~by Kristi

I have a quote that I’d like to share. I heard it in “Music and the Spoken Word” several years ago and I wrote it on a piece of scratch paper.  Somehow it survived a couple of moves. I found it a couple of months ago and thought about the Refiner’s Fire and strong winds that Heavenly Father uses to reveal who we really are – and who we are meant to be.

“Adversity is like a strong wind – it tears from us all, but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” ~ Arthur Golden

On that same piece of paper, I wrote down John Rutter’s “Look to the Day” — because that was the song sung after Lloyd Newell finished the spoken word. John Rutter is my favorite contemporary composer. I’ve sung many of his songs in concerts on Temple Square, but I had not heard this song before. I instantly loved it as my soul connected to the music and the words. I actually didn’t know the full message of the song, until I looked up the words last night, as some of them are hard to understand, when the choir is singing. It’s a beautiful message and video. If you get a chance, I recommend watching the video on one screen, while being able to read the words on another. As I took in the complete message, it resonated with An Early Resurrection. Yes, it’s looking to the Day when there is no more pain, and also to this Day, right now.  “Love is a certain way of looking forward, a way of looking at the world, right now, as already redeemed.” ~ Adam S. Miller 

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At Christmastime, it’s often a tradition for those who live close to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) — or for those who visit — during the holidays to enjoy the lights at Temple Square. Because of COVID-19, the access to Temple Square is, of course, limited. So this year, for the annual Christmas lighting ceremony at Temple Square, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created a special virtual concert and tour of the lights, with young women serving as missionaries giving a tour of Temple Square and areas around it.

This special event also included musical performances both from Temple Square and also from various places in the world, and representing a variety of cultures.

In addition, below is a compilation of several Christmas specials from the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra and Temple Square from previous years. Many of these performances include guest appearances…

…from artists like Kristin Chenoweth and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble.

Here is a Christmas special from 2018. (Individual tracks can be found here.)

And another Christmas special from 2018 (individual tracks here). This performance includes the Bells at Temple Square.

To see more of Music and the Spoken Word, a weekly tradition for decades, see the website for the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.

Or you can see all past episodes of Music and the Spoken Word here.

You can connect to the livestream any Sunday, or find information about where you can watch it on television. More information on the Choir’s website.

The post 12 Days of Christmas, Days 6 & 7: Lights and Songs from Temple Square and beyond appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

In honor of those sacrifices, every year the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square holds a Pioneer Day Concert, often renamed as simply an evening celebrating music. This year’s guest artist was Alex Boyé, and included music from Moana and Pete’s Dragon, Broadway musicals, and Disney’s The Lion King. The concert also featured African-American spirituals, music from the great Nat King Cole, and an organ performance backed by the Orchestra that received one of the two standing ovations of the evening.

In other words, this is anything but a Mormon music concert. It’s a concert that all can enjoy!

You can enjoy the concert in its entirety via a link at LDS.org, or in the embedded video below.

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Sing Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir tonight, March 25!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will be performing the Messiah, with a live stream included so that you and your family and friends can sing along from wherever you are. Meet at a home (or, in some places, an LDS meetinghouse). See below for links to the concert program, a sample score, and more. 

The Messiah Concert will be broadcast live over the internet beginning with a pre-concert feed at 7:00 p.m. MDT. The full concert begins at 7:30 p.m. MDT. Performance will be livestreamed here: mormontabernaclechoir.org/messiah

• View the Messiah Sing Live Stream connection instructions for more information.
• You can download a pdf of the concert program, which includes scriptural text and information about the oratorio.
• A sample public domain score to help you sing along. (Be sure whatever score you use is free of copyright restrictions in your own country.)

If you write about or follow this experience on social media, use the hashtag #MessiahLive.

If you are unable to live stream the concert, an on-demand video will be available from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir website after the concert, until Monday, April 4, 2016.

More about Handel, the Messiah, and a recent recording of this work done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

• Read a little more about Handel here: George Frideric Handel: A Brief History.
• Mack Wilberg, conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, discusses Messiah. He also joins others in an interview about the CD the Mormon Tabernacle Choir released (which is marvelous, by the way).

The post Live Stream of The Messiah tonight! #MessiahLive appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

A combination of recent events have left me and my spirit wrestling with God. Or, better said, wrestling mightily with myself. I want to be a person of faith, but so often I find myself buckling under fears that threaten to crush the light out of my mind and heart.

A combination of thoughts collided tonight and I wanted to record some of them.

I’ve been thinking about the power of covenants and how really, when all is said and done, if my relationship with God is in line, everything else really can fall into place. I needn’t worry about what I might do or say in any situation. All I need to do is keep myself connected with God and HE will let me know what to do, what to say. I’m continuously amazed at how this truth reveals itself to me time and time again. So why should I fear?

Piggybacking off of that idea is a blog comment from a friend that I re-read tonite. It’s about women and the priesthood, so it may seem unrelated but hang with me here. I think her comment captures a powerful truth that I think extends beyond the Ordain Women issue. “It isn’t about having the priesthood ordination, it is about living up to what God asks us to do. I have found great power in yearning towards what God HAS called me to do. If he asked me to be ordained to the priesthood, I’d engage in that with the same fervency that I am trying to engage in the work He has called me to so far. I’ll do whatever He wants, just to be a part of His work. What exactly I do is mere unimportant details…when I’m truly being honest with myself.”

To generalize this principle of my friend, when I’m honest with myself, I often get into these wrestle matches when I’m either afraid of what might happen in the future or when I’m wallowing about what has already happened in the past. (Wallowing to me, by the way, is different from wanting to understand the past or heal from it. Self-pity is different from earnest seeking.)

Either way, through looking back in anger, envy, or self-pity or looking forward with anxiety, I’m missing out on the blessings of simply letting God be in charge of my life in the present. In contrast, when I “trust…my all to [His] tender care” (Hymns, #270), what do I find? His tender care! He is such a loving, amazing God. Why do I fear?

Isn’t the essence of being Christlike being submissive? My friend’s comment is so profound. There is power in being submissive to whatever it is that God has given us, allowed, or asked of us.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught:

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give,’ … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” (In Conference Report, Sept.–Oct. 1995, 30; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24.)

I’ve started the Book of Mormon over again and one of the patterns I’m noticing is how much Nephi talks about obeying God’s commandments. What is interesting to me is that the commandments to which he refers are usually not the Ten Commandments, general-purpose type of commandments; rather, they reflect personalized commandments to him and to his father, such as getting the plates from Laban, leaving home and comforts to enter the wilderness, returning to Jerusalem to find spouses (why didn’t the Lord just have them do that while they were living in the city?), building a ship, and creating a community that unfortunately had to separate from Laman and Lemuel.

In all of these things, Nephi went and did what the Lord commanded, and found that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). (As a sidenote, Nephi reflects a similar sentiment in 1 Nephi 17. I was struck by his particular concern for the women and their journey in the wilderness, and how the Lord blessed them in that journey.)

Nephi wasn’t without his own wrestles with the Spirit. His psalm in 2 Nephi 4 reflects that, but always, always, Nephi’s home base is submission to God and a celebration of His mercy, love, and goodness.

I don’t need to fear the future. I don’t need to live in the past. All I need to do is seek my God, today, and seek to do His will. When I do that, I find that He really does prepare the way, in miraculous ways.

What helps you keep faith and trust God when fear or pain enter your life?

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I am thrilled to see that you can get a free MP3 download of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording of this beautiful song.

The post What shall we give? #truechristmas appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

“They’re good people and they welcomed me with open arms. The polygamy stories are very much a thing of the past. If you’re not moved in a spiritual way when that choir sings the hymn, God Be With You Till We Meet Again, there’s something wrong.”

It’s a great excuse, too, to feature this video that shows a little of the project that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Bryn Terfel have been working on. We love us some good music and wonderful partnerships where common ground on common interests — in this case, beautiful music — can be built.

More Bryn Terfel with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

The post Bryn Terfel: Stop mocking the Mormons appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

From the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s website:

“The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will present their annual concert held in conjunction with community-wide Pioneer Day celebrations. This year’s concert will feature up-and-coming Latter-day Saint artists Lindsey Stirling and Nathan Pacheco.”

You can watch the Pioneer Day concert live on the internet on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. MDT.

The post Mormon Tabernacle Choir 2013 Pioneer Day Concert appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

This is true about most of the guests who are invited to perform with the Choir for the annual Christmas concert; most are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A recent exception to this was when David Archuleta, American Idol finalist, was invited to perform with the Choir. Archuleta is a Mormon.

In recent years, others guests have included Renée Fleming, Claire Bloom, Michael York, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Walter Cronkite, and others. This year’s 2012 concert included news anchor Tom Brokaw and Tony-award winning singer Alfie Boe.

Some highlight videos from past Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts can be found on this playlist at the MormonTabChoir YouTube channel.

Listen to one of the pieces from Nathan Gunn in the following video. You can also hear some of the thoughts and feelings from Jane Seymour and her co-guest Nathan Gunn in this LDS Public Affairs YouTube interview.

The post Is Jane Seymour a Mormon? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

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