Some of our particularities are the “foolish traditions of the fore fathers”. Foolish, in the sense of wrapping the gospel, in the smallness of the Western US Intermountain culture. Our foolishness limits the gospel in it’s potential to go to every nation kindred tongue and people. I have wondered if the gospel had been brought forth say in India. We would be trying with our western brains, to understand the gospel Asian Indian style. This is how it is for others. Until we become an international church and find a way to allow others to celebrate the goodness of the gospel in what feels comfortable to them, we are the ones who are limiting God’s ability to bring forth the gospel to the world. rant over.

Thank you Marylee for yoru comment. The wonderful thing about M* is everyone is nice. We can disagree and still be friends.

It could be a piece of cake if our LDS music selections just rest with general authorities, but it’s just not that simple. The main stream LDS culture goes so deep and so wide, seated within every aspect of the church even down to the music that it would be “unthinkable” for most main stream anglo members to be in acceptance of deep, soulful, and mood altering kind of a music like “Amazing Grace.” First general authorities would have to take on the task of undoctrining the main stream white population of the LDS state site church. And that just ain’t easy. Just last year, I sat in a Relief Society classroom with a teacher who taught us a lesson and compared MTab music as great for the kids to listen to and great at bringing in the spirit at home, for Sunday prep, etc. but the gospel music which she compared it too was a no go and totally inappropriate for tapping into the spirit and for using at home, etc. in her mind. I was the only black sister in the classroom who disagreed because the gospel music she refered to was pefectly suitable in my mind for all the above. Incredible, but it doesn’t rest with just that one anglo sister from Utah. Culture, I’m afraid, is selling itself as doctrine and spirit has preferly taken a back seat to it.
Jill Johnson

Have many people in the ward noticed and commented on it?

If you’re willing to share, I’d love to get the music for that one sometime. Have you posted it anywhere online, by chance?

So I take off my list of favorite LDS hymns and put on my list of favorite hymns: “I Need Thee Every Hour” and “I Stand All Amazed”. The last two are in the green book titled Hymns. “If Scatter Sunshine” is a hymn, then “Love One Another” and “Teach Me To Walk in the LIght” are hymns too.

I agree with the hymns you would like to see included.
Thanks for stopping by and giving us your opinion.

Yes, we do have some great hymns, but a lot of those on your list are not written by Mormon authors and/or Mormon composers.

“The Spirit of God”: Text LDS, Tune Anonymous (first published 1844)
“Redeemer of Israel”: Text LDS, Tune non-LDS
“Israel, Israel God is Calling”: Text LDS, tune (non-LDS) borrowed from “What A Friend We Have In Jesus”
“Come, Come Ye Saints”: Text LDS, Tune English folk tune
“I Need Thee Every Hour”: Text non-LDS, Tune non-LDS
“I Believe in Christ”: Text LDS, Tune LDS (finally, both!)
“Secret Prayer”: Text LDS, Tune LDS
“‘Tis Sweet To Sing the Matchless Love”: Two separate musical settings; Text LDS, both Tunes LDS
“I Stand All Amazed”: Text non-LDS, Tune non-LDS
“If You Could Hie to Kolob”: Text LDS, Tune English folk tune adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams (non-LDS)
“Oh My Father”: Text LDS, Tune (non-LDS) adapted from “My Redeemer”
“Teach Me to Walk in the Light”: Text LDS, Tune LDS (really a song, not a hymn)
“Love One Another”: Text LDS, Tune LDS (song, not a hymn)
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Hymns I’d like to see in LDS Hymnal:
“Amazing Grace”, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, “Jerusalem” (from “Chariots of Fire”), “Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel”, “What Child is This”, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice”, “Thine is the Glory” (Easter), “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (sometimes called the Black National Anthem), “Let All Things Now Living”, and “This is My Father’s World”.

Kristine: “Amazing Grace was in one of the hymnbooks Emma Smith compiled.”

True. It was not in the 1835 Hymnal, but it appeared in Emma Smith’s 1841 Hymnal. That was the one and only time that “Amazing Grace” was in an LDS hymnal.