Kingston Ward Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

12/17/2024

Christmas is about Christ. Of course, we do not need a Christmas holiday or Christmas traditions to remember our Savior Jesus Christ, but the celebrations of Christmas can help remind us of Him.

Christmas reminds us that we, like the Wise Men of old, should seek Christ and lay before Him the most precious of gifts. We should offer Him our love. We should promise to remember Him always, emulate His example, and go about doing good.

What are the Savior’s gifts to those who are willing to bring these gifts to Him? Immortality, forgiveness, and eternal life—the greatest gift of all.

Dear friends, may we always remember to bring gifts to Him who has given His all for us. May we always remember and be grateful that in the birth of that Child, the universe rejoiced.

12/11/2024

Look for Jesus Christ in ordinary places. 
 
It’s one of the lessons I’m learning as I’ve been thinking about women who walked with, talked with, and testified of Jesus Christ. 
 
The appointment Christ kept with the Samaritan woman at a well was an ordinary place and she was doing a very ordinary thing – drawing water. 
 
He will find us – and we can find Him -  in the ordinary details of our lives as well.  Sitting at a desk, driving carpools, preparing food, in a zoom meeting, or the myriad other activities that fill our days and nights.
 
And, like her, in ordinary places – doing ordinary things, we can come to know the Savior.  We can feel His love and His capacity to lift burdens and heal hurting hearts.  We can be understood, and we can experience the miracle of change.
 
And then, like this first flawed sister missionary in Samaria – we can share our witness with others. 
 
Come and see. He is the Christ, the Savior of the world.

12/11/2024

12/09/2024

What is the meaning of the phrase “peace on earth, good will toward men” (see Luke 2:14), shared often during the Christmas season?

The heavenly hosts proclaimed good will to all men—to casual friends and to strangers.

The Savior taught, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (see Matthew 22:39). He even taught that we should love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them who despitefully use us and persecute us.

As we work toward the goal expressed in those teachings, Christmas should be a time for forgiving, a time to heal old wounds and restore relationships that have gone awry. Christmas is a time to extend ourselves beyond our normal ties of love and friendship.

11/30/2024

11/29/2024

11/28/2024

In this season of thanksgiving, I have reflected on an editorial that appears each year in the Wall Street Journal around the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

Titled “The Desolate Wilderness,” this piece not only recounts the Pilgrims’ journey to America in 1620 and their eventual arrival in Plymouth, but also emphasizes their hardships, determination, and faith in Jesus Christ.

Surely it was a daunting voyage across the ocean to a new land, which they braved because of their desire to worship God and serve Him as they felt best. We owe a great deal to them and others like them for the wonderful blessings and prosperity we enjoy now in comparison to their situation.

Because of their efforts and faith, 200 years later the gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored in its fulness through the Prophet Joseph Smith beginning in 1820. How grateful we are for the sustaining influence of heaven that built the nation that allowed for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the organization of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this last dispensation.

I am so grateful that we, despite all the imperfections of mere mortals, can serve the Lord and that the Church can prosper and be the foundation for expanding the Restoration across the entire world.

11/27/2024

As part of the ongoing renovation of Temple Square, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has placed the first in a series of new statues created by local artists. These sculptures, which visualize key moments

11/02/2024

Unexpected things happen – to all of us.  Things that delight us, things that drive us to our knees.
 
So when the unexpected happens – I’m trying to remember that Jesus Christ  often shows up in unexpected places to unexpected people.  I think He loves doing it.
 
He gave manna every morning for 40 years in the wilderness.
 
Think of Moses, standing with the Red Sea in front of him, the Egyptian army closing in at the rear.  The water parted and they walked across – on dry ground.
 
Think of Christ changing water to wine at a wedding feast.
 
The daughter of Jairus, Lazarus, and the only son of a widow in Nain being raised from the dead.
 
16 stones – touched by the finger of God to light barges on an ocean journey.
 
Lamanites who slept while captured Nephites escaped over city walls.
 
Prison walls falling and prophet prisoners walking out unharmed.
 
Elijah looking for God in a whirlwind but finding Him in a whisper.
 
Moses finding  Him in a burning bush.
 
And think of how Christ showed up to unexpected people.
 
A woman at a well at mid-day – a woman shunned because of her life choices.

To a man possessed of devils at the Gadarenes.

To Pharisees
 
To a 14-year-old boy in upstate New York with a question
 
To a crying woman in a minivan on the side of the road
 
And perhaps the most unexpected of all – on a perfect resurrected body, our Savior keeps the scars of His crucifixion.  Scars that witness of His perfect, redeeming love.
 
So – when the unexpected happens, look for evidence of Jesus Christ.  There is a miracle in the making if we turn to Him.

 Art by Jay Bryant Ward

10/23/2024

I recently had the privilege to confirm my 8-year-old granddaughter a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What an honor! As a holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood, I also had the authority to place my hands on her head and say these words: “Receive the Holy Ghost.” That was a command she had been prepared to receive as she had already taught us in a family devotional of the Savior’s own baptism of Jesus Christ and the appearance of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove.

In her little lesson, she had used a soft baby blanket as her visual aid. She taught us that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, baptism can wash away sins and that we can feel the Holy Ghost’s comfort and warmth, just like the blanket.

Even a little child can feel the comforting voice of the Spirit. She, and all of us, can take heart as our faith in Jesus Christ grows and we continually increase our capacity to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.

My testimony is that the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. I have felt His comfort and direction countless times in my life. It helps me to know that the companionship of the Holy Ghost is a gift, not only a reward for our efforts. I promise you that your fervent prayers – in the name of Jesus Christ – to receive the blessings and fruits of Holy Ghost, even the still small voice, can and will be answered.