Music is powerful. It’s hard to imagine a world without music. :whistle:
When it comes to religious music, I actually mark my hymn book in similar fashion to my scriptures, highlighting the titles of favorite hymns or the lines that really stand out to me and give me much needed peace. I’ve written dates indicating events when a particular song stood out to me as well. These are the hymns that I’ve marked.
The numbers refer to the hymn book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
- #27 – Praise to the Man. The 3rd verse.
- #29 – A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. The end of the 6th verse.
- #85 – How Firm A Foundation. Particularly the 3rd and 7th verses.
- #86 – How Great Thou Art
- #97 – Lead, Kindly Light (although I like it better in Portuguese)
- #98 – I Need They Every Hour
- #100 – Nearer, My God, to Thee
- #105 – Master, the Tempest is Raging. The 2nd verse.
- #124 – Be Still, My Soul. Few things can calm my soul like this hymn.
- #129 – Where Can I Turn for Peace? Sometimes I need the reminder of where to turn.
- #130 – Be Thou Humble. Sometimes I also need a reminder of all the places I need to be humble.
- #131 – More Holiness Give Me. This song sums up my years as a Relief Society president.
- #136 – I Know That My Redeemer Lives. There are so many lines in this song that I just love.
- #143 – Let the Holy Spirit Guide. I love the 2nd and 3rd verses.
- #144 – Secret Prayer. The 3rd and 4th verses.
- #145 – Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th verse.
- #152 – God Be with You Till We Meet Again. This is one that is associated with an event in my life. 8 October 2000
- #165 – Abide with Me; ‘Tis Eventide. I like the last two phrases of the first verse.
- #193 – I Stand All Amazed. I love the first person-ness of this song.
- #249 – Called to Serve. Only it’s better in Portuguese because the chorus isn’t so repetitive. 15 March 2001
- #259 – Hope of Israel. 7 November 1999
- #284 – If You Could Hie to Kolob. I love the 4th verse. Honestly I do.
- #295 – O Love That Glorifies the Son. Again, I like it better in Portuguese. 15 September 2000
- #307 – In Our Lovely Deseret. The middle of the 2nd verse makes me laugh every time.
- #319 – Ye Elders of Israel. 30 October 2000
What about you? What are some of your favorite hymns? Why do you like them?
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
I could go on for a long, long time on this subject, but since I’m at work, I really shouldn’t at this point.
However, I will say a couple of things:
1. We sang #129 for the opening song in our Family Home Evening last night.
2. Did you know that sometimes, song writers can be a bit finicky? Bruce R. McConkie INSISTED that all eight verses of his song I Believe In Christ be included in the hymnbook. He insisted not only that they all be included, but that all eight verses appear between the music staves. The hymnbook committee explained that it just doesn’t look very good to put more than 4 or 5 verses between the staves of music. The compromise they eventually reached was to double the length of each verse, making each written verse in the hymnbook two of Elder McConkie’s original verses. So next time you sing #134, you will know why the music in each verse seems like the same shorter verse repeated.
I knew that about “I Believe in Christ” and I love it.
In the Portuguese hymn book there is a note at the end of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” that states that whatever verses you do sing, the last one has to be one of them.
And if I remember correctly, they used to only have verses 1-3 of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” in the music. And so people would stop singing after the 3rd verse. And if you do that it’s the most depressing song ever. So all 5 are in the music now.
#191 – “Behold the Great Redeemer Die” is only a partial story when we stop at verse 4. If we sing that song I always finish the last two verses in my head.
And even though there is a note on the bottom of “How Great the Wisdom and the Love” (195) about how verses 1, 2, 5, and 6 are especially appropriate for the sacrament, we only ever sing verses 1-4.
Brother McConkie was right to insist all the verses be put with the music. We’d never finish the song otherwise.
I love many, many of the hymns for many different reasons. Some of them remind me of special people in my life like my Mother and Dad. The one I would like to share right now is …. Page 81 – Press Forward, Saints. It’s one of the new Hymns for the green hymn book. A lot of people don’t know it yet but I love it. I first sang it in the choir in our ward in Santa Fe, and it reminds me of teaching the Book of Mormon in Sunday school and Seminary. It has a wonderful message, and fun Alleluia’s at the end. :pansy: