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Dear Brothers and Sisters,We are grateful to have joined this congregation. We are the Osborn Family. My name is Jessica. I am married to Peter, and we have 4 boys: ages 10, 8, 5 and 2. We moved into the new white house on Boulter Street in August - and we plan on staying a very long time. We have lots of years to get to know one another, but I can’t think of a better start than by sharing my testimony with you. We come on Sundays to worship God and in return learn from each other. We teach each other how and why our relationships with God are important to us. This is a good way to begin our association with you.
Today we are speaking on “Living a Christ Centered Life”. I found myself asking the same question Elder Anderson asked himself last April conference - “Does my life reflect the love and devotion I feel for the Savior?” I wonder, As you get to know me and observe my life, will you notice how much I love the Savior? Will you notice how I long for Him to call me His friend [John 15:14]?
Elder Anderson reminds us that “we rejoice in being disciples of Jesus Christ. We see the Lord’s hand all around us. Being a disciple [is]...a badge of honor”. All followers of Jesus Christ who are Living a Christ Centered life are entitled to give themselves this sacred title: disciple.
Christmas is just in 9 days! My thoughts turn to a heroine of mine and an exemplary disciple, Mary the mother of Jesus. The scriptures contain certain monumental moments of discipleship. One of the greatest statements of pure discipleship is that of humble Mary, who responded to the Angel Gabriel after being informed of her sacred duty:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” [Luke 1:38].
Mary, who knew not a man, nor how the Lord could make a mother out of a virgin, declared her pure faith and obedience to God with these honest, submissive words.
President Monson also calls Mary a heroine for her discipleship. He says:
“In our selection of heroes, let us nominate also heroines…I speak of Mary of Nazareth, espoused to Joseph, destined to become the mother of the only truly perfect man to walk the earth. Her acceptance of this sacred and historic role is a hallmark of humility. “Could we ask, What makes ... these women heroines? I answer: Unwavering trust in an all-wise Heavenly Father and an abiding testimony concerning the mission of a divine Savior. ” (Be Your Best Self [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 40.)
A testimony in Jesus Christ is a good place to start. But it is this unwavering trust in God that is most exemplary to this heroine disciple. Listen to this alternative description of Mary’s faith by Sister Chieko Okazaki [perhaps some of you remember her! She was the first counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency to Sister Elaine Jack some years ago. She was born in Hawaii of Japanese decent and was raised Bhuddist. She later joined the church as a college student. She often has insightful comments about gospel topics that I love to read]. I think her perspective adds to our understanding of discipleship. She says:
“Mary's example teaches us much about giving the answer of faith when things happen that we don't understand, about trusting in the Lord when things happen that try us and challenge our faith, about having confidence in his goodness at seasons of loss and sorrow.
“We are so used to thinking of the annunciation as the beginning of the joyous celebration of Christmas that we focus on Mary's joy, which I'm sure she felt, and on the great gladness of the Savior's birth. We are not used to thinking of this season as a time of loss for Mary. But it was a loss. She was a righteous young woman, but she was bound to lose her reputation among her family and friends and those who knew her in Nazareth. What else could they think, when they saw her pregnant, but that she had been unchaste? The last line in the annunciation is, ‘And the angel departed from her’ (v. 38). In other words, the angel didn't take the rabbi aside for a quiet chat about this very special young woman he had in town. He didn't whisper to the chief merchants that Mary was going to be remembered till the end of time, while their names would barely survive their own generation. The angel was not there at the well when Mary went for water, after she came back from visiting Elisabeth, her body already rounded with a sixth-month pregnancy. He didn't explain to the other women, shocked and scandalized and whispering to each other behind their hands, that Mary was the chosen vessel of the Lord. Nobody explained to the girls younger than Mary that she was the living embodiment of faith.
“Furthermore, Mary didn't explain it either. She obviously didn't explain it even to Joseph, because Joseph was the one person to whom the angel did come, to tell him that his faith in Mary was not misplaced. So, yes, I think we have to admit that despite the joy this was also a season of loss and mourning.” (Disciples [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 165 - 166.)
Lastly to finish this thought a statement by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who then teaches us that: “[Mary’s] words [as a disciple] can guide us when we too are puzzled by what is impending or unfolding in our lives. When we cannot explain all that is happening to us or around us...” (Sermons Not Spoken [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985], 8-9.)
We learn from these teachers that Mary the disciple trusted the Lord in a time of serious personal anguish because of her “Unwavering trust in an all-wise Heavenly Father and an abiding testimony concerning the mission of a divine Savior” - remembering what President Monson said.
My heart and mind immediately think of Friday’s heartbreaking events in Connecticut which are inexplainable to me. They have been with me every moment since I first read the news that morning. My heart breaks for the families of those small children, as I hug mine a bit tighter - especially my own kindergartener. Can Mary’s words guide us thru this tragedy as Elder Maxwell teaches? I think it can.
I listened to a disciple of Christ on CNN yesterday. Robbie Parker is the father of Emilie Parker, a 6 year old victim. Originally from Ogden, I instantly recognized the Mormon vocabulary he was using as he spoke to the world regarding his tragedy. More importantly what I felt radiating thru the TV screen was how his love for Jesus Christ was carrying him over a path he didn’t know how to travel. He asked us as viewers to:
“Keep [in our hearts] the sentiments of love we feel for our families and the compassion we feel for others even complete strangers. May we keep them at all times, not just in times of sorrow and tragedy.” Like Mary, this true disciple of Christ is deciding to trust the Lord and have confidence in His goodness. He is asking us to do the same. He is asking us to have love and compassion in our lives not just in times of sorrow, but always that we may learn from his tragedy.
And so we learn from these 2 examples, one ancient and one current, that “Discipleship is believing Him in seasons of peace and believing Him in seasons of difficulty, when our pain and fear are calmed only by the conviction that he loves us and keeps His promises” [Elder Anderson, What Thinks Christ of Me?”.
The scriptures ask followers of Christ to be ‘of one heart and of one soul’ or of ‘one mind.’ (Acts 4:32; D&C 45:65-66). I think what it really means, above all, is that we ALL need to love the Savior with all our hearts.
Paul teaches us in Romans 12 how to show our love for the Savior as disciples. Read Romans 12 tonight or for FHE this week with your family. Paul will instruct you how to be a disciple in plain and simple terms. It is another “admonition of Paul” that is important for us to follow. He asks us to:
Love without hypocrisy
Serve the Lord
Rejoice in Hope
Be Patient in Tribulation
Live Peaceably
Overcome Evil with Good
This is a good recipe for living a Christ Centered Life as a disciple, which is “not a dash...nor a lengthy marathon...[but] in truth, it is a lifelong migration towards a more celestial world” [Elder Anderson].
Every single one of us will face mortal trials of tragedy. loss and mourning during our personal migrations. As disciples of Christ will we be prepared to answer like Mary? or like Robbie? During times of peace in our own lives, we then must take the opportunity to strengthen our own reserves by following this other admonition from Paul. We must Love. We must serve one another. We must have hope. We will be patient. We will fill our lives with peace as we overcome all evil that faces us with Good.
In his final address to the church at the Christmas Devotional in 1994, President Howard W. Hunter asked us to use this Christmas season to exercise our discipleship giving specific examples we can act on this next week. It reads like a poem, and is one of my favorites to read this time of year. He asked us:
“This Christmas, mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a letter.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise.
Forgo a grudge.
Forgive an enemy.
Apologize.
Try to understand.
Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind.
Be gentle.
Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love and then speak it again.”
[Howard W. Hunter, from his final address at the Christmas Devotional in 1994]
Choose one or two of these suggestions to do this week. Do this because you love the Lord Jesus Christ and because you know that you want to be considered His friend and disciple.
May we think of discipleship as we sing the words:
I love Thee, Lord Jesus;
Look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle
Till morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus;
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray!
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven
To live with Thee there.
A simple childhood Christmas hymn declares my love for Jesus Christ, pleads for Him to be near me through the personal trials that are given to me. My discipleship has been strengthened through a host of intense health challenges for my family during the past 7 years. While I honestly am not grateful for the challenges themselves, I am honored to have been trusted with the ability to live through them. I want to be a humble and willing Mary. I want the Lord to be near me and call me His friend. I want to Love Him, Trust Him and believe Him during, thru, after and before each bump in my migration.
I look forward to learning from each of you - watching your examples of discipleship as the years progress. May you teach me how to better travel my migration.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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