Christmas in Nauvoo

Program Narration

Songs sung by the congregation. Led and accompanied by members of the Music Committee.

Narrator: We invite you to travel back with us to experience how Joseph and the early Saints celebrated Christmas. After the trials of Kirtland and Far West, the Saints began building Nauvoo, the BeautifulCity. By 1843, it was a developed and thriving township, and one of the largest cities in Illinois. This was an era of relative peace for the early church members. In June of the next year, Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. Within two years, the exodus to the Rocky Mountains began. But that was the distant future, and Christmas Day of 1843 was a time of happiness and joy, of celebration with friends and family, of rejoicing in Jesus Christ. Come with us as we explore the lives of the Saints of Nauvoo and their testimonies and celebrations of Christ’s birth.

Oh Come, All Ye Faithful

Narrator: Joseph Smith recorded his Christmas day experience in The History of the Church, volume 6. “December 25, 1843: This morning… I was aroused by an English sister, Lettice Rushton…, accompanied by three of her sons, with their wives, and her two daughters, with their husbands, and several of her neighbors, singing… which caused a thrill of pleasure to run through my soul. All of my family and boarders arose to hear the serenade, and I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for their visit, and blessed them in the name of the Lord. They also visited my brother Hyrum, who was awakened from his sleep. He arose and went out of doors. He shook hands with and blessed each one of them in the name of the Lord, and said that he thought at first that a cohort of angels had come to visit him, it was such heavenly music to him.” As we sing the hymns, we join our voice with the testimonies of others. Thesound testifies to and strengthens all. No wonder Joseph felt a thrill of pleasure and Hyrum thought there were angels surrounding him.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Narrator: Joseph continues his Christmas Day entry: “A large party supped at my house, and spent the evening in music, dancing, etc., in a most cheerful and friendly manner. During the festivities, a man with his hair long and falling over his shoulders, and apparently drunk, came in and acted like a Missourian. I requested the captain of the police to put him out of doors. A scuffle ensued, and I had an opportunity to look him full in the face, when, to my great surprise and joy untold, I discovered it was my long-tried, warm, but cruelly persecuted friend, Orrin Porter Rockwell, just arrived from nearly a year’s imprisonment, without conviction, in Missouri.” What a celebration! Christmas was then as it is now, a time of family and friends, festivity and reunion, and above all, cheerfulness.

Deck the Halls

Narrator: At this time, the Saints were sacrificing to build a temple to the Lord. The men were asked to give a tithe of their time and work on the construction of the temple one day in ten. The Relief Society, founded the year before, assured the workers were clothed, but there was only so much that volunteer labor could provide. Raw materials were needed. Mercy Fielding Robinson and her sister Mary Fielding Smith developed a “pennies for nails for the temple” collection. They invited the women of the church to dedicatea penny a week towards the purchase of nails and glass for the temple. These 52 cents a year represented great sacrifices for the sisters. Louisa Pratt recorded that she was initially tempted by the needs of her family, but resolved that “If I have no more than a crust of bread each day for a week, I will pay this money into the treasury. I went forward, paid over the money, and returned, feeling secret satisfaction.” Mercy Fielding Robinson wrote to the sisters in England, inviting them to participate in the endeavor. This letter was dated Christmas Day, December 25, 1843. The Lord accepts it and returns to us blessings unnumbered when we give all we have, no matter how small.

Little Drummer Boy

Narrator: It had been four years since the Saints were forced out of Far West and began to buildthe beautiful city of Nauvoo from the dreary swamps of Illinois. Every day, more joined their numbers. They came because God had called and ordained a prophet. They came because the Book of Mormonwas translated. They came because the Priesthoodwasagain upon theearth. They came because the ordinances of the temple wereavailable. They came because the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness was restored to the earth. Missionaries were called to shout the truths from the mountaintops. The people heard and they came. The membership of the church grew from a mere handful in 1830 to almost 26,000by December of 1843.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Narrator: Emma Smith was commanded to make a selection of sacred hymns. The first edition of her collection was published in1835. It contained 90 hymns, many of which focused on the restoration of the gospel and almost a third of which are still found in our current hymnal. Some of the hymns were carried over from other religions, with any incorrect doctrine amended. Others were newly written by the Saints. W. W. Phelps wrote some of the hymns and helped revise others. His treatment of “Joy to the World” is especially interesting. In the versionfound in Emma’s hymnbook, the words denote not the coming of an infant Christ, but an assertion of the coming of a glorious Millennial Christ. “Joy to the World! The Lord will come and earth receive her King!” The Saints in Nauvoo celebrated in the knowledge of Christ’s first appearance, and in anticipation of His return to the earth. As assuredly as He came first to a manger in Bethlehem, Christ will come again.

Joy to the World (Emma’s words)

Narrator: Brothers and Sisters, welcome to the Midvale East 6th Ward’s celebration of Christmas in Nauvoo. Please take time to visit the booths and see more what life was like for the Saints in Nauvoo. The Nauvoo brickyard is in the nursery, and The Red Brick Store across the hallway. A stick pulling competition will be held at the grove in the foyer while the library and museum is on the stage. Write a note to our missionaries, Sister Amber Rudd and Elder David Clark at the Post Office in the YW room, and while you’re there, visit Stoddard’s Tin Shop. Dinner will be served at the Mansion House, at the far end of the gym, and don’t forget dessert at the Scovil Bakery in the kitchen. Thank you for being here. Have a wonderful evening and a very merry Christmas.

Written and compiled by Paige Levanger Moore