Christmas lights symbolize the light of Christ and the love of Christ.
Two recent news stories exemplify the spirit of Know Your Neighbor.
The first example comes from an Arizona Republic article titled Catholics and Mormons join at annual event. Reporter Dianna M. Nanez writes of an on-going friendship between local Catholics and Mormons, a friendship which began as a result of a 1999 letter written by Father Doug Loring, of St. Anne’s Catholic Church, to President John Lewis of the Gilbert Stake, a town with a sizeable Mormon population.
When a white supremacist group, the Devil Dogs, arrived in Gilbert, Father Loring, hoped that a co-operative effort amongst religious denominations could quell rising tensions. He had just been to Glamoc, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and seen firsthand the devastating impact of religious warfare. He shares, “[Glamoc] was a town not different from Gilbert, beautiful homes and people used to providing for themselves, torn apart by religion and politics….Thinking of what I’d seen in Glamoc, and what was happening with the Devil Dogs and our teens, it was too much.”
Subsequent to Loring’s letter and a meeting to seek out common ground, the Catholic and Mormon congregations have joined forces in numerous service projects, culminating with an annual joint Christmas concert at the Mesa Temple.
The second example, appeared in the Pembroke Mariner and Reporter, and was titled Lights add to neighborly atmosphere. Reporter Sarah Wolfgang writes of a Pembroke, MA neighborhood with some “twenty families that are pretty close. For the decade the homes have existed, most everyone…has been there right along.”
This Christmas, their neighborhood decided to buy a single light for each of the trees that line their street – one light at the base of each tree that would shine upwards on its trunk and branches. Why go to all this trouble? One neighbor Beth Dwyer says “[To create] a winter wonderland.” But it seems to go deeper. I can’t help but think that this street lined with lights symbolizes the light of Christ, a light which shines brightly in the hearts of these neighbors who reach out in love one to another.
Is there an opportunity for your stake, ward, Elders’ Quorum, Relief Society, Scout troop to partner with other faiths and community groups to do good?
Have you shared with your loved ones, especially the children in your life, what the Christmas tree lights and the outdoor holiday lights symbolize?
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