The Greatest Story Ever Told

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:1-3)

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40:4)

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:5)

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:-Yet once a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. (Haggai 2:6-7, Malachi 3:1)

But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He
appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire. (Malachi 3:2)

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23)

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain: O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold you God! Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 40:9, 60:1)

For Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:2-3)

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo! the angel of the Lord cam upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto the, Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:1-11)
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:-
Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill towards men. (Luke 2:13-14)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is the righteous Saviour, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. (Zechariah 9:9-10)

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. (Isaiah 35:5-6)

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Come unto Him, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.(Matthew 11:28-30)

Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not His face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 53:3)

Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying: (Psalms 22 : 7)

Thy rebuke hath broken His heart; He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him. (Psalms 69 : 20)

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow. (Lamentations 1 : 12)

He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of Thy people was He stricken. (Isaiah 53 : 8)

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory. (Psalms 24 :7-10)

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. (Romans 10:15)

Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world. (Romans 10:18/Psalms 19:4)

Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and who do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed. (Psalms 2:1-2)

Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us. (Psalms 2:3)

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalms 2:4)

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. (Psalms 2:9)

Hallelujah: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah! (Revelation 19:6, Revelation 11:15, Revelation 19:16)

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body yet, in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep. (Job 19:25-26, I Corinthians 15:20)

Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Corinthians 15:21-22)

Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (I Corinthians 15:51-52)

The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:52-53)

Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written; Death is swallowed up in victory! (I Corinthians 15:54)

O death, where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (I Corinthians 15:55-56)

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:57)

If God be for us, who can be against us? who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:31, Romans 8:33-34)

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.
__ Amen. (Revelation 5:12-13)

This is the text to Handel's Oratorio The Messiah. I believe it is an inspired work, because every year when I rehearse and perform it, I feel closer to my Father in Heaven and feel a greater appreciation for my Savior and his Atonement, and a greater love for him. If there is a performance of this work near you, go see it!

Superpower!

I don't know how many of you know this, but I have a superpower! Sometimes I can be completely invisible! I know, it's amazing, right? Of course, the danger to this superpower is that people who know me really well are almost always immune to my superpower, and other people also can see me when I am invisible. Maybe they have a superpower too so mine doesn't work on them.

See, on Halloween, I went to a party that my friend invited me too. I was dressed up in a costume I had worked on for a while, so I thought I would not be invisible. For a few minutes I wasn't, but once we started playing games, my superpower activated. People totally forgot I was there! I ended up leaving early because, after all, how fun can a party be when you're invisible? I bet the people who stayed didn't even notice I was gone! Cool, huh? Then once I was walking towards the SUU music building and passed by some girls I knew from school. I waved and smiled and they just walked on past. I guess they don't have a superpower to counteract mine.

I listen to this radio show that my friend in Salt Lake is on almost every week. So I was listening last Wednesday and he said something very VERY distasteful, crude, offensive, make-me-want-to-curl-up-in-a-corner-ful, and just plain stupid. I thought he would think of me listening, but I guess my superpower worked in that instance too. So I texted him to let him know I was listening. He didn't apologize. His co-host did try to make it up to me by saying he bought a CD of an artist I had requested. I made me kind of happy, but not any happier about the comments they (thought mostly my "friend") had made. Curse you, superpower!

That Sunday I went to church. My bishop greeted me which was nice. I sat down. Nobody sat by me until a couple people showed up late. Oh well. After Sacrament meeting, I stayed put for Sunday school. I saw several people I knew, but I guess I had accidentally activated my superpower and they didn't see me. But someone did finally turn around and acknowledge me. I wonder what their superpower is.

Fortunately I know how to turn off Invisibility when I am teaching, so I had a pretty good week. But then orchestra rehearsal came. It was the first rehearsal of new music and there were a lot of new orchestra members. I went to sit in my usual seat. It was taken. So I sat in the back. I thought I was being invisible until a friend turned around and made a "what?" face to me (clear in the very back of the orchestra). I was glad she saw me. But she and the rest of the orchestra didn't until some other poor invisible person came and sat by me. We talked about how it stunk to be invisible and therefore shunned to the back where it's impossible to see the conductor or hear the group. So it was fun to have another invisible person to play with. I would probably have considered not playing invisible if it weren't for her. Anyway, at the break another person I know noticed my seating change and thought it was unfair. I was flattered.

But sometimes being invisible is really good. Here's the best example I can think of.

When I was very little I was visiting my grandma and grandpa. I got pretty early on one of these mornings and my grandpa was feeding the birds. He loved to do this. The birds loved it too. (I may have told this story about a year ago, so sorry if it's a repeat.) I was standing inside the house by the back sliding door. He kind of motioned me outside. I opened the door and all the birds flew away! But they soon came back. Every time I moved they would take off (and always come back) so I just settled on sitting on the porch and watching. They trusted him so completely that they would sit on his shoulders and fly right around him. It was amazing. So I just sat watching grandpa and the birds invisibly while they enjoyed each other's company.



*Please note: I am not bitter or depressed. I just wanted to tell you about my superpower just in case I accidentally used it around you!*