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“Ring in the Christ that Is to Be”

“Ring in the Christ that Is to Be”

Last updated on: December 20, 2024 at 6:37 pm by Dan Peterson

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“Ring in the Christ that Is to Be” 2024-12-20T18:37:15-07:00 Dan Peterson

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Grigory Gagarin (1810-1893), “Christmas” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The Interpreter Foundation’s annual Christmas message for 2024 appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Ring in the Christ that Is to Be: Fulfilling the Pattern of His Life,” written by Don Bradley

Abstract: The story of Christ, and of Christmas, is the story of Christ “the Lord God Omnipotent” incarnating in “a tabernacle of clay” (Mosiah 3:5). Christ took upon himself flesh so that he might also take upon himself burdens that he did not naturally have to bear—our burdens—in order to relieve us of those burdens. Christ, according to the scriptures, voluntarily “takes upon him” our pains, our sicknesses, death, our infirmities, and our sins (Alma 7:7–13). Unlike Christ, ordinary human beings do not “take upon them death” and bodily infirmity, but are, like king Benjamin, “subject to” them (Mosiah 2:11). In voluntarily taking upon himself our burdens, Christ brought redemption to us, and provided a pattern for us to live by. When we choose to bear burdens that we do not by nature or by necessity have to bear, we emulate him. Paul referred to following this pattern as living by “the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), and, as Alma’s teachings at the Waters of Mormon indicate, we covenant at baptism that we will live this pattern with one another—to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” (Mosiah 18:8–10). In so doing, we live as part of the body of Christ, measurably living out and incarnating our heavenly King in this world.

The Hale Centre Theatre, in Sandy, Utah, is (as I’ve often said before) a local, state, and regional treasure. We spent several hours there this very afternoon. (Photo from the Hale Centre Theatre website)

As I’ve observed on several prior occasions, the Hale Centre Theatre is one of the best things (and there are many good things) about living along the Wasatch Front. We took a five-year-old granddaughter there this afternoon for her very first live theatrical play. It was Beauty and the Beast, and the word spectacular is perfectly appropriate for it. The production was superbly done, the casting was excellent, and the staging was phenomenal. Afterwards, as we were about to head to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a late lunch, our granddaughter pronounced today “the best day ever!” To her grandparents’ ears, that was very gratifying praise.

The Israeli wall separating Arab Bethlehem from Jewish Jerusalem. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Last year, a reader here named Leo D. Brown kindly shared the following with me and gave me permission to share it with you. I’m going to exploit that kindness of his and share it here yet again:

Christmas in Bethlehem 2023

This year there will be only muted celebrations of Christmas in Bethlehem. Previously installed Christmas decorations have been removed in sympathy with innocent victims, especially children, living and dying in the horror and chaos of war. Streets, normally lit with festive lights, will be dark. There will be only local worship services, touched with sadness from these still unfolding events, and no throngs of pilgrims from around the world.

Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior!
Where are your offerings now?
What greetings to the Prince of War,
His darkly branded brow?

The ancient altars smoke afresh,
The ancient idols stir;
Faint in the reek of burning flesh
Sink frankincense and myrrh. [1]

Yet Christmas is still joyously and beautifully celebrated around the world.

Dickens’ Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge a scene in a humble hut at Christmas:

“…a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and woman, with their children and their children’s children, and another generation beyond that, all decked out gaily in their holiday attire. The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind upon the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song—it had been a very old song when he was a boy— and from time to time they all joined in the chorus.” [2]

And then a scene from a ship at sea:

“They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him.” [2]

There are still kind thoughts in Bethlehem this year, but also a creche display where the infant Jesus is surrounded by broken stones and rubble.

And yet, and yet, in thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light.

God Rest Ye, Innocents!

[1] A Carol for Children, Ogden Nash

[2] A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Inside the Conference Center a few years ago, with Laura Osnes in white at center stage
(Cell phone photo by my wife)

Finally, in expiation for the sin of having omitted a musical offering in yesterday’s post, I offer two pieces of Christmas music today, both of them from Messiah, by George Frederick Handel:

First, here is a recording of “For unto us a child is born,” performed by Tenebrae, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc

Second, you certainly can’t have expected to go through this season without hearing Handel’s great “Hallelujah” chorus. Certainly you shouldn’t. And you won’t miss it if you managed to obtain tickets for this year’s Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert: It’s on the program. But here’s a performance by the Tabernacle Choir from a decade ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBZ7AfZR9xs

And, while I’m on the topic of Handel, have you seen the 2014 film Handel’s Messiah? I highly recommend it, especially at this season of the year. It was directed by the distinguished Latter-day Saint filmmaker Lee Groberg. Mark Goodman, who directed the Interpreter Foundation films Witnesses and Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and who both wrote and directed Interpreter’s Six Days in August, was its producer, editor, and cinematographer. Mitch Davis, who wrote the initial screenplay for Witnesses, was its writer. Sam Cardon did its music, as he also did for Witnesses and Six Days in August. James G. Jordan, who, with Mark Goodman and Russ Richins, is one of the Interpreter Foundation’s core filmmaking trio, was its first assistant cameraman. It is a very great story.

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