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I know we have a thread for talks and lessons, but this was a talk full of amazement that I heard today. I know the man and his wife. They are devout as they come. Love trek and churchiness deeply. Also good people. As he stood I inhaled. We had just had a gorgeous Christmas solo and I didn’t want to ruin it. I was cowardly and decided I needed a drink of water, I slipped out into the hall. I could still hear but I had room to run. I didn’t need to.
His entire talk was Christmas centered. He didn’t even say the usual, “Greetings from the Stake President.” He took Isaiah’s scripture of Prince of Peace and built from there. The main stay of his talk centered around “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.” To begin to tell the songs history he stated, “Sister Julie So and So spoke at a BYU Devotional in …” Fist Bump. A sister was being quoted. I happy danced in my chair.
The rest of his talk was the story of inspiration for the hymn, and encouraging us to be the Peacemakers this holiday season.
No finger wagging, no policy, no diatribe. Just Peace.
Our closing hymn was “I Heard The Bells.”
One of my favorite Christmas songs. Thanks for sharing :thumbup: :clap: 
Sometimes even the truest and bluest get it! :clap: I love Johnny Cash’s rendition of I Heard the Bells. That voice just can’t be matched.
(FWIW, our SP asks us to bring his greetings as we represent him. He also asks us to give Christ centered talks.)
DJ – Quote:
(FWIW, our SP asks us to bring his greetings as we represent him. He also asks us to give Christ centered talks.:clap: :clap: :clap: That makes me happy.
mom3 wrote:I know we have a thread for talks and lessons, but this was a talk full of amazement that I heard today. I know the man and his wife. They are devout as they come. Love trek and churchiness deeply. Also good people.
I’m not assuming or taking away from the possibility that his talk originated inside himself, but this makes me wonder if he didn’t get specific instructions from your stake president. And then I realized that that’s the way some change and refocusing happens. And the only way it can happen for some. Sometimes we need a parent yelling, “Be nice to your sister!”
So I guess what I’m saying is that if your stake president is involved, there could be more amazement to come.
That hymn is so amazing and, in my opinion, very underappreciated. The fact that you had a talk on it followed by being able to sing it really brings it all together. As you read the words/lyrics you can feel Longfellow’s pain. You can see how he gave up, and how the spirit of Christmas finally brings him hope and joy. Reading the words gives me chills. I am sad to say I have never heard it sung in church in a way that can truly do it justice. One of my daughters died on Christmas. “I heard the bells” was a song we used at the end of her funeral. It was still the holidays .. And it captured the pain .. and the hope. azguy wrote:That hymn is so amazing and, in my opinion, very underappreciated. The fact that you had a talk on it followed by being able to sing it really brings it all together. As you read the words/lyrics you can feel Longfellow’s pain. You can see how he gave up, and how the spirit of Christmas finally brings him hope and joy. Reading the words gives me chills. I am sad to say I have never heard it sung in church in a way that can truly do it justice.
I love the story of Longfellow…
Quote:Mr. Longfellow used church bells ringing on Christmas Day as the setting for a poem he wrote during the Civil War. The fighting had been fierce and touched the lives of the Longfellow family personally. Mr. Longfellow’s son Charles, who had enlisted in the Union Army at 17 years of age, had arrived home about two weeks prior to Christmas 1863 after being critically injured in a battle. While Charles eventually recovered from his wounds, his father was likely concerned about the long-term health of his son and of his country. In addition to these concerns, Mr. Longfellow continued to feel the grave loss of his beloved wife, Francis Appleton Longfellow, also known as Fanny. In 1861, the same year the Civil War broke out, Fanny died from injuries she sustained when her light summer dress ignited in their home. The light weight of the fabric and the hoops she wore allowed ample oxygen to feed the flames, and Mrs. Longfellow was quickly engulfed. Mr. Longfellow attempted to extinguish the fire and was himself burned in the process. With her death he was left to raise five children and manage the affairs of his home as a single parent. The death of his wife and his son’s critical injuries were not the only tragedies in Mr. Longfellow’s life. Fanny was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s second wife, and together they had a daughter also named Frances who died when she was 17 months old. His first wife, Mary Potter Longfellow, died just over a month after she miscarried during her sixth month of pregnancy. This was a man who had every reason to pity himself and feel cranky about his condition, and yet he declared in beautiful verse:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
Till, ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
amateurparent wrote:One of my daughters died on Christmas. “I heard the bells” was a song we used at the end of her funeral. It was still the holidays .. And it captured the pain .. and the hope.
That is truly inspiring AP. I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for your example.
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