It was held at the exact same location. The food served was pretty much the same self-serve buffet fare in disposable aluminum chafing dishes over sterno heaters. I think I got a bit more to eat this time than last time around, but as last time, the big draw for nearly everyone there was the beer and drinks. My wife and I were glad to find a few other folks there who chose not to drink, or who seemed to limit themselves to one bottle of beer. Thankfully, these were also some of my better friends from 25 years ago too.
It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen in five years. It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen in twenty-five years. It was nice to see and experience that life's experiences had softened divisions of artificial social classes. There was such a distinction of social classes back in high school, who would have guessed many of the folks there would have been so happy to see someone who didn't run in their social circles.
I think the cynic in just about everyone would say that sentiment is all artificial and as phony as a three dollar bill. The cynic would say people were just being polite, or it was the alcohol lowering inhibitions, and that when all is said and done, people will go back to being the same snobs or introverts they were back in high school.
There may be some truth in that, but I choose to think differently. I don't artificially claim that I am now best buddies with any of these people who I went to school with. Had we really been close, there would have been a two way attempt at staying in touch over the years.
But, I want to see the best in others. I want to believe that those who I felt looked down on me in high school were genuinely glad to see me and that the warm handshakes, pats on the back, and hugs were more than just expected social graces. As fundamentally miniscule in the greater, eternal scheme of things associations with these people is, I choose to embrace the fact that it is indeed a small part of what defines me and who I am. I chose to interpret the smiles, laughs, and reminiscing of things from high school as genuine appreciations of having had some form of shared experience, even if there is nothing that binds us together beyond that.
I believe that there are many who do not share that view. Lets face it, high school is a rough time for most people. And, many want nothing to do with those memories or people ever again. Most of the guys I hung around with between junior and senior high fit into the group. We weren't the jocks. We weren't the popular guys. We weren't the burnouts. We weren't the nerds. We were the guys who just kind of congregated together. We created our own class that crossed and transcended social classes and at the same time disdained the social classes.
But, the fact remains that for our group, attendance at the reunion was essentially the same number, just one face changed. And overall, it really seemed like class wide attendance was maybe 1/2 what it was five years ago. I guess there are those that have no desire or interest to relive the associations, and those that are not wanting to compare themselves to others or to show what they have become.
I guess I am kind of weird in finding this all a little troubling. I have always hoped that many of the people I went to school with would someday come to a knowledge of the gospel. In high school, I was the only one in my class who held the Priesthood of God. As far as I know, I still am. I don't know that any of my former classmates, whether I knew them or not, have embraced the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Back then, I think a lot of classmates knew who I was simply because of the standing as a witness for Him and His restored Church in various government, history, speech and other classes where topics of religion and cultures would be discussed. This was back in the day when school teachers, administrators, and districts weren't so afraid of litigation for simply mentioning or giving time to discussion of religious aspects of ordinary day life. Just from sheer probability, there had to be a number of classmates who thought I was some sort of wacko for being Mormon and standing for something other than drugs, sex, rock n' roll, wealth and the social activities of a mid '80's preppie high school.
I felt back then that I had a responsibility of some sort to be an example as best I could and to point the way to those who wanted to find the Tree of Life. I suppose I still do. And I wish I was better at it now and had been better at it back then. I guess that if I live my life righteously enough, I may gain the opportunity to help preach the gospel to members of my high school graduating class on the other side of the veil in the spirit world.
Sure enough, each individual has the freedom to choose as he or she will. And sure enough, each individual will have the opportunity to hear the fulness of the Gospel after death if they haven't here while in mortality. And, I'm sure many will accept it then. But, they don't need to wait until then. They don't need to continue on living lives that are full of pain or that have become cyclical train wrecks as they encounter the consequences of choices that go contrary to our Father's laws -- laws they are subject to even if they are not aware of them.
If any of you classmates find my blog and read it, please listen to what I'm saying! You guys are literal sons of God. You gals are literal daughters of God. He is the Father of our spirits. We all lived in His presence before we were born. I'll speculate that we knew or were acquainted with each other there. When our Father presented a plan for our progression, growth, and happiness, we all agreed to it. We all stood on the side of His Only Begotten Son after the manner of the flesh, Jesus Christ.
This plan of happiness was set forth before the foundations of this earth we live on was even set. Our Father loves us and wishes for us to become as He is. This requires us to be born on earth and receive a mortal body. It also requires us to have the memory of where we were before removed. We live here on earth to learn, grow, and prove ourselves obedient by walking in faith and thus capable of handling all the blessings He would desire to bless us with.
But two things damn us in this effort to receive all that the Father has for us. First, we will die physically. Our spirit and our body will be separated at some point. We can't be like God the Father if we do not have our physical body. The second is that we are imperfect. We make mistakes. We sometimes, or oft times, willfully are also disobedient to the laws He has told us exist. God is perfect and has a glorified, exalted, and immortal physical body of flesh and bones. Something about that perfect nature makes it impossible for that which is of imperfect, or unclean, nature to exist in His presence. And, the imperfect and unclean are all of us who pass through mortality having the capacity to understand right and wrong. This separation is referred to as spiritual death, for we can not be in God's presence. God knew that these two conditions would exist. So, He also provided a means of overcoming both separations -- or deaths -- physical and spiritual. The means is through the Atonement (or at-one-ment, or bringing together as one) of Jesus Christ. Though a member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ is our older brother. He is not only the spiritual son of God the Father, but the physical son. It is quite simple, and it should not seem blasphemous to any of you who have accepted part of the gospel of Christ. Open your hearts and your minds and recognize the promptings of The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, who will testify directly to your spirit what is true. All that I say here is testified of by the holy prophets of God from Adam down to the present day. It is all testified of and recorded in true scripture, ancient and modern.
Jesus Christ, possessing the divine attributes of His Father, God, and the attributes of his mortal mother, Mary, had the power to live perfectly (without committing sin) and yet knew what temptation was and was still subject to being tempted as we are. He also had the power to give up his life and to take it back again. And because He lived perfectly, He was suited to become the intercessor with The Father for all of us -- His spiritual brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah. He took upon Himself the penalty for every sin each individual who had lived or who ever will live on this earth. He paid the price for our freedom from death and hell, and opened the way whereby we can continue back to our Father's presence and become exalted like He is, and as Jesus Christ became.
Because Jesus died and on the third day rose from the tomb as a resurrected, immortal being, we all shall likewise arise from our tombs as resurrected, immortal beings. We shall receive our bodies again, and they will then be immortal, perfect, and glorified. That is a free gift. We don't have to do anything to receive redemption from the separation of body and spirit caused physical death.
Jesus assumed the penalty for each of our sins. Your sins and my sins. He knows each of us better than we know ourselves. His suffering in Gethsemane, where the physical and mental stress and anguish were so great that He bled from every pore, was not just some generic thing. Somehow, during that time, he suffered the full brunt of the pain, anguish, and sorrow for every individual's specific sins and various infirmities.
When the prophet Isaiah says "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (see Isaiah 53), he is talking about you and me and The Savior. In our day, The Savior Himself has said "Therefore I command you to repent -- repent lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore -- how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit -- and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink -- Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men" (see Doctrine & Covenants 19).
We can be freed from the ultimate effect of our sins -- spiritual death, the separation from God's presence -- if we repent of them and seek His forgiveness. This freedom from spiritual death is not a free gift though. It requires we do our part. And that is where the Grace of God comes in. We are expected to do all we can to repent of and forsake sin. We are expected to do all we can to be humble and obedient. We are expected to match our will up to His will. But, because we are imperfect, it won't be enough. That is why we need Jesus Christ. He will (and does) pay our penalty and price to redeem us from the debt still owed when we have done our due diligence in the process. That is the Grace of God.
The Grace of God is not eat, drink, be merry, do whatever one wants and in the end it will be okay because one says he or she believes in Christ or God and one has nothing to do other than that. The Grace of God is also not something that is only available to those who are next to perfect and no one else bother apply. The Grace of God is that Jesus Christ, who is a member of the Godhead, has condescended to redeem us each individually upon condition of our individual repentance and best effort compliance to our Father's laws. The Grace of God has no effect on those who do not repent. He will not save unrepentant people still in their sins and subject to the temptations and under the power of the adversary. His Grace is what saves and redeems people who have repented from that state of being subject to the Devil.
There is much more for you to know and to understand. This is pretty much just the basics, and the reason why you should listen. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (See John 8). If you are willing to learn the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and apply that knowledge into your life, you shall have a fuller, more happy, more joyous life. You shall be closer to inheriting that which our Heavenly Father wishes to bless you with in the eternities.
Like I said earlier, I choose to see the best in you. I choose to think that time and life's experiences may have softened and prepared a large number of you to be receptive to the Gospel I have known is true since we were in high school together. So please, classmates, when you see missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at your door, let them in. Don't just write me and these things off as being some wacko Mormon thing. Listen to what they say. Exercise faith and accept the challenges they give you. Be open to hearing and feeling the Holy Ghost testify to your soul. Be willing to let go of those things in your life that degrade you from realizing your divine heritage and potential.
When all is said and done, I encourage you to end up on the other side of our mortal existence with you having done more than just what I have said. We will have reunions in the spirit world as well. And I guarantee they will be of a somewhat different nature than what we have had here as a class. Perhaps the attendance at these future reunions will be based on the individual's choice as well. Please do your part so that when we meet at those we will have more in common than having been in high school together... let us have something in common that really matters -- discipleship of The Lord Jesus Christ and membership in His kingdom.
