He Is Not Here ... He Is Risen

Easter Sunday is a beautiful day, ALWAYS! It is Church, the sacrament, music and lessons about the Atonement and the Resurrection of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is the beginning of a season that brings new life and reminds us that HE too brought new life for all of us, renewing of our spirit and our bodies.

Our local newspaper editorial today stated, " The celebration of Easter focuses on this most fundamental belief of Christianity. It is founded in hope, and the strength of this faith is evidenced by the daily acts of those who are striving to become more like Jesus. Easter embodies this hope and faith, which is why it rightly holds such a unique place of importance among Christian believers."

In the past two weeks Steve and I have been to a viewing for our cousin Audy's beautiful wife Ashlee who succumbed finally after a seventeen month battle with colon cancer. She was 33 and leaves her husband and three small children. From the viewing we left on an eighteen hour drive to Edmonton, Alberta,  Canada to visit my Auntie Marguerite who is 97 years old and slowing withering on a hospital bed, because she fell at home and was alone on the floor for three days, and since being in the hospital has refused to or isn't capable of eating. She told me she just isn't hungry and nothing tastes good, yet she desires to get up and walk again. My plea and her doctor's plea to her was, "You have to eat!" They bring food that someone would have to feed to her and just leave it. We arrived home late Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday attended the reception and wedding of our niece and the next day the funeral of our aunt and uncle who died within days of each other after having been married sixty years. So many emotions and so many individual situations. From the beginning of life to the end of mortality on many different levels. We rejoiced that Ashlee, Marlene and Budge were out of pain. Ashlee's husband just posted a comment of their young daughter when asked by her counselor how she felt about her mother's death. This sweet, beautiful child said, " I am happy. She is with Heavenly Father in heaven and has no more pain." Lessons from a child! These are the ups and downs of this life and we will all have them. Not always easy to understand the whys and wherefores, but one thing I know is that my Savior's atonement covers all and as President Jackson said this morning in our Easter service, "In the world there will be sorrow but there is sufficient grace for every trial of mortality. No one here has put himself behind the outreach of his hand. There is a night to endure the weeping, but in the morning there is hope ..." (the end might be paraphrased)

Which brings me back to the "whys"of this post. I have looked forward to today for a number of weeks as I knew Elder Neil L. Anderson, an apostle and a fellow ward member was going to speak on Easter Sunday.  How could that not be an amazing spiritual  Easter feast. The Bishop came to the Primary class, that Steve and I teach, and told us and the children that Elder Anderson had just told him that he was preparing and praying to know what the Lord would want him to share with us. I do not know Elder Anderson and his wife Kathy well, but I love them anyway because I have watched the way they treat the people among us and have listened to him speak on numerous occasions and I was excited for this message.

What I didn't know was that our neighbor and Stake President (a leader over many congregations), President Chris Jackson and Sister Anderson would also be sharing their thoughts and feelings. A delightful surprise for me. Did I already say, "I love Easter!"

I couldn't take a lot of notes, because I have a hard time taking notes and paying total attention to what is being said, but, yes, I am a note-taker and love to reread anything that may not be published, partly because I do not have a very good memory. So some points follow ... what you can always remember is how you felt. That is the better part.

"Christ suffered for our pains so that he may succor us in our pains. He descended  below all things so he could comprehend all things. I know with a perfect sureness that he lives. We should pray for the  second coming. It will be breathtaking ... then he will stand in the midst of his people. He felt our suffering and we can feel his peace. HE is not absent from his Prophet or his Apostles. I am his witness." (Just portions in rough note form).

When Elder Anderson said that he knew with a perfect sureness that he lives, it pierced my own consciousness. The spirit witnessed to me the truth of what he was saying.

Elder Anderson also quoted from a talk he gave last April (I think). I think this is the quote,

Our faith grows as we anticipate the glorious day of the Savior’s return to the earth. The thought of His coming stirs my soul. It will be breathtaking! The scope and grandeur, the vastness and magnificence, will exceed anything mortal eyes have ever seen or experienced.

In that day He will not come “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger,”²³ but He will appear “in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels.”²⁴We will hear “the voice of the archangel, and … the trump of God.”²⁵ The sun and the moon will be transformed, and “stars [will] be hurled from their places.”²⁶ You and I, or those who follow us, “the saints … from [every quarter] of the earth,”²⁷ “shall be quickened and … caught up to meet him,”²⁸  and those who have died in righteousness, they too will “be caught up to meet him in the midst … of heaven.”²⁹

Then, a seemingly impossible experience: “All flesh,” the Lord says, “shall see me together.”³⁰ How will it happen? We do not know. But I testify it will happen—exactly as prophesied. We will kneel in reverence, “and the Lord shall utter his voice, and all the ends of the earth shall hear it.”³¹ “It shall be … as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.”³² “[Then] the Lord, … the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people.”³³

There will be unforgettable reunions with the angels of heaven and the Saints upon the earth.³⁴ But most important, as Isaiah declares, “All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God,”³⁵ and He “shall reign over all flesh.”³⁶

In that day the skeptics will be silent, “for every ear shall hear … , and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess”³⁷ that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

Today is Easter. We rejoice with Christians all over the world in His glorious Resurrection and in our own promised resurrection. May we prepare for His coming by rehearsing these glorious events over and over in our own minds and with those we love, and may His prayer be our prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”³⁸ I testify that He lives. “Come, O thou King of Kings.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Well, a few other quotes that I read today in an article, "A cloud of witnesses at Easter," by Daniels Peterson in the Deseret News that continued to proclaim the Easter events that we celebrate.

Prophet Joseph Smith, the first president of the LDS Church, and Sidney Rigdon following their February 1832 vision of the three degrees of glory: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God …” (see Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-23

 President George Q. Cannon, speaking during the 1893 dedicatory services for the Salt Lake Temple, testified of having “seen and conversed with Christ as a man talks with his friend, ‘face to face.’”“I know that God lives,” he wrote in the Deseret Evening News on Oct. 6, 1896. “I know that Jesus lives; for I have seen him. … I testify to you of these things as one that knows — as one of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 Elder David B. Haight, an apostle from 1976 until 2004, missed general conference in April 1989 because of a life-threatening health crisis that required a serious operation. In the October conference of that year, however, he reported on what had happened when he lost consciousness during his illness.
“The terrible pain and commotion of people ceased. I was now in a calm, peaceful setting; all was serene and quiet. … I heard no voices but was conscious of being in a holy presence and atmosphere. During the hours and days that followed, there was impressed again and again upon my mind the eternal mission and exalted position of the Son of Man. … I was shown a panoramic view of His earthly ministry. … I was being taught, and the eyes of my understanding were opened by the Holy Spirit of God so as to behold many things. … During those days of unconsciousness, I was given, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, a more perfect knowledge of His mission. … I cannot begin to convey to you the deep impact that these scenes have confirmed upon my soul” (see “The Sacrament — and the Sacrifice,” Liahona, April 2007).

President Jackson, Sister Anderson, Elder Anderson, Prophet Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, President George Q. Cannon, Elder David B. Haight all witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, among the cloud of witnesses. He lives. I know this to be true. THIS I BELIEVE! I will now participate in my last Easter tradition, the watching of a simple film that I have always watched with my children, "Easter Dream." It is not the clip below, but enjoy the clip below. I love the message.