Picketts Mill Latter-day Saints

#IluminaElMundo

A Christmas message from the Cartersville Georgia Stake Presidency: Brothers and Sisters: On behalf of the Stake Presidency, I feel blessed to offer a few thoughts relative to the season. There has been much said about the uniqueness of this year and I do not intend to multiply words. Regardless of the changes that we have faced (and I will add, for the most part, that we have faithfully faced), 2020 changes have also on occasion cast a shadow over the possible light of f...aith and faithful actions. And so we come to this message: Years ago there was an article written that suggested there are three levels of Christmas. The author suggested that the first two levels were identified as the Santa Claus level and the Silent Night level. The titles suggest the foci of each of those levels. It is intriguing to me that the Silent Night level is identified with the Luke 2 story, the Bethlehem Star, Wise men and faithful shepherds all in search of the Christ child God’s gift to the world. I love this level of Christmas. As one author stated, how infinitely poorer we would be without this sacred second level of Christmas. (William B. Smart, The Three Levels of Christmas; Messages for a Happier Life [Deseret Book, 1989], pp. 33-34). But there is no saving Grace in the gift of a baby, even God’s Only Begotten Son! There are numerous patterns in the Anointed One coming to earth as a baby: one of these is that even He was a helpless baby. He could not save even himself from where He lay in that manger, and He could not affect the salvation of the balance of the family of God. The angels and the star and the shepherds, even the silent, sacred mystery of that holy night itself, can’t long satisfy humanity’s basic need. The man who keeps Christ in the manger will, in the end, be disappointed and empty. (Smart, The Three Levels of Christmas.) The third level of Christmas is The Adult Christ. President Gordon B. Hinckley once observed that there is no Christmas morning without Easter morning. It is the adult Jesus who healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and healed the leper’s scars. He was the one who reached out and touched the untouchable, who loved the unlovable, and who was able to carry out the Infinite Atonement. It is this Jesus who enwraps us with His love, cleanses us from sin and error, and enables us with His Grace. This is the Christ that we bear witness of. He lives! He guides and directs! He fulfills His every promise. We pray the each of you will receive the gift of sight this Christmas so that you will be able to see, know, and receive this Jesus, and empowered by His Grace, that you will launch into a new year with the desire to become more like the King of the Adult Christmas. With Love, President Rob Kime President Donn Mason President Kevin Ballard The Cartersville Stake Presidency