Gaining a Testimony of the Restoration in Primary
Music in the Pit of Babylon
Called to Serve - Sense of Purpose Overcomes Inhibition
Now I would ask you what changed? Why did we start off singing kind of sacrament-meeting-ish, and why were we raising the roof by the time we got to the end of that song? I would submit to you that, as a group, we're kind of inhibited in our singing, or maybe a little afraid to be heard to sing. But that night, in that meeting, we began to feel the spirit of Worship when somebody applied a personal context and made us realize what we were singing, connected it to our personal experience. That, to me, is the spirit of worship.
The Spirit of Worship
Nephi described what I call the spirit of worship when he described the way he taught Laman and Lemuel, and later his descendants. He said, “...for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.” (1 Nephi 19:23) Now, we can liken the scriptures unto us; the stories in the scriptures are stories of real people. Similarly, we can liken the hymns unto us. We can apply a personal context – a personal meaning to the hymns – and that turns our hymn singing into worship.
Take, for example, my experience with hymn #2 – The Spirit of God. It may help us to know that hymn was written for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. In the weeks leading up to the dedication, the Saints had seen angels both inside and outside the temple. They had seen visions and had dreams and witnessed miracles. Most of the revelation we have about temples and about the plan of salvation – sections 76 and 77 of the Doctrine and Covenants – were given while the Church was in Kirtland. So when those members of that choir sang that day, they were singing their personal experiences of angels coming to visit the earth and the veil over the earth beginning to burst!
Worship is about personal experience, applying personal experience to the gospel. For me, hymns help do that in a way that nothing else can.
Hymns and The Spirit of Worship
Some hymns naturally lend themselves to this kind of thinking. Take, for example hymn #191: “Behold the great Redeemer die, [my] broken law to satisfy! While guilty men his pains deride, they pierce his hands and feet and side. Although in agony he hung, no murmuring word escaped his tongue. Father, from me remove this cup. Yet if thou wilt, I'll drink it up.”
It's very easy for us to picture the things the Savior endured for us as we sing that hymn. Hymn #193: I Stand All Amazed: “I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine, to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!”
Some hymns take a little bit more effort. Take for example hymn #3 – Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation. This one has kind of a simple melody, simple rhythm to it; it's easy to just kind of get lost in the current of it and get through the hymn and on with the meeting. But I guarantee you, brothers and sisters, that one of these days the Savior is coming in the cloud in great glory and he will cleanse the earth from sin and free the Saints from persecution, and we will hear Him say, “If any of you are sick or afflicted, come and I will heal you.” We will see him gather our children and say, “Behold your little ones!”, and we will see angels speak to our little ones! And on that following Sunday, we'll sing this hymn a little differently: “Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation! No longer as strangers on earth need we roam! Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation, and shortly the hour of redemption will come, when all that was promised the Saints will be given, and none will molest them from morn until eve!”
On that same Sunday, think how we might sing hymn #201: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king!”
One Sunday, a year or two ago, I was getting ready to play the organ for church. I had been asked to select hymns for the subject, “Let us oft speak kind words to each other”. One hymn seemed too obvious to omit, so naturally I included that one without a second thought. But as I was flipping through, looking for another hymn, my mind caught hold of hymn #235 – Should You Feel Inclined to Censure. I felt the Spirit sort of zero in on this one. I felt the Lord seem to say, “We need to sing this hymn. There's a sister in the ward who is struggling with some hard feelings and needs an answer to prayer, and I need you to help me answer her prayer.” So that Sunday, we sang for her: “Should you feel inclined to censure faults you may in others view, ask your own heart ere you venture if you have not failings too.” As I got down off the organ to go sit with my family, I felt the Spirit speak to me again: “Our purpose in choosing that hymn for today has been fulfilled.” I never knew who she was. I never had any reason to think less of her or anything like that. I simply knew the Lord had asked me to help answer her prayer.
Now what thoughts do you suppose she had in her mind that Sunday as she was praying whatever prayer that song answered? What was in her heart? What spirit of worship did she carry? What spirit of worship or what attitude did she bring to that hymn on that day? Can we not also learn these kinds of lessons and gain testimony through the power of music in our church meetings?!
A Consistent Phenomenon: Tarzan Syndrome, Jane Syndrome
One of the things I've noticed over the years – it seems pretty universal here in North America; I didn't see the problem in Venezuela. They might not be able to carry a tune down there but they sure sing with their hearts and they're not shy about being heard! I've noticed that here in Sacrament Meeting, we can be kind of shy with each other. But, get into the priesthood session of Stake Conference, and we might have maybe twice as many people in here, but we get ten times the sound! Now, I think the cause is what I like to call “Tarzan Syndrome”. In priesthood session, we're all guys: “Me Tarzan, you Tarzan. Me sing just as loud as you!” We raise the roof on this building, and we feel the spirit of worship together. But we get in here to sacrament meeting, and it's: “me no embarrass self in front of Jane!” So we've got Brother Tarzan over here, cowering beneath his hymn book, and Sister Jane over there feeling self-conscious because he's not singing. Pretty soon, she's lip-synching, and the only people left singing are the bishopric and the handful of us in the ward who like to do that – all of us feeling, with some consternation, the opportunity cost, the loss of what could be the spirit of worship in our sacrament meeting. So, the next time you see your spouse struggling with Tarzan Syndrome, or Jane Syndrome, just lean over and say, “Me sing just as loud as you!”
Brothers and sisters, we cannot be afraid to be heard to sing! We cannot be afraid to sing our praises to the Lord and have him hear us! We need each other's testimonies and strength, and we can strengthen each other by singing our testimonies, by singing our praise, by singing our worship!
The thing that got me to stop lip-synching and actually start singing was a particular bit of training I received in one of the choirs I've participated in over the years: the chorister told us that two-thirds of what we hear should be our own voice. If two-thirds of what we're hearing is our own voice, we're making our contribution to the choir, to the congregation. It takes guts to sing that way, but we've got to rip off the band-aid! Bag the fear, we've got a job to do! We have testimonies to bear and worship to raise! Besides, conquering fear in this way is very liberating – even exhilarating!
Why Children Are Allowed to Attend Sacrament Meeting
You know, other religions look us and wonder why we allow children in our sacrament meeting. But, in preparing for this talk, I found two powerful reasons why:
We Need Each Other's Strength and Testimonies
I think if you and I could understand our need for each other's strength, each other's testimonies, one, it would improve our home teaching and visiting teaching numbers, but two, it would help with the way we sing our hymns in sacrament meeting. We need each other's strength and testimonies, and singing out loud in church is our best, most frequent opportunity to give that to each other!
Some of you may have noticed that I play the organ a little differently than most. If I get a little incorrigible with the volume or the stops, it's because I'm trying to help you feel what I'm feeling as I worship! It's because I'm trying to help you remember and feel the spirit of worship. I'm trying to use the organ to teach, to testify, and to pray with you. I play loudly because I'm trying to give the shy among us some cover to let your voices come out a little more. I'm trying to help you feel like it's okay to sing and be heard!
As a musical person, I need your testimonies. It does me a world of good to be up there playing the organ and hear people humming with the prelude. It does me a world of good to hear you sing, to hear you sing louder than me on the organ.
A Prayer, An Invitation
I would pray, and plead with you: let us ever strive to enjoy the full blessing that can be answered upon the heads of those who are willing to sing the song of the righteous with all their hearts! Let us sing together, out loud, in sacrament meeting and feel the powerful Spirit that can be with us!
This invitation I leave with you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
When I was ten years old, my family moved from Lehi, Utah to Monrovia, California. When we got there, the theme in Primary that year was the restoration of the gospel.I will never forget the fire I felt as we sang in Primary, “The Spirit of God like a fire is burning, the Lord is extending the Saints' understaning, restoring their judges and all as at first. Angels are coming to visit the earth.The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst!” So, a quick plug for Primary workers, especially you choristers and pianists – music people: don't think your callings are small, because you never know when something you do or say in the course of fulfilling your callings will spark conviction in the mind and heart of one of your little golden contacts – our children! I, for one, gained my testimony of the restoration of the gospel in Primary, through the power of music, by the witness of the Holy Ghost, as we sang, “The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning!” Since then, music and the gospel have been so deeply intertwined in my mind and in my heart, to the point that I don't think either could ever be whole without the other.
Music in the Pit of Babylon
Music got me through some tough stuff in junior high. By that time, we had moved back to our house in Lehi, and then to Antioch, California. So, to go from elementary school in Lehi, Utah to junior high school in Antioch, California felt like we'd been transferred to the pit of Babylon! Junior high in Antioch was major culture shock for me, and everyday I would come home and play the piano four hours. That kept me centered. Unknownst to me at the time, it was building my testimony and helping me develop a powerful desire to serve as a missionary some day.
Called to Serve - Sense of Purpose Overcomes Inhibition
I went into the MTC in October of 1994 to serve a mission in Venezuela, Barcelona – the eastern half of Venezuela. In my first few days in the MTC, President Barney and his wife came to speak to a group of us new recruits. I forget whether it was an opening Hymn, closing hymn; which one it was, but we started off singing anemically, cowardly if you will, somewhat sacrament-meeting-ish, just sort of getting through the meeting. But, about four words into that first verse, somebody connected what we were singing with who were where we were, and what we were doing – and the sacrifices we had made to be there. By the end of the song, we had that room reverberating with the sound of our voices as we sang: “Called to serve Him, heavn'ly king of glory, chosen e'er to witness for his name! “
The Spirit of Worship
Nephi described what I call the spirit of worship when he described the way he taught Laman and Lemuel, and later his descendants. He said, “...for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.” (1 Nephi 19:23) Now, we can liken the scriptures unto us; the stories in the scriptures are stories of real people. Similarly, we can liken the hymns unto us. We can apply a personal context – a personal meaning to the hymns – and that turns our hymn singing into worship.
Take, for example, my experience with hymn #2 – The Spirit of God. It may help us to know that hymn was written for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. In the weeks leading up to the dedication, the Saints had seen angels both inside and outside the temple. They had seen visions and had dreams and witnessed miracles. Most of the revelation we have about temples and about the plan of salvation – sections 76 and 77 of the Doctrine and Covenants – were given while the Church was in Kirtland. So when those members of that choir sang that day, they were singing their personal experiences of angels coming to visit the earth and the veil over the earth beginning to burst!
Worship is about personal experience, applying personal experience to the gospel. For me, hymns help do that in a way that nothing else can.
Hymns and The Spirit of Worship
Some hymns naturally lend themselves to this kind of thinking. Take, for example hymn #191: “Behold the great Redeemer die, [my] broken law to satisfy! While guilty men his pains deride, they pierce his hands and feet and side. Although in agony he hung, no murmuring word escaped his tongue. Father, from me remove this cup. Yet if thou wilt, I'll drink it up.”
It's very easy for us to picture the things the Savior endured for us as we sing that hymn. Hymn #193: I Stand All Amazed: “I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine, to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!”
Some hymns take a little bit more effort. Take for example hymn #3 – Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation. This one has kind of a simple melody, simple rhythm to it; it's easy to just kind of get lost in the current of it and get through the hymn and on with the meeting. But I guarantee you, brothers and sisters, that one of these days the Savior is coming in the cloud in great glory and he will cleanse the earth from sin and free the Saints from persecution, and we will hear Him say, “If any of you are sick or afflicted, come and I will heal you.” We will see him gather our children and say, “Behold your little ones!”, and we will see angels speak to our little ones! And on that following Sunday, we'll sing this hymn a little differently: “Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation! No longer as strangers on earth need we roam! Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation, and shortly the hour of redemption will come, when all that was promised the Saints will be given, and none will molest them from morn until eve!”
On that same Sunday, think how we might sing hymn #201: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king!”
One Sunday, a year or two ago, I was getting ready to play the organ for church. I had been asked to select hymns for the subject, “Let us oft speak kind words to each other”. One hymn seemed too obvious to omit, so naturally I included that one without a second thought. But as I was flipping through, looking for another hymn, my mind caught hold of hymn #235 – Should You Feel Inclined to Censure. I felt the Spirit sort of zero in on this one. I felt the Lord seem to say, “We need to sing this hymn. There's a sister in the ward who is struggling with some hard feelings and needs an answer to prayer, and I need you to help me answer her prayer.” So that Sunday, we sang for her: “Should you feel inclined to censure faults you may in others view, ask your own heart ere you venture if you have not failings too.” As I got down off the organ to go sit with my family, I felt the Spirit speak to me again: “Our purpose in choosing that hymn for today has been fulfilled.” I never knew who she was. I never had any reason to think less of her or anything like that. I simply knew the Lord had asked me to help answer her prayer.
Now what thoughts do you suppose she had in her mind that Sunday as she was praying whatever prayer that song answered? What was in her heart? What spirit of worship did she carry? What spirit of worship or what attitude did she bring to that hymn on that day? Can we not also learn these kinds of lessons and gain testimony through the power of music in our church meetings?!
A Consistent Phenomenon: Tarzan Syndrome, Jane Syndrome
One of the things I've noticed over the years – it seems pretty universal here in North America; I didn't see the problem in Venezuela. They might not be able to carry a tune down there but they sure sing with their hearts and they're not shy about being heard! I've noticed that here in Sacrament Meeting, we can be kind of shy with each other. But, get into the priesthood session of Stake Conference, and we might have maybe twice as many people in here, but we get ten times the sound! Now, I think the cause is what I like to call “Tarzan Syndrome”. In priesthood session, we're all guys: “Me Tarzan, you Tarzan. Me sing just as loud as you!” We raise the roof on this building, and we feel the spirit of worship together. But we get in here to sacrament meeting, and it's: “me no embarrass self in front of Jane!” So we've got Brother Tarzan over here, cowering beneath his hymn book, and Sister Jane over there feeling self-conscious because he's not singing. Pretty soon, she's lip-synching, and the only people left singing are the bishopric and the handful of us in the ward who like to do that – all of us feeling, with some consternation, the opportunity cost, the loss of what could be the spirit of worship in our sacrament meeting. So, the next time you see your spouse struggling with Tarzan Syndrome, or Jane Syndrome, just lean over and say, “Me sing just as loud as you!”
Brothers and sisters, we cannot be afraid to be heard to sing! We cannot be afraid to sing our praises to the Lord and have him hear us! We need each other's testimonies and strength, and we can strengthen each other by singing our testimonies, by singing our praise, by singing our worship!
The thing that got me to stop lip-synching and actually start singing was a particular bit of training I received in one of the choirs I've participated in over the years: the chorister told us that two-thirds of what we hear should be our own voice. If two-thirds of what we're hearing is our own voice, we're making our contribution to the choir, to the congregation. It takes guts to sing that way, but we've got to rip off the band-aid! Bag the fear, we've got a job to do! We have testimonies to bear and worship to raise! Besides, conquering fear in this way is very liberating – even exhilarating!
Why Children Are Allowed to Attend Sacrament Meeting
You know, other religions look us and wonder why we allow children in our sacrament meeting. But, in preparing for this talk, I found two powerful reasons why:
- This is a place where your children see you set the example of worship. How do you pray? How do you sing? How do you focus on what's being said in sacrament meeting? This is our opportunity to set an example of worship – one that our children can follow in Primary.
- This is the one place for most of our families, where your children will hear Mommy and Daddy sing your testimonies – to them! Now, I don't know about you, but, being a music person and growing up in the Church, it was a source of great strength to me to hear my Mom and Dad sing. Now, they were not trained singers. They were a little self-conscious. My Dad would have to change octaves in the middle of the song because he didn't know how to follow the tenor line, which would have better fit his voice, but still he sang! And his [and Mom's] courage [and voices] taught me the gospel!
We Need Each Other's Strength and Testimonies
I think if you and I could understand our need for each other's strength, each other's testimonies, one, it would improve our home teaching and visiting teaching numbers, but two, it would help with the way we sing our hymns in sacrament meeting. We need each other's strength and testimonies, and singing out loud in church is our best, most frequent opportunity to give that to each other!
Some of you may have noticed that I play the organ a little differently than most. If I get a little incorrigible with the volume or the stops, it's because I'm trying to help you feel what I'm feeling as I worship! It's because I'm trying to help you remember and feel the spirit of worship. I'm trying to use the organ to teach, to testify, and to pray with you. I play loudly because I'm trying to give the shy among us some cover to let your voices come out a little more. I'm trying to help you feel like it's okay to sing and be heard!
As a musical person, I need your testimonies. It does me a world of good to be up there playing the organ and hear people humming with the prelude. It does me a world of good to hear you sing, to hear you sing louder than me on the organ.
A Prayer, An Invitation
I would pray, and plead with you: let us ever strive to enjoy the full blessing that can be answered upon the heads of those who are willing to sing the song of the righteous with all their hearts! Let us sing together, out loud, in sacrament meeting and feel the powerful Spirit that can be with us!
This invitation I leave with you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
