Meridian Magazine--Come Follow Me Latter-day Saint Podcast

January 5-11Don’t all of us have a secret desire to be on the stage, dressed in amazing costumes, involved in a play with a Director, with our own starring roles, with a character-driven plot and lots of intrigue and excitement in our story? Imagine then that you ARE intimately involved in an award-winning three act play and you are already quite far into Act 2. But here’s the catch, you can only fully understand Act 2 if you have a knowledge of Act 1—and when you finished Act 1, the curtains were dropped and you can not only NOT look back on that part of the play, you can’t even remember it. Do we know anything about Act 1 at all? Yes, we do—quite a bit, actually. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this episode.

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed as we start this particular year of studies in the Old Testament. Perhaps it is the sheer size of the book. Perhaps it is the archaic language and culture. Perhaps it seems to be so disconnected from us in time. But let us remember how the Old Testament permeates all the other scriptures.

December 22-28Since I was a child, on Christmas Eve, I yearned to be in that very stable in Bethlehem and see the Christ-child lying in a manger.  I wanted to be close to that glowing presence and feel the heavenly love and hear the angel chorus. It was a yearning that was soul deep, undeniable, breath-taking and heart-felt, and it seemed that somewhere, some how that event was happening again on that magic night, if I could just go to Bethlehem, and defy time and find the right place. That was the magic of it all. I could talk to the baby, the Christ-child and He would look at me with knowing, smiling eyes and heart would be satisfied. It was more compelling to me than what Santa Claus would bring me or all the lights and festivities of Christmas. I am not alone in that yearning.

Have we not had a prophet among us? Part of the gift of a prophet, seer and revelator is to see what’s coming. That’s the see-er part of seer. On September 23, 1995, President Hinckley announced and read The Family—A Proclamation to the World to the women of the church in a General Relief Society meeting. It reaffirmed so many things that are precious to us. God’s eternal plan is about families. The plan of salvation is a family story.  In fact, the pre-mortal world was a place where we were nurtured by Heavenly Parents who were invested with extraordinary love in our growth and progress. It is not surprising that connection and relationships would be our foremost joy in this life. Our eternal souls were raised in a place of connection. It is what we are made for. It is an eternal yearning inside of us. Our heaven is not a place of lonely individuals who play harps alone on clouds, but a place of families and communities united together in love. It is a people who have learned to love, even when loving seems difficult.

December 8-14We know that the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote the Articles of Faith as part of a larger request from Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, a brand-new newspaper in the young, bustling city of Chicago. The Democrat would be published for just seven years, from 1842 to 1849. Mr. Wentworth wanted a concise history of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he wanted it written by its founder, Joseph Smith. The piece was also to be a part of the history of New Hampshire, being compiled by a Mr. George Barstow, a friend of John Wentworth. Joseph agreed to write the piece with this agreement: “As Mr. Barstow has taken the proper steps to obtain correct information, all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation.” Joseph carefully compiled the letter but it was never published in the newspaper or any history of New Hampshire. But this letter has become one of the great treasures of Church History.