Oh, yes...many times I have been in meetings where that hymn was sung.
Also, it is nearly "Smithmas"...Joseph Smith's birthday is coming up soon.
Joseph Smith's birthday commemorated
The Historic Sites missionary couples in the New York Rochester Mission had a memorable experience when they gathered to commemorate the Prophet's birthday on Dec. 23 at the Joseph Smith home on Stafford Road in Palmyra."It was an unforgetable evening," said Elder Leland A. Poole, a public affairs missionary in Palmyra. "Where else could you have such an experience but in the very place where it all began, in the `Cradle of the Restoration.' "
The home was decorated for Christmas with lights in every window and an antique red sleigh on the front lawn. There was a historically correct wreath on the front door made of white pine, rue (the herb of grace), celosea (a reddish velvety flower) and lime. Inside the house was a Christmas tree decorated with wooden and metal ornaments, strings of popcorn, and gingerbread men. Evergreen bows and poinsettias added to the Christmas feeling. The packages under the tree were wrapped in brown paper and cord, as they might have been in the 1820s when the Smith family lived here.
The missionary couples assembled in the parlor for a short program that consisted of a brief talk by Sister Dorothy Nielson, who is a Historic Site missionary at the Joseph Smith Home, and a playlet entitled "Mother and Son." A solo, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," was sung by Palmyra member Bruce Nichols at the conclusion of the program.
Sister Nielson told of the early Christmas traditions in America and said: "Because of their Puritan background, celebrations were remarkably simple and austere on the frontier, compared to England or Western Europe. Here in this plainly decorated home we are reminded of a more simple time.
"Away from the noise and commercialism of Christmas, across the street from the Sacred Grove, and in the very parlor where Joseph lived, we celebrate not only the birth of the Savior but also the birthday of our Prophet Joseph Smith."
BYU even substituted a "Baby Joseph" for the Christ child in a nativity scene in 2005.
Now, THAT'S obsession!
BTW, you will never see a Christmas Eve candlelight service at a mormon church.
BTW, you will never see a Christmas Eve candlelight service at a mormon church.
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I didnt know that...
So the little baby Joey lay down his sweaty head, eh ???
O come all ye, Smithians...
The level of deception needed to become involved in that group is astounding.
I can see for someone who was raised in it and doesn’t know any better, but for someone to turn their backs on God and say Jesus isn’t good enough, just plain boggles the mind.
Hadn’t heard about the JS nativity scene. Wow.
I did see, a few years ago, a missionary farewell card with a pic of JS on it that said “Praise to the Man”. On the inside it said “go forth and preach his Gospel”. Lower case ‘his’ = Joseph Smith’s gospel.