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On Sunday I tuned in to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I remember this fondly growing up and it was one of the first dates I took my wife to when we were dating, so there is a bit of nostalgia. I always liked the Christmas stories and music. Last year they tried to get a little too doctrinal and seemed to veer away from Christmas themes. I wonder if they got negative feedback because I liked that they went back to more Christmas. Starting with the positive, I liked the Christmas emphasis, recalling childhood memories and Sister Jones being vulnerable and real about how it was hard to have her mom sick and Christmas and how they prayed for a miracle but she didn’t get better. I think it’s healthy to be real and talk about weathering the storms of life instead of offering miraculous examples as the norm.
I liked Elder Kearon’s talk, again with great childhood memories and some very good ideas and messages. Elder Suarez had a great message as well, I liked how he talked about social isolation and the hardships his family faced when they moved to Utah.
All of these messages felt vulnerable, nostalgic and loving to me.
On the negative, I really disliked President Oaks’ talk. I never feel any love from him, there is always a severe tone and I feel like his attitude has become to give the blunt harsh truths of the gospel and not care if people feel bad about what he says. His message seemed to equate peace with obedience and personal righteousness. I really disagreed with his approach and especially his statement that Jesus only advocated personal righteousness and never tried to disrupt the Roman system. Ummm, has he read the New Testament? Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God replacing earthly institutions, took upon himself titles reserved for Augustus like Prince of Peace, King of King, Lord of Lords. Also, he was crucified because he was such a threat to the Roman power structure and the institutional religious structure. Suggesting that all Jesus advocated was personal righteousness and didn’t want to rock the boat seems to so miss the mark of Jesus’ message (very accepting and forgiving of personal moral shortcomings and calling institutional sin to repentance) and so much of the actual text of the gospels.
I would say more positive than negative, but wish I would have turned it off before President Oaks got up to speak.
Pres. Oaks is our modern Paul – a lawyer who sees the world in legal terms. Elder Uchtdorf is our modern John – a man acquainted with grief from an early age who sees the world in terms of service and love.
I believe Elder Uchtdorf was ordained at a critical time – able to serve with Pres. Monson and influence people like Elders Kearon and Suarez.
The interesting thing to me is that we seem to need both types – our own Johns and Pauls. Maybe everyone needs a religious leader with whom they can connect – or, in other terms, maybe organizations need differing leaders who actually represent their membership.
Either way, I also like to listen to people like Elder Kearon and Elder Suarez much more than people like Pres. Oaks. It just is who I am.
That is a good point. There are people in the Church and in the world who crave order. Norms, boundaries and legalistic definitions are very comforting and essential to those people. President Oaks speaks to those saints and they find his messages inspiring and motivating. I think you are right, we need both. I liked the 1st message by Sis Joy D Jones. It was personal & relatable.
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