Surely everyone who attended today’s Sunday services will long remember the experience. Most captivating of all was the stunning musical performance by our resident superstar missionary, Sister Morgan, accompanied by her companion, Sister Jensen, delivering what was surely one of the all-time musical high points of any sacrament meeting in any ward, anywhere — let alone here in the Hamilton Mountain chapel. Sisters Morgan and Jensen performed the haunting hymn, “Be Still My Soul,” the music of which was penned by one of history’s greatest composers, the renowned Finnish master Jean Sibelius (known for works such as “Finlandia,” as well as for his seven symphonies of brooding melancholy and craggy grandeur, all of which evoke the austere landscapes of his native land). Indeed, one of the most extraordinary qualities of today’s performance by Sister Morgan was that, with her dark, haunting voice, she managed to capture precisely the mysterious atmosphere and nocturnal spirituality that distinguishes Sibelius’s work. Had he heard Sister Morgan sing his music today, the Finnish maestro would have been enthralled. In his sacrament-meeting talk, Brother Cameron Campbell shared a fascinating anecdote involving Brother Peter Moore and Elder Neal A. Maxwell (who needs no introduction to this group, avid fans of Maxwell’s work as we all are). By way of full disclosure, it was Brother Moore who, on a menacing Halloween night in 1999, baptized the present author and shepherded him in his early days in the church, so Brother Campbell’s words found attentive ears. In the 14–17 Sunday-School class, Brother Mike Bateman assisted the present author in delivering a lesson on the four most compelling heroes (or hero groups) of the Book of Mormon: Ammon, Captain Moroni, The Two Thousand Stripling Warriors, and Samuel the Lamanite. Special commendations go out to Sister B. Davies and Brother I. Campbell, two exceptional students whom it is a privilege to teach, and who very effectively drew analogies between the battles that these early Christian heroes waged and the spiritual conflicts that we Saints face in the present day. In Elders’ Quorum, Brother Johnson taught a motivational lesson on the subject of preaching the gospel. Reminding us of President Fielding Smith’s assertion that doing so is *the* most important work that any of us can do in this terrestrial sphere (an assertion that President Smith bore out with his own tireless missionary service), Brother Johnson invited the quorum to list the various difficulties that impede the spreading of the gospel, and then suggested how those impediments might be reconfigured as opportunities. Brother Peters suggested that the greatest impediments to proselytizing are self-generated, while our quorum president frankly reminded us that in the present day and age, people feel that they have no need of the gospel. On the other hand, the present author pointed out that in combating this inertia, we might take a page from the playbook of the advertising industry (which usually works against us), which is predicated on the idea of attracting the public to things that they never knew they wanted. Brother Campbell reminded us to invite non-members to Church activities and then to create the most congenial atmosphere possible during those events, so that non-members might find the experiences appealing — though Brother Gravis pointed out that ultimately, the Spirit will generate enthusiasm even in less-than-ideal conditions. (This is not, however, an excuse not to improve conditions as much as possible!) With the world slipping ever further into degeneracy, the present author added that the idea of a Church that stands firm on matters of traditional morality might appeal to many disillusioned members of the general public — “dry Mormons,” as it were — and we might do well to target those individuals in our efforts at outreach. Here is the BYU Concert Choir singing “Be Still My Soul.” The recording is a very fine one, but it cannot match the haunting beauty of the performance that was delivered today by Sisters Morgan and Jensen. https://youtube/watch?v=dszY01hEJuE
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 20:21:03 +0000
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