The Interpreter Foundation Podcast

 

In the December 10th Come, Follow Me segment of the Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts Martin Tanner, Kevin Christensen, Mark Johnson, and John Gee discuss Book of Mormon lesson 1, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” on the Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon.

You can listen to or download the Book of Mormon in Context segment of the December 10 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. It will also be included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast). The other segments of the December 10 radio show can be accessed at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-december-10-2023.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

 

Original air date: December 10, 2023. This recording has been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

 

In this episode of The Interpreter Radio Show, our hosts are Martin Tanner, Kevin Christensen, Mark Johnson, and John Gee. They discuss Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson 1 and how to study the Book of Mormon. You can listen to or download the December 10th broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show below. These audio tracks are also included in our podcast feed (https://interpreterfoundation.org/feeds/podcast).

The “New Testament in Context” portion of this show, for the Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon lesson 1 will also be posted separately on Tuesday, December 26.

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com.

Original air date: December 10, 2023. These recording have been edited to remove commercial breaks.

The Book of Mormon in Context Lesson 1: “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” on the Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon

Podcast: Download

Discussion: How to Study the Book of Mormon

Podcast: Download

The Interpreter Radio Show is a weekly discussion of matters of interest to the hosts, guests, and callers of the show. The views expressed on the Interpreter Radio Show are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Interpreter Foundation, nor should statements made on the show be construed as official doctrinal statements of the Church.

 

Abstract: What would it have been like to be among the shepherds who heard the angelic announcement of Jesus’s birth? Their story has special meaning for many of us because we feel a kinship with those shepherds through shared anonymity and shared hope and witness. By means of two favorite hymns, “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains,” Kent Jackson invites us to place ourselves in the role of those shepherds and join in singing: “Lord, with the angels we too would rejoice,” and “Come to Bethlehem and see.”

My two favorite Christmas hymns are “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains.” They have much in common, because both focus on the experience of the shepherds who heard the glorious announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Luke tells us that an angel appeared to the shepherds, announced the holy birth, and told them where they could find the child and how they would recognize him. Then Luke writes, “Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13–14).

Both “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” include those angelic words in their choruses. In our hymnbook the chorus of “Angels We Have Heard on High” is unique because it is the only phrase we sing in sacrament meeting in Latin, the language of the medieval Catholic Church: “Gloria in excelsis deo,” which means, simply, “Glory to God in the highest.” It is also unique in that we stretch the word gloria over four bars and eighteen notes, emphasizing our praise for the wonderful Christmas miracle.

Matthew’s Christmas story introduces us to some upper-tier members of society. The magi, “wise men from the east” (Matthew 2:1), [Page 354]were people who had education. They also had the financial resources to travel far and bring expensive gifts. They were looking for a king, and they ended up in the palace of King Herod in their quest to find him. Then Herod himself wanted to find the new king as well. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus traces his lineage through the royal line of Judah, connecting Jesus with most of the prominent and privileged people mentioned in the Old Testament.

Luke’s account of the nativity focuses on common people. Jesus is born in a barn among animals to a poor couple far from home. Luke traces Jesus’s genealogy through people who are otherwise unknown, and Jesus’s birth is announced not to those of high standing in society but to the humblest and least regarded of common laboring folk — shepherds. We sometimes romanticize shepherds in the Bible, but shepherding is anything but romantic. Shepherds worked long hours, often alone, and the work was smelly and dirty. Many shepherds didn’t own the sheep they watched but were working for others who were relaxing in their warm homes while the shepherds were shivering with the flocks.

The story of the shepherds in Luke’s account of Jesus’s birth resonates with many of us because we, too, consider ourselves one with people like those. My mother told me from time to time that she was there singing in that heavenly chorus when Jesus was born. Would that we all were so blessed!

“Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” is likewise unique in a very important way. All our other Christmas hymns are either of traditional European origin or were composed by American Protestants. But “Far, Far Away” is special. It is a Latter-day Saint hymn. It was written by a Church member named John Macfarlane of the little pioneer settlement in St. George, Utah, in 1869 for a ward Christmas celebration. His family reported that he woke up in the middle of the night with its words and music in his mind and immediately wrote them down. This hymn is ours, and mainstream Christians have not yet discovered it. (On YouTube there are recordings of it by Anabaptist and Mennonite choirs,

The fourth “Temple on Mount Zion” Conference was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018 in the Tanner Building at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

The presentations were filmed, and both video and audio recordings of each presentation are available. The videos are currently available both at https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-videos/and on the Interpreter Foundation YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/theinterpreterfoundation. A YouTube playlist is also available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRMn4gyXMWLsWt34zVNC5FmTqBtFfcnxl. The audio recordings are available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/2018-temple-on-mount-zion-conference-audio/.

Presented at:

2018 Temple on Mount Zion ConferenceSaturday, November 10, 2018https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2020-temple-on-mount-zion-conference/

Conference Proceedings:

The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-symbols-sermons-and-settings/ (available first quarter, 2024)

Listen to an audio recording of this talk:

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