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Hymns

Hymns

"Hymns play an essential role in spirituality, revelation, and conversion. "Hymns are 'an essential part of our church meetings. [They] invite the Spirit of the Lord' (Hymns, ix). They often do this quicker than anything else we may do. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, 'We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer' (in Conference Report, Oct. 1936, 111)."
Ref. (Jay E. Jensen, "The Nourishing Power of Hymns," Ensign, May 2007, 11)

Hymns

"Music in Church meetings and classes should facilitate a spirit of worship, revelation, and testimony. For sacrament meetings, the bishopric or branch presidency is responsible to select or approve music. They ensure that the music, the words, and the musical instruments are sacred, dignified, and will promote worship and revelation."
Ref. (Jay E. Jensen, "The Nourishing Power of Hymns," Ensign, May 2007, 12)

Hymns Studies Doctrine Mormon

"We are rediscovering 'moderation' and seeing afresh the importance of 'quiet,' of 'smallness, and of 'green.' Sound at shock levels, dazzling strobe lights which titillate the senses, if not overwhelm them, are a poor preparation for those who want to see a sunset or watch the grass grow. The cacophony that often attaches to the celebration of sensuous things may prevent us from hearing the little sounds of life so that, figuratively, we are diverted from noise only by a larger noise, such as the rumblings of an atomic bomb. Those who are surfeited with fatalism, whose diet is the equivalent of a constant clash of cymbals, are not only apt to lose their capacity to feel, but may find themselves losing the very sensitiveness to other humans which the lyrics of much modern music celebrate. In the same way, addiction to large headlines and TV bulletins can distract us from reading the relevant scriptures. Insensitivities come in clusters, but the result is the same: we shut out people, nature, and God."

(Maxwell, A Time to Choose, pp. 70-71.)