dissect it.  I put each section on a separate page and open up the paragraphs in order to see each part of it more easily. It is then arranged so I can see what I feel needs additional emphasis or attention.  The subject of the lesson that week was the sacrament and I started thinking, "How can I make this clearer to myself? What books do I have?" And it struck me that I should go to a book by Tad Callister entitled The Infinite Atonement where I was led to page 218. I began to read:
 
"'Look unto me in every thought.... Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet.' The Savior knew that an honest contemplation of the atonement turns our thoughts and actions heavenward. That is why we have such great emphasis on remembering the Savior and his atonement. It is a central component of the sacramental prayers. To 'remember' the Savior's sacrifice is a repeated theme of the Scriptures. The Lord knows that such reflection is more than a mental exercise -- it is, in truth, a precursor to Christlike works.”

It is interesting that at this point the choir began to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah.   I continued reading:

”Years ago Handel composed his masterpiece in choir repertoire -- the unparalleled Messiah. This composition was not just the product of a gifted man. Flowing from the lyrics are the clear markings of divine intervention. The heavenly voiceprint is unmistakable. For twenty-four days Handel remained a spiritual recluse in his room as he fashioned line after line of music seemingly fit for heavenly choirs. At one point, after having scored the Hallelujah Chorus, he called to his servant and exclaimed, 'I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God himself.' Following one of the performances, a friend remarked that he had been entertained. Handel reply, 'I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better.' Likewise, the Savior is anxious that the atonement make us better. He must be gravely disappointed if people merely acknowledge his atonement has a magnificent sacrifice to be viewed in awe, but with no thought of change. The atoning sacrifice was designed to motivate us, to draw us near to him, to lift us to higher ground, and ultimately to assist us in becoming as he is."

With music in crescendo the feeling that came over me was that my testimony of Christ was being affirmed. I was aware that He is aware of me. It brought to my mind what has always been an important part of the story of Joseph Smith's first vision. God the Father spoke to Joseph calling him by name. He knew Joseph. He knows us all - individually. And as unlikely as it is to happen, if we were so blessed in this lifetime to stand before Him and speak to Him face-to-face, He would call us by name.

I feel so blessed that He has given me - given us - His gospel. For "this is the gospel which [He has] given unto [us]—that [He] came into the world to do the will of [His] Father, … that [He] might draw all men unto [Him]… ." That we might "be lifted up by the Father, to stand before [Him] and be judged of [our] works."

I am blessed with the knowledge that the becoming is a continual process and give thanks, especially this week, for repentance.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"The last words of David"


Hey, just in case you're interested, here's another Randall Thompson the Milwaukie A Cappella Choir did.


The last words of David were to counsel his descendents, the kings he expected to rule after him forever. They are lofty words full of idealism and written in the style of the greatest of all psalmists. He spoke them directly through the spirit of the Lord and in the manner of a prophet. "Now these be the last words of David. ... The God of Israel said, ... He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." (See 2 Samuel 23.)   I chose the Tabernacle choir, not because I think the Milwalkie choir could even come close to their performance, but because the dynamics in this piece are so important.  

And again you will have to turn off the choir at the bottom to hear the Choir at the top. 

I hope you enjoy it.

Pardon My Values, but Merry Christmas to All

By Gary C. Lawrence

[This article was first published by the Los Angeles Times in an op-ed column on December 19, 2004.  It was reprinted in Meridian Magazine on December 21, 2010, by permission. It is being shared with you in the hope that you will feel the importance of its message and I will be forgiven for this small transgression. I didn't get permission]

If some calamity punches holes in our records and books, and leaves in its wake only fragments, have you ever wondered what archeologists several centuries down the road will deduce about this holiday we call Christmas?

I predict they will speak with certainty of a civilization that worshiped flying reindeer, bemoaned grandma getting run over by them, and fretted about one with a red nose beset by sibling rivalry issues.

With professional pomposity, they will prattle on about our elves, snowmen, bells, trees, toys, gingerbread and eggnog.  And they won’t have the foggiest notion what put the whole holiday in motion in the first place.

Not that there’s anything wrong with elves, snowmen and bells.  But isn’t it time to recognize one shameful fact?  The pseudo-serious buzz we hear each year about recapturing the “true meaning of Christmas” originates among the same demographic group that blocks it from happening:  Christians themselves.

Polls say that 82% of Americans are Christians, but we’re wimps.  Too many of us have stopped saying Merry Christmas.  My Jewish friends will say it to me.  But many of us Christians offer up PC drivel about Happy Holidays.

Happy Holidays?  Humbug.  Happy is for January through November.  December is for Merry. 

If my Jewish friends are comfortable wishing me a Merry Christmas, but my fellow Christians are not, there’s something wrong in Christendom.

All of which reminds me of something Ted Koppel said on ABC’s “Nightline” in 1982.  He signed off his Christmas Eve program this way:

Those of us who work at this profession of journalism are rarely at a loss for words as when someone asks us to define the nature of news.  Usually we mumble something about the importance of an event – or its relevance or timeliness, hoping all the while that no one will ask “important or relevant to whom?”  As for timeliness, all that means, of course, is that something happened recently.

Well, the event that Christians around the world celebrate this evening and tomorrow did not, of course, happen recently.  It was relevant (at the time) to only the tiniest handful of people; and as for its importance, I think most of us in the news business would have to concede that, had we been there nineteen hundred and eight-two years ago in Bethlehem, we would probably have overlooked the event.  Which says something about what’s news – and what’s important.

From all of us at “Nightline,” Merry Christmas.

If the Jewish anchor of “Nightline” can wish his audience Merry Christmas, why can’t Christians?  

If I say Merry Christmas to someone who gets offended because he thinks I’m “pushing my values,” doesn’t that suggest his own values are weak?

Imagine the reverse situation.  If someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa, would I be offended?  Absolutely not.  I would take it as a compliment on my openness.

As always, what was news and what was important were in stark contrast this year.  We had plenty of news, but lost track of what’s important.

It was a year of the most hateful political campaigns that I have seen in 36 years as a political pollster.  The diatribes of 2004 ridiculed, demeaned and trivialized religious belief and attacked those who defer to a higher power, as opposed to those who believe that human intellect is the highest hope for mankind.

And yes, despite these attacks on their beliefs, too many Christians hesitate to express a simple greeting rooted in the second-most important event in Christian history—one that carries with it the promise of peace on earth and goodwill toward all.

Isn’t it time to take a stand?

Merry Christmas … everyone!

A Cappella Choir

During high school I had the opportunity to sing in the A Cappella Choir. My senior year our choir director decided we needed more of a challenge. So in addition to presenting the stage version of "Showboat," we started singing Randall Thompson compositions. "Alleluia" is one that we sang at a Christmas Choir Festival. My mother said it was like listening to angels sing. Although she was probably a biased observer, we were always given high marks by the judges. The video below is that piece sung by a group that, in my memory, we were an equal to. (May I suggest you turn off the Tabernacle Choir at the bottom before listening to this fine choir.)

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

"As a nation of freemen... "

Lincoln's Address Before the
Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois

January 27, 1838

 

    "As a subject for the remarks of the evening, the perpetuation of our political institutions, is selected.
     "In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era.--We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Their's was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.
      "How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."


Click here to read the address in its entirety.