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SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shared messages Sunday night at the beginning of the Christmas season, during the annual First Presidency's Christmas Devotional.
Music from the Tabernacle Choir also helped to usher in the Christmas season for Latter-day Saints.
Sister Sharon Eubank of the Relief Society general presidency spoke of looking to the pure light of the season.
“He sent His beautiful only begotten Son, who is Love’s pure light. Jesus Christ will repair every bad note and redeem every sour overtone if we turn to him and ask for his help. Because of the birth, the Atonement, and the death of Jesus Christ, we can all sleep in heavenly peace,” she said.
The devotional took place at the beginning of the church’s annual Light the World campaign, which encourages daily acts of goodness. Other leaders in the devotional spoke of helping those in need and growing closer to Christ.
“We don’t need to travel to the Holy Land to make a difference or to draw closer to our Savior. Christmas is a time when we can focus on our personal gift to the Savior by continually loving and helping others. Then it’s not very far to Bethlehem for any of us. It’s up to us to make Christ a part of our lives — to accept the gifts he offers us and to give him the gift of our heart,” said Elder Terence M. Vinson of the Presidency of the Seventy.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “The Christmas season seems to be an appropriate time to contemplate how healthy our hearts are spiritually. I invite each of us to choose to do something that expresses, in an outward way, our inward feelings about our Savior, Jesus Christ, as the gift we give him this year.”
President Russell M. Nelson shared a message of how focusing on God’s love can help individuals love and forgive others.
“He was born in Bethlehem under the most humble of circumstances. His was the holy birth foreseen by prophets since the days of Adam. Jesus Christ is God’s transcendent gift — the gift of the Father to all of his children. That birth we joyfully celebrate each Christmas season,” said the president of the church.
After the success of last year’s “giving machines,” which allow people to purchase charitable donations for the needy, the church has a total of four vending machines set up this year in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, with all of the donations going directly to both local and worldwide charities. The giving machines will be operational through New Year’s Eve.
