Come Unto Him...

So, last night we had an activity with all of the youth in our branch. We had 12 there! This is, for us, a big turn out. What we did is created a night in Bethlehem for them. We had the inn set up, with a typical meal of chickpea soup, brisket, grapes, pomegranate, rye bread, olives, boiled eggs and some assorted modern goodies like cantaloupe, apples and poundcake (which, BTW,had 7 1/2 cups of powdered sugar in it). Here is a collage of our feast, sitting in the floor and on pillows Bethlehem style, passing the food around in the presence of our innkeeper Mike. But as we feasted with appropriate inn music in the background, we had some visitors come knocking.

The first visitors were Mary and Joseph. They were, of course, in the area, looking for a place to stay. The innkeeper insisted they were very busy and should just go away. Joseph told him his wife was pregnant, and asked if he know of anywhere they could go. he said no, and told them to leave. So they did, but not until they left a gift for each person...a blue stone.

The second time the door knocked, it was the shepherds. Well, shepehrd missionaries. And they used a great door approach! They even left the innkeeper with a pass along card! So funny. Shepherd McLellan (is that Scottish-Jewish?) asked the group what religion they were. We all laughed, but innkeeper Mike told them we were all Jews. The shepherd then reminded them that meant we looked forward to the coming of a Messiah, and that they believed the baby they were looking for was that Messiah. They were told they were too busy and needed to leave. They did, but also left a stone- a red one.

The third visitor, the wiseman insisted that if I took his picture he'd beat me up later, so I didn't get one :). But he did knock, asking for the Messiah, got the same answer, too busy, go away. Left a clear stone.

At this point, one of our young women arrived late...she was let into the inn. One of the young men pipes up "So we have room for her but not the pregnant chic?"

Below you see the entire ensemble in the room we prepared as a stable...yes that's the wise guy....err, wiseman. He relented later.

We had a final visitor, Kerry from Kerry's trinkets and gifts in the Bethlehem square. He said how he had become so busy with his things, that he heard someone say the Savior had come, but had missed it. He asked if anyone there could help him find this Savior. I gave them a piece of paper they could use to find the way, since it had a clue. As they followed the path dictated by the "scrolls" each one told them how each stone represented something they must do to come closer to the Savior.

Here is the basic idea:

John 17:3

And this is ^alife ^beternal, that they might ^cknow thee the only true ^dGod, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast ^esent.

The blue stone represents Prayer.

“Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith.”

“Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

The clear stone represents repentance.

The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God. It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel

the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel.

The red stone represents Obedience.

Obedience gives us greater control over our lives, greater capacity to come and go, to work and create.

As Nephi explained, “And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them” (1 Nephi 17:3).”

So they ended up at the manger scene, where the trinket man asked Mary about her baby, how he seemed so special, and who he was. Mary, then Joseph bore testimony of who they knew this child was Christ. The shepherds then told of why they had come, and one of the shepherds shared how there was one thing the angels said that struck him, that this was good tidings for ALL people, that the Savior's life and atonement applied to all. Then the wiseman, who, it turns out, was truly wise, gave a beautiful and very appropriate testimony that perfectly fit all of the things we were trying to get across to them. It was magnificent actually. Then the trinket man came and knelt before the manger, and told the group how blessed he felt to be there, and how he looked forward to following this child as he became a man, and to try to become more like him. This was all completely unscripted, we just asked these marvelous people to consider themsleves as if they were their parts, and it turned out absolutey perfect.

Then I sang a song called Come Unto Him. My son told me later it made him cry. And one of the young girls, who we rarely see, was also in tears.

It was wonderful.