Please share experiences that are not too personal or too spiritual you have had with the hymns, if you are so inclined and feel it may help edify others in their faith.
There are several hymns that depending on my spiritual needs, have a profound and hopefully lasting impact upon me. Sometimes, I find it hard to even sing them as the Spirit is being felt so strongly at the given moment. And then at future times, the singing of it brings back to memory the experience.
Yesterday at Sacrament Meeting was one such time for me. The meeting started out with the Bishop announcing the wrong opening hymn -- #98 "I Need Thee Every Hour." The number board had not been changed from the other ward's meeting last week, and he announced the first number from off the board instead of what was printed in the bulletin, #64), but we sang it anyway instead of the one in the bulletin. Not typical for an opening song. I was on dock to give the opening prayer. My mind went blank as I approached the pulpit, but the song set the atmosphere for the meeting just right for me. I gave a simple quick prayer asking that The Spirit would be present, thanking for the beautiful day and our blessings, and asking that those still travelling to the meeting would arrive in safety.
The Sacrament Hymn came in just a few minutes as there was very little ward business. I knew within the first 8 measures of the song, this hymn (185 "Reverently and Meekly Now") was a direct answer (without going into detail it has been a very hard, stressful month) to the unspoken pleadings I had and the pain I was in, and from there could hardly make it through the hymn as The Spirit spoke to me. I have been moved by this hymn before, but never to the point where it really has taken on that first person feel of the Savior actually talking to me. The rest of the meeting after the Sacrament was pretty much incidental. I know the speakers were talking about the Sacrament itself, but I was aware of little they said, since the way the two hymns had worked on me was far and beyond the most filling part of the meeting.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
First a spirtual story and then another joke because I can't post anything without a joke.
When our temple was dedicated my wife and I got tickets and went. When we sang The Spirit of God like a fire is burning during the dedication it almost felt like I was on fire. It was like the molecules in my body all started vibrating at the same time like some sort of sonic vibration was passing through me. It was a supercool feeling that I have never felt before or since.
Now, for fun what we used to do when we were bored in church was to read the hymn titles in the hymn books and add "In the bathroom" or "on the toilet" when reading the titles in our mind. So "If I Could High To Kolob" becomes "If I Could High to Kolob in the bathroom". Some of the titles were hillarious when you add that little extra to the title and it was all I could do to stop from popping a blood vessel holding back the laughter at some strange title.
Okay Jason... I try to start like something really spiritual and you just have to come and put in levity where it isn't needed... It is comforting to know that for most of us guys, once a Deacon, always a Deacon...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Okay Jason... I try to start like something really spiritual and you just have to come and put in levity where it isn't needed... It is comforting to know that for most of us guys, once a Deacon, always a Deacon...
Sorry cat. It's the boyscout/deacon in me. I just can't go a day without a poo joke.
I'm also very partial to The Spirit of God, Redeemer of Israel, Brightly Beams, Come All Ye Sons of God, There is a Green Hill Far Away....
The first four above will be sung at my funeral.
-- Edited by Mahonri at 19:14, 2007-04-23
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Gee Mahonri, funeral songs! Make me sad. HOpe they won't be sung for decades to come!My funeral I would want Abide With Me and "Lord I Would Follow Thee". Haven't thought of the others yet. I guess I should let someone know.
One real helpful song to me is Abide With ME, #166. I don't feel like getting into the whole story but around 1998 (early part of year) was really a difficult time for me, one of the most difficult times in my life. First, I worked night shift and so I was basically a walking zombie. I was frustrated with my life in that I wanted something good to happen. It was too the point that if something good didn't happen, I literally wanted my spirit to cease to exist. I would never have committed suicide. I should have gotten a priesthood blessing, but to be honest, I never thought of it, plus I was too embarassed to share how depressed I was about this. Rather, I just had a sort of passive death wish for my spirit to cease its existence. Either I wanted to get married (laugh at me but I was nearly 29). If not then, then I wanted to get accepted to grad school. And in that area, basically I was getting rejected for grad schools, 6/8 rejections I'd received. I would drive around an play Abide With Me Over and OVer via rewinding the cassette tape in my car. As I played the song, I would cry. I recall telling a member of the bishopric how hard it was, he just joked and shared how he received 100 rejections when he applied for his first job after law school. My vt's knew how hard it was for me and tried to be supportive. Well one day I finally received an interview for one school- I felt hopeful shortly thereafter was accepted. A short time later I was accepted by my another school. In the end, I ended up being accepted by my #2 and #3 choice schools.
So when that happened, I felt so happy- I felt the sunshine had arrived in my life, think of the last line in the third verse, "through cloud and sunshine Lord abide with me." At that moment, I felt a strong realization that no matter what the future tunnels/difficulties and cloudy times of my life would be, I felt and knew Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would be with me. From that song and this experience, I learned they would be with me in all the tunnels of life and that indeed sunshine would come, sooner or later!!!
When I was struggling to play the piano as a kid. My mom got me the simplified hymnal. I couldn't play those either, but there was one that I remember I could play and so I'd practice that one again and again. "Though Deepening Trials"... I remember playing it, and learning the words and at very key points in my youth, though I was anxiously plunging into mistake after mistake, I found this hymn a steadying force in my life. During my mission I discovered other standby hymns of comfort, like "More Holiness Give me" and "Abide with Me Tis Eventide". I also love "Come thou fount of every blessing" and "Come Come Ye Saints."
--Ray
-- Edited by rayb at 00:16, 2007-04-24
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I have occasion to speak often in the different wards.
It's always a little troubling when the song that is sung after I finish my talk is "Now Let Us Rejoice".
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Dude! I was totally going to start a subject like this! Way to go, Cat!
I have always been astonished at how wonderful the Hymns are. There have been countless times when I have prayed for something, and the line of a Hymn comes to my mind which is the answer I need. Also, in hard times, I hum Hymns for comfort, and it immediately comes. The Hymns bring the Spirit into our lives in such a special way, and that Spirit always testifies of the truth within. I love the Hymns!
Just to list a few:
"God Moves in a Mysterious Way" My friend was on her Spring break and went to Disneyland with her sister. It was her first year up at BYU-I and we had been like sisters our whole lives, so her mom and I took a road trip to her sister's house so we could see her in the few hours between when they got back from Disneyland, and when she had to fly back to Idaho. We got lost in Phoenix because the 202 and 101 are too confusing for small town people who live 35 minutes from the nearest Interstate, especially when under construction, and we didn't make it to the airport on time for her to catch her plane. She was in a panic, but I just kept having the words "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform...." scroll through my head, and I realized that the ticket was about to be rescheduled for in the morning, and everything was working out, and we got to spend the night with her instead of just a couple hours. It was an awesome night of catching up and spending sister-like time together, and it was a blessing in disguise.
"Lord I Would Follow Thee" In high school I had such a hard time with life. I fell into deep depression and had been trying to pull out for a long time. After I graduated, I was on the Youth Conference Committee and ended up making all of the final decisions with the leaders, including picking the hymns for all of the meetings. For testimony meeting I chose the hymns "Come Follow Me" for opening, and "Lord I Would Follow Thee" for closing. I felt like the first was the invitation Hymn, and the last was the motivational Hymn. Our Seminary teacher was really good at teaching us that bearing testimony is about the Savior, and the Gospel, and sharing what we know Spiritually. Previously, YC Testimony Meeting had been long weepy "I love my friends...." blah blah blah. That year, we didn't run over, but nearly every youth got up and bore their testimony on the Savior. The Spirit was so strong, and I was a little astonished at the fact that I wasn't teary eyed like I usually got. Then came the closing hymn. I had made the decision to be happy, and I had a strong testimony on Charity because of recent happenings, and when we got to the third verse, I couldn't sing anymore for the tears. I knew that my Savior loved me, and that was what really mattered, and I needed to try even harder to share that love with others. I knew that as I did that, the joy that was slowly coming back into my life would come back completely.
"How Firm A Foundation" No one ever told me how hard it is to be engaged! I always expected that Chastity would be the hardest thing, and it is hard, but my fiance and I have noticed that Satan is trying to throw way more at us than just Chastity. We've both been overly stressed about school, even though we are saving the wedding plans for after school. We keep being overcome with discouragement and just don't feel good about ourselves. We both keep getting terrible headaches, and just harder times all around. We know that when we are tired we are more likely to fall, and it's like Satan is trying his hardest to get us to that point. I've never had to pray so hard about resisting temptation, and about staying on the right path and keeping the Spirit with me. Satan is trying so hard to keep us from making those eternally important covenants, that we know are right for us at this time. Through fasting and prayer and reading from the scriptures or conference talks every night, I know we'll make it. We have this determination that we won't let be shaken. Our theme song is "How Firm A Foundation". Especially the last verse: The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I [can] not desert to its foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, Ill never, no never, no never forsake.
I love the Hymns and the strength and the Spirit that they can bring into our lives!
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Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
— Oscar Wilde
Over the past few years, Sister Roper and I have made some pretty big life-changing decisions. When we reach that "analysis paralysis" point, and things become confusing and we begin to second-guess our direction, hymn 270 gives us the perspective to go forth in faith: I'll go where you want me to go.
And when I have delusions of grandeur about "saving the world one child at a time" and experience the inevitable crash when I realize that I can't overcome all of the negative influences in a child's environment, I draw comfort and hope from this verse:
There's surely somewhere a lowly place in earth's harvest fileds so wide, Where I may labor through life's short day for Jesus the Crucified. So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou lovest me, I'll do thy will with a heart sincere: I'll be what you want me to be.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
Thanks roper... today I NEEDED to read those lines... Hymns are something I cannot do without... I have dozens of CDs of different artists singing and playing hymns. Recently I got some CDs with Thurle Bailey singing alone and with others... wow... what a voice that man has. At my mother's funeral she asked that the grands sing "Because I Have Been Given Much"... That song has never been so powerful to me as it was then, because I realized that mom was trying to still teach us something she believed. Then at her burial just after the dedication of her grave she asked that we sing "As I Have Loved You." Not a dry eye for that one... A few weeks later after the dedication in the cemetery when we buried my dad we sang "You Are My Sunshine", because it was the song he used as our lullaby... It was very "hymn-like" in that moment.
A few weeks later after the dedication in the cemetery when we buried my dad we sang "You Are My Sunshine", because it was the song he used as our lullaby... It was very "hymn-like" in that moment.
I have sung or do sing it still to all of my children as well... Of course, I only do the first verse...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
The tune is the thing that gets to me every time... sometimes he just hummed it... That was what I did with my babies when I rocked them, often I just hummed it and sometimes I changed the words...
Other hymns that are powerful to me: "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good". "I Need The Every Hour" (for very unique and special reasons...) "Lord I Would Follow Thee", and "I Stand All Amazed" are some more that always touch that special spot in my heart that links me to heaven.
So, so many. I used to cry as a child when the congregation sang, just because I was touched by the hymns.
Lately my favorite is, "Now the Day is Over". Musically it's so beautiful, but the words are very calming and peaceful. It's a simple prayer, to be watched over and granted peace at night. It feels similar to Abide With Me.
I had an experience several months ago with "Master, the Tempest is Raging". This has never been a hymn I was especially fond of. The music seems kind of bouncy and cheesy to me. But in the beginning of this pregnancy, which was unexpected (as in, I was told conclusively that I would never, ever become pregnant without major medical assistance, and indeed my first two are in vitro babies), I had a lot of worries. I was constantly worried about the health of the pregnancy and this baby, and petrified at how devastated DH and I would be if something went wrong. One day while I was getting ready for the day, I realized I was singing that song to myself. The line that stood out to me was, "No water may swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and Earth and skies!. . . Peace be still. . .". I knew then that as long as I trusted my Savior and my Father in Heaven, there would be no water that could swallow me up, and that no matter what I would be sustained and able to carry on.
(I'm happy to say that other than having a rough time myself, physically, with this pregnancy, the baby so far looks to be wonderfully healthy, and things are generally great, with only two months to go! )
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
It is comforting to know that for most of us guys, once a Deacon, always a Deacon... 
