Videos

October 13, 2019—#4700 Music & the Spoken Word

The Music & the Spoken Word broadcast airs live via TV, radio, and internet stream on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. mountain time. For information on other airtimes, visit “Airing Schedules” at musicandthespokenword.org.

Music

Conductor: Mack Wilberg
Organist: Andrew Unsworth
Announcer: Lloyd Newell
Guest Conductor: Anton Armstrong

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”1

Music: German hymn tune
Lyrics: Joachim Neander; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“All Things Bright and Beautiful”2
Music: John Rutter
Lyrics: Cecil Frances Alexander

“Salvation” (Organ solo)
Music: American folk hymn
Arrangement: Gilbert M. Martin

“Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain”
Music: Carolyn Jennings
Lyrics: Adapted from Isaiah 40
Anton Armstrong, guest conductor

“Antiphon” from Five Mystical Songs
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Lyrics: George Herbert
Anton Armstrong, guest conductor

“Love One Another”3, 5
Music and lyrics: Luacine Clark Fox
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“How Firm a Foundation”4, 5
Music: Attributed to J. Ellis
Lyrics: Attributed to Robert Keen
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

 

  1. On the CD America's Choir.
  2. On the CD Peace Like a River.
  3. On the CD Teach Me To Walk In The Light.
  4. On the CDs Called to Serve and Then Sings My Soul.   
  5. On the CD set The Missionary Collection.

 

The Spoken Word

“To Will the Good of Another”

It’s natural to be concerned about our own needs, our own well-being. Virtually every living thing has instincts of self-defense and self-preservation. But we aren’t meant to be like other living things, and we are guided by something much higher than instincts.

This is why our souls resonate with eternal principles and truths that lift us above worldly concerns. Perhaps the most universally inspiring of these is love, which Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote “moves us to will the good of another.”1 How different that is from the spirit of self-interest. And how essential it is—for without this kind of love, other people with different views or different goals can seem like a nuisance, even an enemy. Before long, society is ruled by contempt, antagonism, and discord. Sadly, it’s not hard to see evidence of this in our world today.

At a recent university graduation, author and social scientist Arthur C. Brooks suggested a remedy. “If we are going to beat the problem of contempt,” he said, “we are going to need something more radical than civility—something that speaks to our heart’s true desire. We need love.”2

Think what could happen in our communities, our workplaces, our homes and families, if there were no contempt. Is it possible to disagree—even to strongly disagree—without crossing the line into contempt? Is it possible to genuinely care about—even to love—those with whom we disagree? Is it possible to set aside, for a moment, our own good to “will the good of another”?

It must be possible—and it is! At those times when we feel burdened by the hostility around us, we can remember that compassion is always more helpful than contempt, civility is always more effective than rudeness, and love is always more powerful than hate.

Love, unlike its opposites, always builds and blesses. By spending more of our time and energy, more of our heart, on seeking the good of another, we can spread light and love. This is the way—the only way—to overcome selfishness and bitterness and create the world we all hope for.

 

  1. Summa Theologica: Second Part of the Second Part, trans. Anthony Uyl (2018), 256.
  2. “More Love, Less Contempt” (Brigham Young University commencement address, Apr. 25, 2019), 3, speeches.byu.edu.