THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS...ALL YEAR LONG!

NOTE:  I GAVE THE FOLLOWING REMARKS FOR A TALK IN SACRAMENT MEETING—CARLSON FARM WARD—DECEMBER 28, 2014.  I RAN ACROSS IT RECENTLY AND THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE IT HERE AS A TESTIMONY THAT CHRISTMAS ISN'T JUST A ONE-DAY CELEBRATION.  WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CELEBRATE CHRIST EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Long ago, in a former life when I wasn't flying around the Friendly Skies on Christmas Day, I had a little ritual.  After all the presents were opened, the Christmas breakfast was over with, and the kids were contented and happily playing with their new stash of treasures, I would sit down at my desk and read these words from Henry Van Dyke.  They had struck a chord with me some years before when I found the poem, and they were a wonderful reminder of what Christmas is all about--The Spirit of Christ.  And then I would write the annual letter to be sent as New Years greetings to our friends and family.

I am thinking of you today because it is Christmas,                              and I wish you happiness.
And tomorrow, because it will be the day after Christmas,                       I shall still wish you happiness;
and so on throughout the year.
I may not be able to tell you about it every day...
But that makes no difference.                                                                 The thought and the wish will be here just the same...
May the Spirit of Christmas be yours throughout the year.

You may think it odd that now, three days after Christmas I am going to talk about the Spirit of Christmas, but as Henry Van Dyke wrote in 1908 the Spirit of Christmas can be yours throughout the year--indeed that is our very goal.

Actually, President Monson in the Christmas Devotional broadcast to the Church in December of 2003 expanded the idea of the spirit of Christmas lasting throughout the entire year when he said, "To catch the real meaning of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the spirit of Christ."  When we come more interested in people than in things we have caught the vision of the true meaning of Christmas. 

There are many ways we can make Christmas and that spirit of Christ last all year long, but I have chosen to talk about just a few of the ways I have found helpful for me.

Today I would like to share with you what I call the Three P's.   They are important activities that can recall the Spirit of Christmas every time you participate in them:  They are Emulating Christ's Parables, Preparing for the Second Coming and establishing a Personal Ministry.

#1  Emulating Christ's Parables:

Christ taught the people very important gospel principles through stories about everyday things they were familiar with.  When we emulate the actions of the characters in His parables, we embody the ideals of Christ such as compassion, comfort, concern, and charity.

Take for example the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Now we’re not likely to find a traveler who has been beaten and robbed lying by the side of Highway 60 as it approaches Johnstown.  (I know because I would probably see them first!) But we might encounter opportunities to help people that have been “robbed” of good health through illness or rendered homeless for a dozen reasons—none of which matter.  But what does matter is what we do to take care of the poor and needy. 

Mother Teresa didn’t worry about the masses who needed help, she took care of those in need who were around her.  At times she was chastised for trying to help when her efforts were such a small drop in the bucket of miserable humanity.  But she reminded her detractors that the small help she gave those few was still an important drop.  President Monson has always been the same, taking care of the needs of the one nearby who needed help then.

So, how can we translate the parable of the Good Samaritan into our everyday, 21^st Century life?  I’m sure all of you participated within the last month to make sure someone without the means had a good Christmas.  But you can make that spirit of Christmas last through the year in other acts of service, too. 

Have you thought about reading to someone who is blind or who can no longer read because of failing eyesight?  Perhaps there is someone with a chronic illness who would appreciate a volunteer who could write letters for them—yes, even email letters.  There are dozens of community projects which operate all year long.  They collect warm coats—Roosevelt high school just did one—necessities for women’s shelters (Cub Scouts did that), toiletries for those in the military, house and yard cleanup for those too old or frail to do the yard work or housework like they used to do.  Go sing to someone—it doesn’t have to be perfectly on pitch, just genuine and loving to people who might not get out because of age or illness.  Or go play the radio for them or a CD.  Kick around a soccer ball or play an impromptu game of softball at the park.  Get out the old board games and get people together when they are on the fringes.  Think up something that you have never helped with before and blaze a new trail of concern as the Good Johnstonian.

How about the parable of the Lost Sheep.  Go after the ONE who doesn’t get picked, the one no one else has noticed, the one who doesn’t dress like the rest, the one who has secret sorrows of the heart.  You never know what a kind word, an invitation, a genuine greeting can do for those who are on the outer fringes of the in-crowd.  Make a difference in that ONE’s life!

Then there’s the parable of the Prodigal Son.  There are many around us—in our community and at our workplace—who once enjoyed the blessings of the gospel in their lives.  But for various reasons they have fallen away from activity and association with the Church.  Know this—there is usually a parent or a family member somewhere who is praying for that person’s return and for someone to care about them in a way that will kindle that spark of a spirit which I believe never dies.  Be THAT home teacher. Be THAT Visiting Teacher.  Be THAT Young Women or Young Men leader. Be THAT neighbor.  Be THAT Ward member who reaches out as a friend—over and over and over again, even when you think it isn’t making one bit of difference in the other person’s attitude or altitude in the world. When you see that person’s name on the ward list, think of them in terms of being an important part of a family who still embraces the gospel and wants very much for their family member to return. This I know because I pray for my son and his family.  I pray that their bishop and their ward won’t write them off as being without gospel roots and with no one to care about them.  

Don’t forget either that in all this giving you are doing to keep the Spirit of Christ in your life year round, you will be blessed.  Elder L. Tom Perry in a CES Devotional address in March 2011 said, “The Lord literally answers our prayers through the service we give to others.”

#2  Preparing for the Second Coming:

Now we come to the second P—Preparing for the Second Coming. 

Last week in our Relief Society and Priesthood lessons there was a great discussion about some very important aspects of our preparation for Christ to come in his glory.  One aspect was to watch and pray.  Another was to get our houses in order.  I won’t go into detail about either of those significant preparations.

However, the one preparation I want to touch on is missionary work.  We know from our prophets and apostles that the work is hastening in preparation for the Second Coming.  We can either be part of that hastening, or we can hang back and feel uncomfortable every time the subject comes up.  I hope you will feel comfortable.

The Church gives us wonderful tools to use as we participate in missionary work.  Just one month ago today the Christmas initiative He is the Gift began.  We received instructions on how to help people discover Christ, embrace Him, and then share that gift with others.  We even received pass along cards to invite our friends and associates to view that terrific 2.5 minute video which focused on Christ as the first gift of Christmas. Using social media and other means, we can reach out to an unprecedented number of people even in our small scope.

During this last month I have left for the housekeeper in each of the hotel rooms I have stayed, my written testimony of Christ, along with one of those He is the Gift pass along cards and an invitation to see the video. In addition I have handed those little cards out to my flying partners and emailed passengers and flight attendants, too, whom I have met on the plane over the years, the same invitation and the link to the video.  It’s not much, I assure you, but it’s still missionary work.  During the rest of the year I leave regular pass along cards, or I’m a Mormon cards with an invitation to read my testimony of Christ at mormon.org.

Missionary work also includes donations to the ward or church missionary funds.  Your widow’s mite along with many other widow’s mites combine to make a big difference.  Having the missionaries to dinner, inviting them to teach your friends, and yes—even having them live in your home is missionary work!

L. Tom Perry also said in that same CES Devotional in 2011 “The world has fallen away from a belief in Christ.  We must help others return to their Christian faith.”

#3  Establishing a Personal Ministry:

And now we come to my favorite P—Establishing a Personal ministry.

I always felt comfortable with the Relief Society General Presidency when   Bonnie D. Parkin was the president.  She and her counselors were my contemporaries and peers.  They went to high school the same time I did.  They were having children the same time I did.  They could relate to experiences growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. 

Sister Parkin’s messages were always homespun, down-to-earth discussions about how any one of us ordinary people could do extraordinary things.  I believed her every time she expressed those thoughts, and I felt like I had been empowered to become a better person by continuing with the good I had already established in my life.

Sister Parkin mentioned the Savior’s ministry in her BYU Devotional Address February 13, 2007. Then she asked the question, “Have you ever wondered if you have a personal ministry?”  She said she believed we all do, and that we received that personal ministry in the premortal world, that it was divinely given and lasts a lifetime.  She quoted President Kimball, “…You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!”

I have listened to or read, many, many talks in my lifetime.  The majority of them have been spiritually uplifting or have been an answer to prayer, or an encouragement to go on in the face of tough circumstances, but I cannot remember a talk that resonated with me on such a deep, personal level.  Before I read this article, I knew it was important to me that I write notes to people.  But I had never really thought of it as a “personal ministry”.  But that is what it has evolved into.  Now I recognize those gestures as purposeful to my own premortal assignment. 

So I guess you are just going to keep on receiving those notes and post cards from far away places!

Your own personal ministry can be any number of things.  For some people they include acts of service, cooking, sewing, and other talents, being a peacemaker or extending oneself in friendship. 

I like to think Louis’ personal ministry is bearing testimony of the plan of salvation.  He does that almost daily with the people he works with, people he runs into—everywhere.  Case in point.  Louis went with me on my last trip.  We left early Christmas Eve morning and went first to Los Angeles and then to New Orleans for Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning.  It was nice because in 14 years I have been alone among a plethora of passengers every other Christmas except one.  He traveled with me on Christmas day, too, to Houston and then to West Palm Beach.  What a lucky individual because there was an empty seat for him on each of those four flights!  Unheard of during the holidays!  Then we got to Newark where he spent 15 hours on Friday waiting through several full flights until there was finally an empty seat about midnight.  (And so there goes the romance you might think of as getting to fly on the plane with my tickets.)  But…Louis made the best of it.  He struck up a friendship with a couple from Fort Collins who were also waiting for pass-riding seats to get to Denver.  He bore his testimony to them of the plan of salvation—they didn’t know he did—and invited them to the open house when the Fort Collins Temple is finished.  He told me all about it when he picked me up from DIA late last night.  Just another day in the life of Louis Bateman.

So, you may want to spend some time thinking about your personal ministry and pinpoint how it will ensure a spirit of Christ all year long.

CONCLUSION:

I wasn’t too keen on the short story A Christmas Carol when I was younger.  It probably wasn’t until I was in college as an English major when we studied Charles Dickens that I began to appreciate his writings and I became a fan of this classic story about Ebenezer Scrooge.  I have made it a tradition of my own ever since to either reread it every Christmas season or watch the movie—the one with George C. Scott as Scrooge is my favorite. 

You recall the story, I’m sure.  It echoes this scripture from Mosiah, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” 

Jacob Marley’s ghost spoke sadly to Ebenezer Scrooge of lost opportunities when he said, “Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness!  Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused!  Yet such was I! Oh! Such was I!”

Marley added:  “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led Wise Men to a poor abode!  Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!”

We can learn a valuable lesson from both Charles Dickens and the example of Christ.  President Monson in a First Presidency message in December 1987 said, “As we…remember to look outward into the lives of others, as we remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, we, during this Christmas season, will come to see a bright, particular star that will guide us to our precious opportunity.” 

And I will add this as I close with my testimony of the Spirit of Christmas being real in our lives—it can also be always in our lives! All year long!

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.