By Jonathan Whitcomb [updated Sep 15, 2022]

Last month (June of 2022), I wrote the short choir piece “Come to Christ”, which begins with a modification of part of II Nephi 30:21 and over a period of weeks revised it up to version #120:

Press forward: Feast on the word of Christ;
Behold you shall have eternal life. . . .

By mid-September I had revised it many times: The final version is #134.

New Music Harmony System

The harmonic style in this brief composition for choir fundamentally differs from the common harmonic practice in Western music during the past three hundred years. Instead of having dominant and subdominant chords, this new style has a four-note chord that takes the place of both dominant and subdominant: called the “perfect chord” (4P).

It is based upon consecutive perfect fifths vertically: In the key of C, the raw form of this chord is in the notes F, C, G, and D, from lowest to highest; in practice, however, this raw form is uncommon, with one or more notes bumped up or down at least an octave.

An important point of this harmonic style is this: The perfect chord never resolves to the dominant seventh. In other words, in the key of C the note C does not resolve to a B.

Yet in spite of this difference in the basic harmonic foundation, it is close enough that the great majority of music listeners should not be shocked or uncomfortable with this new system of music harmony.

To see the full score, click on the image below:.

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New Book of Mormon music for choir

Behold my Son, my Beloved Son:
Come unto Him for eternal life.
Behold His hands, his feet and side:
For you he bled and died.

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Music in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Jesus and the Twelve sang a hymn after the Last Supper

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New Sacrament Hymn

By witness of the Spirit
I know my Father lives
He sent a willing Savior
To witness of their love
That we may share that love

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Today I finished the third (and probably final) verse of the following LDS sacrament hymn “Believe and Come to Him.” The tune is the old traditional one that has often been used for the text that begins “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Forgive our Foolish Ways.” This music is only slightly altered: One line is added at the end.

[Updated on November 26, 2017: version 49]

Christian LDS hymn “Believe and Come to Him”

Here are the three verses for the new hymn:

Believe in God and come to him
And feast upon his word
Receive the one the Father sent
By making sacred covenant
Partake the sacrament
Believe and come to him

Behold the feet, the hands and side
We know the Savior lives
By eating, we in him abide
And by the Holy Spirit Guide
Behold the Savior lives
We know the Savior lives

By drinking of the water we
Remember why he bled
We cleanse the vessel inwardly
Becoming as he we’d have us be
Remembering the son
Becoming like the Son

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Words are copyright 2017 Jonathan David Whitcomb

But noncommercial home or church use is OK

Listen to a simple MIDI audio of this music: Believe-and-Come-to-Him-049

Fourth Verse Added:

Partaking of the sacrament
We witness Him again
The bread and water represent
His body and His blood was spent
In cleansing us within:
Renewing us again

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New Book of Mormon Music

A short piece of music for a church choir: “Come to Christ”, by Jonathan Whitcomb

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A New Sacrament Hymn

“We Remember the Savior”

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Press Forward, Feasting on the Word

A short LDS choir piece of music based upon Book of Mormon scriptures, and this includes II Nephi 31: 20

These two verses (numbered #1 and #2) are actually the third and fourth verses of my hymn “Through my Savior.” Since they’re in the spirit of Easter, I submit them here:

Verse 1

Now in the morning of shadow waning,
Like when the light of morning filled a tomb,
Grant us forgiveness: both giving, gaining;
Fill us with light: Dispel avenging gloom.
Once in a garden, the blood was dropping;
Once on a cross, the voice of mercy said,
“Oh, my Father, forgive my brother;
I forgive him with the blood I shed.”

Verse 2

Through thine Anointed, we seek forgiveness,
Grasping thy mercy, casting off our sin,
Through our election of his atonement,
Touching Perfection, cleansing us within.
Though opposition may feign to hinder,
Like thine Anointed we begin to be.
Oh my Father, I now remember:
My Redeemer gave his life for me;
Through my Savior, I come to thee.

Some of this is symbolic. Notice the reference to the New Testament healing of the woman who touched the hem of the clothing of Jesus:

Touching Perfection, cleansing us within

Of course we need to apply that in a little different way in our own lives. We need to approach the Savior in our prayers to received his healing influence, yet the healing we usually most need is spiritual.

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Forgiveness – A Song Verse Explained

When is the “morning of shadow waning?” The dispelling of this particular shadow refers to attaining forgiveness, both forgiving and receiving forgiveness, so the particular “morning” is unique to each of us. In fact many of us may be enlightened by many such mornings in our lifetimes, moments when we forgive another person or when someone forgives himself or herself, or moments when we accept forgiveness from another person.

Images of Christ

We each have a mental picture of what we think the Savior looks like. But if we painted pictures of Him, they would all be different. We don’t really know what He looks like, but we can come to know His perfect love for us and draw closer to Him . . .

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In this new piece of music for a church choir, much of the text is a slight modification of Book of Mormon scriptures, yet the original meaning is there.

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Why do I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in the month of December? To the best of my knowledge, shepherds did not keep watch over their flocks by night late in December, in the area of Bethlehem; it would have been too cold. But we join, at year’s end, with many Christians from around the world, in celebrating His coming into the world.

What is the true meaning of Christmas? Living in accordance with the gift of eternal life given to us by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is in forgiving and being forgiven, improving, in giving, and learning and loving, and in hoping that many others will enjoy all the blessings that we have received.

The full light of His coming into the world lives in his resurrection, after suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and giving his life for us on the cross. Consider the following lines from “Through my Savior:”

Now in the morning of shadow waning,
Like when the light of morning filled a tomb,
Grant us forgiveness: both giving, gaining;
Fill us with light: Dispel avenging gloom.
Once in a garden the blood was dropping;
Once on a cross the voice of mercy said:
“Oh my Father, forgive my brother;
I forgive him with the blood I shed.”

The Light of the World

Only a few days [earlier], a boy from Erin’s class at school had died in a car accident. She had seen a lot of people crying at the funeral, and she had cried a lot herself. She hadn’t known the boy that well, but Erin knew his family loved him as much as her family loved her. She felt scared to know that something like that could happen to someone her age. . . .

The story ended, and a recording of the prophet’s voice came over the loudspeaker. He bore his testimony and read a scripture from the Bible: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). . . .

The scripture said that everyone would die—young people, old people—everyone. Erin knew that, of course, but she hadn’t thought about it much before. She thought she was too young to think about such things. But she wasn’t too young to have a testimony of the truth: because of Jesus Christ, everyone would live again.