from the pulpit

I had to speak on Sunday for the Christmas program so here is my little talk--i guess it kind of counts as my Christmas card too since I didn't send one--it's also a little shout out to all my friends who are such wonderful examples and who are always out and about doing good...

On that first Christmas night so many years ago, a number of people were told of the good news of the birth of a Savior. An angel visited shepherds in the field and brought "good tidings of great joy." These shepherds left their fields to go out and find the Christ child. Three wise men followed a star in the east that led them also to find Him. And they offered him gifts.

As I think about this holiday season, I stop and wonder how, in our time and in our day, do we seek after the Savior and what gifts do we offer him? We won't trek across fields nor follow a star in the east, but we each have our own journey in finding and coming to know Christ.

I think we can find Jesus in the everday, almost unconscious things we do and and also in the things we see others do and in the kindness that is shown to each and every one of us. For me, this season, I've seen many gifts offered to the Savior through service and through good company. I've seen it in delivering cookies to a handicapped friend who seemingly gets ignored at home, in crying with a friend as her parents leave on a mission, in throwing in 50 cents here and there for a bellringer at a grocery, in a ward service auction, where we auctioned off one of our own just for a little bit of extra money, in watching a holiday movie with a group of really great friends, in a parking lot attendant who let us park without a permit so we wouldn't be late and turned away for a Christmas concert, in being a Secret Santa, in giving up a really great parking space to a mom in a minivan, even if you saw the space first, in putting in an extra $10 or $20 for a family in need instead of getting that new pair of shoes, in riding in a wagon on a group date to chat and look at Christmas lights, in an anonymous Christmas card, in a ward temple trip at 7 AM the Saturday before Christmas, in singing carols at a retirement community to a grateful widow named Pearl, in spending time with friends and family, even if only through a phone call, and in a hundred different ways unique to you and me.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to all men. And the goodness that is in our hearts, the goodness we show to others and the goodness shown to us will be how we are remembered and be evidence of how we sought after Christ and offered him our gifts. That good news heralded in so many years ago is the same good news today. "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:10-11 & 14)

May joy and peace find you this holiday season and may we all continue to be the wise men who seek after the Savior. Long after the cookies have been eaten, and the parking lots have emptied, and the carols have faded, may we continue to seek after and find the Christ child.

Merry Christmas to you and yours wherever you may be!

xoxo
NJ