Ronald McDonald

Andrew:  They make him look friendly.
Me: What?  (I couldn’t quite hear him)
Andrew:  They make him look friendly...and a little scary.

Christmas Talk 2018

Thank you, dear Primary, for your beautiful musical number.  It is fitting that our meeting today should start with children because the first Christmas was all about a child.   Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, born 2017 years ago, in Bethlehem.  How silently, how silently the wondrous and greatest of all gifts was given.  He came as a newborn baby born in humble circumstances surrounded by creatures that he helped to create, that he might know how it was to live and grow among mankind.

Born in a stable, I picture tiny newborn Jesus with his ten fingers and ten toes, he who would one day save tens of billions of souls and yet knows each of us by name and knows how to succor each of us individually in our infirmities, our disappointments, and our griefs.

Those big bright eyes, looking up at Mary would one day see the poor, the rich, the sinner, the saint, old, young, those from all cultures, races, backgrounds, and beliefs and yet he would behold them as His brother or sister, a child of His Heavenly Father, and love them immensely.

Those kissable, baby feet would one day walk dusty paths as he taught his Father’s word.  But, they would also walk upon the water demonstrating his great faith and dominion over the elements.

Those tiny hands that could reach up to grasp his mother’s finger would one day be used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and raise the dead.  As well as pour the wine and break the bread that would forever symbolize his great sacrifice for us.

Those little knees kicking in the swaddling clothes would one day bow as he suffered the agony of Gethsemane.  The agony that allows me to repent of my sins and shortcomings.  The agony that assures me and all of us that there is no pain, mental, physical, or spiritual that my Savior does not have perfect empathy for.

I picture those baby soft shoulders that would one day carry a cross to Golgotha.  The place where after suffering more unimaginable pain, he would give up his life for us.  Where he completed the awful atonement.

Mary laid him in a manger and he would one day be laid in a tomb.  But he would rise up as a resurrected, eternal being that we might also live eternally with him, our Heavenly Father and other loved ones, free from the limitations imposed by our imperfect physical bodies, these two promises are what keep me going from day to day.

I testify that the baby born in a stable in Bethlehem lives today as our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, to all of us, even those of us that feel overwhelmed, stressed, lonely, alone or unworthy at this time of year, let us focus on the marvelous gift of that tiny baby and remember that he who we have been invited to come and adore, adores us perfectly.

Isaiah’s words on Christ’s birth always bring a thrill to my heart.

⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Joy to the World admonishes “Let earth receive her King”.  Let each of us receive our king, not only in this season but as we go forward.  Let us receive him in whichever of his roles we need him most whether it’s Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty god, The everlasting Father, or The Prince of Peace.  In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.