A bishopric message written on November 28, 2000, for the December 2000 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.
Christmas. What a glorious time of year! A time when love and hope and light fill our darkened world for a brief moment. A season when generosity and good will and charity enlarge our souls just a little more.
And all this because a baby was born. In every age the glad tidings of great joy center in one pivotal truth: “the great and wonderful love made manifest by the Father and the Son in the coming of the Redeemer into the world” (D&C 138:3).
To the shepherds of ancient Judea: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).
To the prophets of ancient America: “I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy. . . . For behold, the time cometh . . . that with power, the Lord Omnipotent . . . shall come down from heaven” (Mosiah 3:3–5).
The witness of the resurrected Christ Himself: “This is the gospel [literally the good news, the glad tidings] which I have given you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father” (3 Nephi 27:13).
And in our own day: “This is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of heaven bore record unto us—That he came into the world” (D&C 76:40–41).
Why? “To be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that through him all might be saved” (D&C 76:41–42). “That through his atonement, and by obedience to the principles of the gospel, mankind might be saved” (D&C 138:4). Good news indeed!
I close this message, my witness that Love Personified came into the world that first Christmas 2000 years ago, with a little Christmas poem I wrote some years ago:
He came,
The one bright perfect Light,
He came
To chase away the misted darkness of the night
And make my narrow pathway plain.
He died,
The sinless Son of God,
He died
To ransom me from sin's exacting, heavy rod,
And death, my death to set aside.
He lives,
The wondrous name of Love,
He lives
Who lifts my earth-stained soul, now cleansed, to home above,
And glory there forever gives.
Showing posts with label 2000. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2000. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2008
30. Remember Him and Keep His Commandments
A pastoral message written on Friday, September 1, 2000, as the bishopric message for the September 2000 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.
Members of our family traveled this summer to parts of the Midwest and the East Coast. We marveled at the beauty and diversity of this vast country, a land we believe is “a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands” (2 Nephi 1:5). And we were reminded of the rich heritage we enjoy as American citizens and of the cost paid by those who went before us in founding our nation and defending our freedoms and bringing us to these mountain valleys we call home.
A warning issued to ancient Israel as they entered their promised land applies in principle to us in our day: “And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
“And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
“Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:10–12).
Each of us, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has been purchased out of bondage, has been redeemed out of slavery, and has been blessed with a multiplicity of blessings we neither earned nor deserve. We cannot afford to forget the Lord and what He has done for us.
“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him” (Deuteronomy 6:13) was the command anciently as the remedy for not for-getting the Lord, and it still applies in our day. A recurring theme of the Book of Mormon, which was written to our day, is that we remember the Lord and His divine deliverance. Each week as we partake of the emblems of His body and blood, we witness afresh and covenant anew to “always remember him and keep his commandments” (D&C 20:77).
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Members of our family traveled this summer to parts of the Midwest and the East Coast. We marveled at the beauty and diversity of this vast country, a land we believe is “a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands” (2 Nephi 1:5). And we were reminded of the rich heritage we enjoy as American citizens and of the cost paid by those who went before us in founding our nation and defending our freedoms and bringing us to these mountain valleys we call home.
A warning issued to ancient Israel as they entered their promised land applies in principle to us in our day: “And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
“And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
“Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:10–12).
Each of us, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has been purchased out of bondage, has been redeemed out of slavery, and has been blessed with a multiplicity of blessings we neither earned nor deserve. We cannot afford to forget the Lord and what He has done for us.
“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him” (Deuteronomy 6:13) was the command anciently as the remedy for not for-getting the Lord, and it still applies in our day. A recurring theme of the Book of Mormon, which was written to our day, is that we remember the Lord and His divine deliverance. Each week as we partake of the emblems of His body and blood, we witness afresh and covenant anew to “always remember him and keep his commandments” (D&C 20:77).
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
29. Deliverance and Redemption
A pastoral message written on Tuesday, May 30, 2000, as the bishopric message for the June 2000 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. The same thought was also printed as “A Final Word” in the June 2000 issue of the Cleverly Newsletter. It was also posted on June 4, 2008, on the blogsite The Dawning of a Brighter Day.
When the Lord God brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt into the promised land, He reminded them that He was giving them cities which they had not built, houses full of good things they had not filled, wells they had not dug, and vineyards they had not planted (see Deuteronomy 6:10–11). Sort of like us today at the dawn of the 21st century.
“Beware,” He cautions them, “lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:12).
“And thou shalt remember,” He says unto them later, “that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee” (Deuteronomy 15:15).
This pattern of remembrance runs throughout the scriptures: We are in bondage and the Lord delivers and redeems us. And we are to remember that deliverance and redemption.
Indeed, an important purpose of the scriptures is that “they have enlarged the memory of this people . . . and brought them to the knowledge of their God” (Alma 37:8).
We are enjoined in many places throughout the scriptures to remember the Lord our Redeemer and what He has done both for our fathers and for us. The word “remember,” in some form or another, appears 454 times in the scriptures.
The summer that spreads before us is strewn with opportunities to remember our past, to recall what the Lord has done for our fathers, to recount what blessings we enjoy at His hand.
This past Monday was Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember specifically those who sacrificed their lives in the defense of freedom and more generally all loved ones who have passed on to the other side.
In another ten days is Flag Day, a chance to remember the symbol of our God-given freedoms, a chance to reflect on the opportunities and responsibilities of living in this “sweet land of liberty” (Hymns, 339), “the land of the free and the home of the brave” (Hymns, 340). The Lord Himself referred to it as “a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42).
Three weeks later, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate the birthday of our country and remember again that the Lord has particular designs for the destiny of this nation. He declared, “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I have raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).
And finally, we celebrate Pioneer Day, a wonderful commemoration of the great migration of our forebears to these western valleys. We remember their sacrifices, their devotion, their faith as they fulfilled the ancient prophecy that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1) as the Lord “set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isaiah 11:11; 2 Nephi 21:11).
Deliverance and redemption. May each of us remember. And may each of us declare, as did the Psalmist anciently, “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old” (Psalms 77:11).
When the Lord God brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt into the promised land, He reminded them that He was giving them cities which they had not built, houses full of good things they had not filled, wells they had not dug, and vineyards they had not planted (see Deuteronomy 6:10–11). Sort of like us today at the dawn of the 21st century.
“Beware,” He cautions them, “lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:12).
“And thou shalt remember,” He says unto them later, “that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee” (Deuteronomy 15:15).
This pattern of remembrance runs throughout the scriptures: We are in bondage and the Lord delivers and redeems us. And we are to remember that deliverance and redemption.
Indeed, an important purpose of the scriptures is that “they have enlarged the memory of this people . . . and brought them to the knowledge of their God” (Alma 37:8).
We are enjoined in many places throughout the scriptures to remember the Lord our Redeemer and what He has done both for our fathers and for us. The word “remember,” in some form or another, appears 454 times in the scriptures.
The summer that spreads before us is strewn with opportunities to remember our past, to recall what the Lord has done for our fathers, to recount what blessings we enjoy at His hand.
This past Monday was Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember specifically those who sacrificed their lives in the defense of freedom and more generally all loved ones who have passed on to the other side.
In another ten days is Flag Day, a chance to remember the symbol of our God-given freedoms, a chance to reflect on the opportunities and responsibilities of living in this “sweet land of liberty” (Hymns, 339), “the land of the free and the home of the brave” (Hymns, 340). The Lord Himself referred to it as “a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42).
Three weeks later, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate the birthday of our country and remember again that the Lord has particular designs for the destiny of this nation. He declared, “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I have raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).
And finally, we celebrate Pioneer Day, a wonderful commemoration of the great migration of our forebears to these western valleys. We remember their sacrifices, their devotion, their faith as they fulfilled the ancient prophecy that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1) as the Lord “set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isaiah 11:11; 2 Nephi 21:11).
Deliverance and redemption. May each of us remember. And may each of us declare, as did the Psalmist anciently, “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old” (Psalms 77:11).
28. Come unto Christ or Perish
A bishopric message that appeared in the March 2000 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.
“For we labor diligently to write,” wrote Nephi in the Book of Mormon, “to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. . . .
“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25: 23, 26).
The Book of Mormon, which we are studying again this year in Sunday School, is drenched in Christ. It is, as President Ezra Taft Benson taught some years back, the keystone of our religion and therefore the keystone of our understanding of Christ, the keystone of our faith in Christ, the keystone of our testimony of Christ. There is no more powerful witness of Him and His goodness to be found anywhere.
The overriding message in the Book of Mormon, in my opinion, could be summarized in five simple words: Come unto Christ or perish.
We must come unto Him, give our whole souls unto Him, be reconciled to Him. “Yea, come unto Christ,” concluded Moroni at the very end of the record, “and be perfected in him, . . . and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).
My humble prayer is that each of us may do exactly that: Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him.
“For we labor diligently to write,” wrote Nephi in the Book of Mormon, “to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. . . .
“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25: 23, 26).
The Book of Mormon, which we are studying again this year in Sunday School, is drenched in Christ. It is, as President Ezra Taft Benson taught some years back, the keystone of our religion and therefore the keystone of our understanding of Christ, the keystone of our faith in Christ, the keystone of our testimony of Christ. There is no more powerful witness of Him and His goodness to be found anywhere.
The overriding message in the Book of Mormon, in my opinion, could be summarized in five simple words: Come unto Christ or perish.
We must come unto Him, give our whole souls unto Him, be reconciled to Him. “Yea, come unto Christ,” concluded Moroni at the very end of the record, “and be perfected in him, . . . and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).
My humble prayer is that each of us may do exactly that: Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
