![\"Gagarin's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/12\/Grigory_Gagarin._Christmas.jpg\")
<\/a>The Interpreter Foundation\u2019s annual Christmas message for 2024 appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cRing in the Christ that Is to Be: Fulfilling the Pattern of His Life,\u201d<\/a> written by Don Bradley<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/strong> The story of Christ, and of Christmas, is the story of Christ \u201cthe Lord God Omnipotent\u201d incarnating in \u201ca tabernacle of clay\u201d (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\u2014our burdens\u2014in order to relieve us of those burdens. Christ, according to the scriptures, voluntarily \u201ctakes upon him\u201d our pains, our sicknesses, death, our infirmities, and our sins (Alma 7:7\u201313). Unlike Christ, ordinary human beings do not \u201ctake upon them death\u201d and bodily infirmity, but are, like king Benjamin, \u201csubject to\u201d 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 \u201cthe law of Christ\u201d (Galatians 6:2), and, as Alma\u2019s teachings at the Waters of Mormon indicate, we covenant at baptism that we will live this pattern with one another\u2014to \u201cbear one another\u2019s burdens, that they may be light\u201d (Mosiah 18:8\u201310). In so doing, we live as part of the body of Christ, measurably living out and incarnating our heavenly King in this world.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As I\u2019ve 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. \u00a0We took a five-year-old granddaughter there this afternoon for her very first live theatrical play. \u00a0It was Beauty and the Beast<\/em>, and the word spectacular<\/em> is perfectly appropriate for it. \u00a0The production was superbly done, the casting was excellent, and the staging was phenomenal. \u00a0Afterwards, as we were about to head to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a late lunch, our granddaughter pronounced today \u201cthe best day ever<\/em>!\u201d \u00a0To her grandparents\u2019 ears, that was very gratifying praise.<\/p>\n Last year, a reader here named Leo D. Brown kindly shared the following with me and gave me permission to share it with you. \u00a0I\u2019m going to exploit that kindness of his and share it here yet again:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Christmas in Bethlehem 2023<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n This year there will be only muted celebrations of Christmas in Bethlehem.\u00a0 Previously installed Christmas decorations have been removed in sympathy with innocent victims, especially children, living and dying in the horror and chaos of war.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Gaspar, Balthazar, Melchior! The ancient altars smoke afresh, Yet Christmas is still joyously and beautifully celebrated around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dickens\u2019 Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge a scene in a humble hut at Christmas:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201c\u2026a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and woman, with their children and their children\u2019s 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\u2014it had been a very old song when he was a boy\u2014 and from time to time they all joined in the chorus.\u201d [2]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And then a scene from a ship at sea:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey 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.\u201d [2]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And yet, and yet, in thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n God Rest Ye, Innocents!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [1] A Carol for Children<\/i>, Ogden Nash<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n [2] A Christmas Carol<\/i>, Charles Dickens<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Finally, in expiation for the sin of having omitted a musical offering in yesterday\u2019s post, I offer two pieces of Christmas music today, both of them from Messiah<\/em>, by George Frederick Handel:<\/p>\n First, here is a recording of \u201cFor unto us a child is born,\u201d performed by Tenebrae, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin Davis: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc<\/a><\/p>\n Second, you certainly can\u2019t have expected to go through this season without hearing Handel\u2019s great \u201cHallelujah\u201d chorus. \u00a0Certainly you shouldn\u2019t<\/em>. \u00a0And you won\u2019t<\/em> miss it if you managed to obtain tickets for this year\u2019s Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert: It\u2019s on the program. \u00a0But here\u2019s a performance by the Tabernacle Choir from a decade ago: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BBZ7AfZR9xs<\/a><\/p>\n And, while I\u2019m on the topic of Handel, have you seen the 2014 film Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em><\/a>? \u00a0I highly recommend it, especially at this season of the year. \u00a0It was directed by the distinguished Latter-day Saint filmmaker Lee Groberg. \u00a0Mark Goodman, who directed the Interpreter Foundation films Witnesses <\/em><\/a>and\u00a0Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em><\/a>, and who both wrote and directed Interpreter\u2019s Six Days in August<\/em><\/a>, was its producer, editor, and cinematographer. \u00a0Mitch Davis, who wrote the initial screenplay for Witnesses<\/em>, was its writer. \u00a0Sam Cardon did its music, as he also did for Witnesses<\/em> and Six Days in August<\/em>. \u00a0James G. Jordan, who, with Mark Goodman and Russ Richins, is one of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s core filmmaking trio<\/a>, was its first assistant cameraman. \u00a0It is a very great story.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 The Interpreter Foundation\u2019s annual Christmas message for 2024 appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: \u00a0\u201cRing in the Christ that Is to Be: Fulfilling the Pattern of His Life,\u201d written by Don Bradley Abstract: The story of Christ, and of Christmas, is the story of Christ \u201cthe Lord God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":38935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37013,3172,2517,6825,38275,6165],"class_list":["post-108328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beauty-and-the-beast","tag-bethlehem","tag-christmas","tag-don-bradley","tag-grigory-gagarin","tag-hale-centre-theatre"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/a>\n
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\nWhere are your offerings now?
\nWhat greetings to the Prince of War,
\nHis darkly branded brow?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe ancient idols stir;
\nFaint in the reek of burning flesh
\nSink frankincense and myrrh. [1]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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(Cell phone photo by my wife)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n