From Gateline.com (WA):
Merry Christmas, dear neighbors, and my wishes for a new year filled with hope for you and your loved ones.
In this time of economic uncertainty and global insecurity, may I share a Christmas story of sorts from another wartime period?
Some years ago, I visited the refugee camp at Camp Pendleton following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Though a well-ordered tent city, the scene was poignant.
I met with some of the Vietnamese refugees from the Saigon branch of my church. They had evacuated in panic and left everything behind, many not knowing where their loved ones were or if they were alive. They hoped there would be a home for them someplace.
At a similar refugee camp, a fellow church member told of visiting with her young women’s group. She related her experience to Elder Marion D. Hanks:
“They put on a Christmas program for the refugees. They had Christmas the way we celebrate it with one of our beautiful girls representing the Madonna, holding a little brown baby. They told the story … in song, in scripture, and explanation, and when it was all over, some came to talk about it, and one said with tears and wonder in her face and voice, ‘Why, the story of Jesus is a refugee story.’ ”
Think about that.
“Then she said, ‘I’m sure they didn’t know who he was, or they would have given him their bed in the inn.’ ” (“Fuller Understanding,” BYU address, Nov. 16, 1982.)
Who was this child of whom the angels sang, whose parents would soon flee to Egypt to save his life?
The late President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, “We know who he was. God bless us to remember him this Christmas, the Lamb of God, the Son of the Eternal Father, who condescended to come to earth, to be born in a stable, in a conquered nation, under the humblest of circumstances. Jesus the Christ.”
Ancient prophets spoke of Him centuries before His coming. Today we sing Isaiah’s words, “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” (Isaiah 9:6).
The events of that first Christmas led to the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Jesus was born of Mary and in manhood called Apostles and established His church. He walked the dusty paths of Palestine, teaching, healing, causing the blind to see and raising the dead. He gave His life on Calvary’s cross, and he rose on the third day to become “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20).
Those who walked with him testified that surely He was the very Son of God. He had been the Creator of this earth, under His Father’s direction, as John recorded, “without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).
He was the great Jehovah who spoke with the prophets of old and has called and spoken to prophets in our time.
President Hinckley testified, “When all is said and done, when all the legions of the ages have passed in review, when man’s terrible inhumanity to man has been chronicled, when God’s great love for His children has been measured, then above all stands the lone figure of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the living Son of the living God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One.”
May that reality give us hope and joy in this season and in years to come.
Conservative ministry Focus on the Family has removed from its website an article about the latest book by former CNN host Glenn Beck in response to complaints over his Mormon ties.
It’s not easy to ask people to volunteer at the busiest time of the year.
