Hosanna! and Hallelujah!

We’re just days now before Christmas day—which is more than a day, but a whole season that we celebrate. I want to celebrate here as part of that.

The lowly manger was probably not wood, but stone, similar to 
a sacrificial altar. This is a screenshot from near the end of this video, shown
in full below. The video ends with words over this image:
"Jesus of Nazareth... went about doing good. (Acts 10:38) This Christmas season, so can you."

I have a pretty good collection of nativities, many tiny ones that can hang on the tree, a slightly larger olivewood one imported from Israel, a paper one, and many others. I have the other kinds of Christmas decorations as well, but the nativity scene has always been the underlying theme of my Christmas decorating and celebrating. For 30+ years we celebrated Christmas Eve by acting out a nativity play that I wrote, using mostly scriptures, back when middle son, referred to here as Economic Sphere, played the newborn baby and son Political Sphere was a shepherd. The birth of Jesus Christ is the part of Christmas that gives us “reason for the season.”

We've been using grandkids to depict the nativity for our Christmas cards
ever since the first of them was born. This year we included our dogs to help
keep watch over the flocks by night.

But this is more than a birthday celebration. We celebrate this birthday because of the life this baby grew up to live. He became the greatest teacher the world has ever known, without writing those teachings down himself—no books, no lectures. We have other people’s records of what He taught. And in translation, because he spoke Aramaic, a language that wasn’t widely spoken around the world even in His day. His Sermon on the Mount is pivotal, containing the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, guidance about controlling our thoughts and being a light to others. His words lead us to thriving civilization—a happy life.

But He was more than a great teacher. In fact, if He was merely a great teacher and not more, then much of His teaching would not even be true. No, He was much more than a person who taught helpful words. He also taught us by the way He lived—loving everyone, every sinner, but never condoning the sin. Rather, He loved by inviting every person to become better, following in His way, which was completely without sin.

And then there were the miracles. So many miracles, with so many people testifying of them. Regular people, who were astonished and amazed—and blessed by these miracles personally.

And there was more. There was the suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross. He died, the sacrificial unblemished lamb, to atone for our sins, to rescue us from this fallen world.

Depiction of Mary and new baby Jesus from the video
"The Christ Child: A Nativity Story." Screenshot from here.

Still, we honor Him for more than His death on the cross. Even the thieves did that. It was what happened on the third day—the resurrection. He conquered death! He conquered the physical death that separated the body from the spirit, leading the way for us to be resurrected as well, to live again as He lives. And He conquered our separation from God that happened with the fall, which we as sinful mortals can’t overcome on our own, because no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. He makes it possible for us to become clean before God.

It is because of Easter Sunday that we celebrate Christmas Eve in the manger.

There are some beautiful depictions of the story.

There is this one presented by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “The Christ Child: A Nativity Story.” In full length it’s about 17 minutes long. If you stay to the last part, you get to see a beautiful depiction of the wise men coming to see a growing baby Jesus, a toddler by that point. The awe on the face of the main wise man is an image for the season.

 

I have loved watching The Chosen the last couple of seasons. I love seeing the people come to life for us, possibly in the way they actually were, or maybe not, but at least we can see they were human beings who really lived and breathed. It’s been beautifully engaging, and I think it is helping to spread Christ’s message to the world. This past week we went to the theater to see The Chosen Christmas special, which is now available streaming online on various platforms, including YouTube.

Embedded within the special is a new episode of The Chosen. Some fifteen years after the death and resurrection of Christ, Mother Mary is recalling her memories and collecting them to pass along to Luke, who is in the process of writing them. We see the two time periods. One of the things she adds is her psalm that starts, “My soul doth magnify my Lord.” [As an aside, there’s a depiction of this in song, as part of The Redeemer, an oratorio by Tabernacle organist Robert Cundick, sung as a solo depicting Mary. I was in the choir for the original performance of The Redeemer, in college, back in 1978. I’ve always loved this song, although I find it impossible to sing. You can see the Tabernacle Choir performance here.] 

The Chosen’s depiction of the nativity uses the same film set as the one above. The Chosen borrows the Jerusalem/Bethlehem set, built in rural Utah by the Church for videos about Christ’s life. You may not be aware of some similarities between Utah and Israel. They are both somewhat mountainous and also desert, with many areas of grassland, brush, and not much thick vegetation. There’s a freshwater lake (Galilee in Israel, Utah Lake in Utah) that flows by way of a river (the River Jordan in Israel, the purposely named Jordan River in Utah) into a landlocked dead saltwater sea (the Dead Sea in Israel, the Great Salt Lake in Utah). Utah is, of course, larger by far than Israel and has a larger variety of features, including high mountains with snow and pines and granite—or even more barren areas with red rock formations. But this central area is a pretty good stand-in for Israel in films. 

Depiction of Mary and new baby Jesus from "The Messengers,"
and episode of The Chosen, within their Christmas special. 
Screenshot from here.

There is another important part of the Christmas story, the part that fulfills prophecy from ancient times—from Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Malachi, Micah, and even words among the Psalms and other ancient scriptures. It is the news that He will come again. And many of us are wondering if this long-foretold event will happen in our day. I hope so. I would like to believe that the evils we are seeing in our day are not just a run-of-the-mill evil, but the evils we’re told to expect before His rescue of us.

I learned recently that one meaning of the word Hosanna is a call to come and rescue, to deliver us. So, as I read the news, I frequently say, aloud to the Lord, “Hosanna!” Come! Rescue us! And let it be soon!

If it is not in my lifetime, then still that day will come. And by then I will have seen Him again.

As you take time this Christmas season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, take time to call Hosannah, to call Him to save us all, and sing Hallelujah—praise and give thanks to the Lord. He is so very worth celebrating. And the best way, beyond food and decorations and even family gathering, is to follow Him every day.

I Love the Nativity Story

About 32 years ago, we started a tradition for Christmas Eve. We act out the nativity story, with kids and whoever is there. That first year, son Economic Sphere played the baby Jesus, and Political Sphere was a shepherd. I wrote a script based on the scriptures that tell the story, and, with just a few adjustments, that’s the script we’ve used over the years. We’ve accumulated costumes and props over time. Some years we've invited friends to join us.

Last year was the first year we didn’t do it. It had come time for the kids and grandkids to do their own traditions in their own homes. And then we get together later in the day. It was a little sad for me to retire that tradition, but it was time.

However, the nativity story fits practically everywhere else during this season too. I have made our Christmas card every year for even more years, and always it’s related to a nativity theme. The year our first grandchild was born, I started using photos for the card, with grandkids in costumes. All four of them have started out as the baby (the last baby is two now), and then as shepherds and other parts. Facebook has been bringing these photos up as memories every day or two all month, which has been a delight for me.

This past summer I prepared for the card by taking the costumes along when we visited the out-of-state grandkids. We found a place with sheep and took photos. It didn’t exactly go smoothly, but we got enough images that we could piece the shepherd scene together, thanks to Mr. Spherical Model, who has both a better photo editing program on his computer and better skills to use it than I have.

My two youngest grandchildren, being shepherds, abiding in the fields,
keeping watch over their flocks by night.
Special thanks to the family who let us come and feed their sheep.

Inside the card, besides the message to the recipient, I usually have a scripture or the verse of a Christmas carol. This year it was this:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shown around.

Live animals are a challenge. As are live kids. Last year we involved a camel. The photo was actually several years old, from a visit Mr. Spherical Model made to Saudi Arabia. So we used a green screen and had him sit on a chair as he’d been on the kneeling camel, and stood the kids beside him—all bearing gifts. Again, this did not go smoothly. But we were able to accomplish the task with photo editing. I showed some behind the scenes here. 

Most other years have been more straightforward photography—even the year we had “Mary” and “Joseph” arriving in “Bethlehem” with their live donkey—which happened to be feral but open to standing still for a carrot.

Who knows what will come next year! I am already planning—just warning all the kids.

But I do love the nativity story.

If you’d like to share a special moment during a quiet family time (if you have any quiet time) on Christmas Eve, I suggest watching together the video below, new this year from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve seen many film portrayals of the story, even many beautiful ones (including this short one, also done by my Church, in 2012). But this new one reached my heart this year.

There are three main parts to this telling of the story: the parents arriving at the inn with no room, the shepherds who come to see the baby that the angels told them to seek, and the wise men who arrive much later bearing gifts.

I learned something interesting this week. Bible scholars believe the shepherds out in the fields that night were tending the lambs meant for temple sacrifice. It was probably during lambing season, so they had to be on hand, out in the fields. What they would do, when a lamb was born, was inspect it. A lamb needed to be a first-born male without spot or blemish to qualify. When they found such a lamb, they wrapped it in swaddling cloth and laid it in a manger, for special protection. When the angel told them to find the baby—who was to be the Savior of the world—they would have immediately understood the symbolism.

I hope this story helps you feel the love of God, who gave us the ultimate gift—His Son as our Savior.

One more little thing. Music is one of my favorite parts of the season. There’s this video of 7-year-old Claire Crosby singing “Silent Night” with our 95-year-old prophet Russell M. Nelson at the piano, and then having a conversation that just shows the love. As we say here in the South, "Oh, my heart!"

Merry Christmas, everyone!