All are Redeemed Through Christ

I spent most of my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year writing a talk I was asked to give with only three days' notice. I worked hard on it and sacrificed a lot to put it together...and then only about 30 people were at church the day I gave it due to Covid restrictions. I grew to love this talk and the ideas that came to me, so to make up for the small crowd, I figured I could throw it into the blogosphere where someone else might stumble upon it and possibly enjoy it. Now that I've fully given an intro to...myself...I'd like to formally turn the time over to Sister Excell.

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With this being the last Sunday of the infamous 2020, let’s send it out remembering something positive the last 12 months have given us. One of the highlights of the year for our family has been studying The Book of Mormon through the Come, Follow Me program. I’ve appreciated how the Come, Follow Me lessons have challenged and empowered us to bring the scriptures to life. I’ve developed a few mantras I chant to myself whenever I need to pump myself up for another rowdy lesson in our home: By small and simple things are great things come to pass, liken the scriptures to our lives, and bribe with candy. 

While I won’t be throwing candy out into the audience today, I hope to teach you the same way I teach my kids, by likening the scriptures to our everyday lives in small and simple ways. 

Back in February, my kids grew to love the familiar story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, so much so, that they began requesting it every night before bed. We can blame those nightly storybook sessions for the idea that came to me for a Come, Follow Me lesson as we were studying 2 Nephi 26. Hoping to capture all four of my boys’ attention, I decided to just go ahead and make the lesson a full-blown production. I assembled props, set a little stage, and handed each boy a finger puppet goat so we could act out their favorite tale.

In case you were not also enthralled with The Three Billy Goats Gruff earlier this year, I’ll give you a little refresher. Feel free to visualize paper goats taped to little fingers, dancing on top of a coffee table as we move through the story to capture the full effect of the lesson. 

Three billy goats lived on a hill. The hill was dry, rocky, and didn’t have much food. The billy goats were always hungry. One day the billy goats noticed another hill on the other side of the valley covered in lush, green grass. 

The goats began to imagine how full and happy they would be if they could make it to that other hill. They traveled all the way to the other hill, so close they could see and practically smell the beautiful, rolling grass fields. The only thing between them and their bellies being full and happy was a big, fat, scary, ugly old troll that popped out to block the path and scare the goats away whenever they approached the bridge.

Now, this is the reason I suspect this book was so highly requested by my four boys. At the very end of the book, the goats are sick of the big, ugly troll and his stubbornness in keeping them from the beautiful grass on the other side of the bridge. They devised a plan to outsmart the troll by sending the biggest billy goat in to bravely kick the troll which sends him flailing through the air, right over the bridge, down into the water, never to be seen again. 

**My boys unexpectedly all cackled very loudly out in the audience at this part which definitely helped hammer down the point that they love this story.**

After watching the traditional characters play out the scene, we tried the play out again but with different characters. We replaced the goats with all kinds of different people. We labeled the grassy hill “Salvation,” and we swapped the ugly troll out for a picture of Christ. With our new characters in place, we all wondered what would happen now. Would the new gatekeeper yell, “NO! This is my bridge!” like the grumpy, old troll each time someone approached the bridge? Would He let some people cross, but turn others away? Would He grab everyone within reach and shove them across the bridge?

My 5-year-old, Lincoln’s, puppet was the first to hesitantly approach the bridge. After seeing what happened with the goats and the troll, he was understandably nervous. His puppet stepped onto the bridge. He timidly asked, “Can I cross the bridge?” Our Jesus puppet moved to the side and said, “Yes! Come on in!” 

Carson tried next. His puppet looked different than Lincoln’s, would his be allowed in too? Carson stepped on the bridge. He asked if he could cross, and he was also allowed into the lush, grassy field of salvation. 

As the only girl in the house, my puppet approached the bridge. The boys were anxious to see if a GIRL would be allowed into the grass field. Sure enough, girls were able to get through, too!

We tried all kinds of different puppets, and all were welcome into the field of salvation. Once there, the puppets were happy and were filled with the goodness of Christ. 

After our homemade production, we read from 2 Nephi: 

“Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; All men are privileged the one like unto the other and none are forbidden.”

“For the Lord doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God.”

The first thing we noticed during our play was the difference between the troll guarding and denying travelers approaching the bridge and Christ generously welcoming all to join Him across the bridge. Anyone who approached Christ’s bridge and desired to cross was allowed to enter into the field to feast and be filled with the joy of His goodness and the peace of salvation. He denies no one who comes unto Him.

Omni 1:26, “And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.”

As we desire salvation, the only way to get there is to walk towards Christ. Once we reach him, we need to use the bridge He has provided to obtain salvation. When one is used to working with trolls, they may feel hesitant to approach the bridge. We can remember Lincoln’s nervousness to use the bridge after becoming familiar with trolls. His fear of trolls may have caused him to try to find a different way over the river, to attempt to build his own bridge, or to avoid bridges all together and just make do with the rocky, barren ground he’s familiar with.

Maybe we could imagine our sins as the big, ugly trolls trying to keep us on the rocky side of salvation. We may be nervous to cross any bridges if we’re used to catering to our sins. We may want to work around our sins and hope to be able to pave our own way to the hill of salvation. We may just want to stay where we are because it’s comfortable and familiar even though we can clearly see we want to be in a better place, but we let our sins keep us from where we want to be. 

Rather than letting the ugly trolls in our lives dictate our path to salvation, we can instead turn our sins over to Christ through the power of Christ’s Atonement. As we do this, the way is made clear for us to cross over into the place we desire to be. We can use the power of Christ’s Atonement in our lives as we recognize the sins and shortcomings that are holding us back, and intentionally choose to kick them off the bridge as we make our way towards salvation.

In October 2018 General Conference, Matthew Carpenter said, ““Our Heavenly Father is all-powerful and all-knowing. He knows our physical struggles. He is aware of our pains due to illness, disease, aging, accidents, or birth disorders. He is aware of emotional struggles associated with anxiety, loneliness, depression, or mental illness. He knows each person who has suffered injustice or who has been abused. He knows our weaknesses and the propensities and temptations we struggle with. There is no physical, emotional, or spiritual ailment that Christ cannot heal.”

Jesus Christ paid the price so that we can be made whole. But we must choose to take that healing medicine He offers.”

Christ is often referred to as our Redeemer. We hear that we can be redeemed from our sins, and that the Savior has redemptive power in our lives. As I’ve thought more about the word redeem, I’ve been reminded of an experience I had at the beginning of this week when I wanted to watch The Polar Express with my kids.

I hyped the kids up to watch this Christmas movie with me, sat them down with bowls of popcorn and candy, and only then realized the movie wasn’t available on any of the streaming services we’re subscribed to. In a pinch and not wanting to let everyone down, I ended up having to purchase the movie at full price so we could enjoy it together. 

That night, as I was making dinner, I moved aside a cereal box and something caught my eye. I saw a picture of The Polar Express with enthusiastic prompts all over the box, inviting me to “Redeem this offer!” The injustice! I could have had a free copy of the very movie I was scrambling to hunt down just by mailing in three proof of purchases? I just spent $15 on a movie when I could have instead simply traded in a few pieces of cardboard to redeem my reward? How foolish I felt once I realized the offer was there all along, but I had failed to notice it, so I was unable to use it. 

God has offered His son to redeem us. We can take our meager offerings, like cardboard scraps off of a cereal box, and exchange them for something greater through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But we have to recognize that Christ’s Atonement is there for us to use, and then we have to actually use it! We don’t have to try to build our own bridge. We don’t have to hunt for an alternate way across the river to the grassy field, and we don’t have to settle for the rocky, barren ground. There is a bridge already there! The way is available to us, but we have to use it.

Elder Bednar said, “Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and mistakenly believe we must carry our load all alone—through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities.”

Recognizing and using Christ’s redemptive power in our lives reminds me of my favorite scripture, Ether 12:27: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

I felt the truthfulness of that scripture a few years ago when I was asked to be the Girls’ Camp Director in my old ward. I had a brief moment of questioning my leaders’ inspiration and wondered if any of them knew I turn into the step-mom from The Parent Trap who bangs sticks together in a vain attempt to ward off bears, whenever I’m in a wooded area. Surely I was the wrong person for the job. 

It was because of my obvious weaknesses in the wilderness that forced me to turn to God and to use the strengthening power of Christ’s Atonement to transform me into what I needed to be. I knew I could not lead a camping excursion on my own and have it end in success, so I offered many desperate prayers and grew a heartfelt desire to make the camp what Heavenly Father wanted it to be for the girls. I was a lowly cereal box trying my hardest to exchange my efforts into a shiny new movie. 

Girls’ camp that year was a success. I can say that because I know it had nothing to do with me. It was my weaknesses that made it evident any good that came from camp was from a higher power. 

I found it interesting that we were studying that scripture in Ether that gives me so much peace and assurance the week I was called to be the new Young Women’s President. I again have found myself feeling inadequate, underqualified, and humbled by my obvious shortcomings, but I continue to remind myself that I can be strengthened and that I can be enough through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. 

Remember back to my Come, Follow Me mantra, small and simple things. If we finish that scripture, it teaches us that through small and simple things great things can come to pass. That small and simple scripture beautifully teaches about the great redemptive power of Jesus Christ. I have seen this scripture play out in my life each time I desire to do good, pray to ask for Christ’s help, and put forth my best effort. My small and simple efforts become magnified into something great through Christ. I have seen this in callings, in my Come, Follow Me lessons, in my responsibilities as a mother, and even in preparing this talk. I know that Jesus Christ is at the bridge, waiting for us to seek them, He is eager for us to be filled with His goodness of peace, joy, healing, and strength. As we learned from The Billy Goat’s Gruff, this is not just available for some to enjoy, but it is available to all who Come Unto Christ. 

I would like to leave you with an invitation found in Ether 12 which reads, “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.”

We often seek Christ during the Christmas season, but He invites us to come unto Him always. As I look towards and remember my Redeemer, I am changed into something better than I can be on my own. I have felt the power of Christ’s redemptive Atonement in my life, and I know that is a gift available to all.