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.

This is the first live performance of Music & the Spoken Word in 19 months to feature The Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and Bells at Temple Square. All performers and supporting staff are observing strict COVID protocols including masking when not performing, vaccination requirements, and modified social distancing.

Music

Conductors: Mack Wilberg
Organist: Richard Elliott
Narrator: Lloyd Newell
Featuring: Bells at Temple Square

“Glory to God on High”
Music: Felice de Giardini
Lyrics: James Allen
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“We Thank Thee, Lord, for This New Day”
Music: Mack Wilberg
Lyrics: David Warner

“How Firm a Foundation”¹
Music: J. Ellis
Lyrics: Robert Keen
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“Praise and Thanksgiving” organ solo
Music: Richard Elliott

“Tuya es la gloria (To Thee Be the Glory)”
Music and Lyrics: Traditional Latin American
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“Now Thank We All Our God”
Music: Johann Crüger
Lyrics: Martin Rinkhart; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
With Bells at Temple Square

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”²
Music: American folk hymn
Lyrics: Robert Robinson
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
With Bells at Temple Square

1. On the CDs Called to Serve and Then Sings My Soul.
2. On the CDs Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and America's Choir.

The Spoken Word

Our “Songs of Loudest Praise”

In the 1630s, when German clergyman Martin Rinkhart wrote the hymn that the Choir just sang, “Now Thank We All Our God,” Europe was experiencing a famine, a long war, and deadly plagues. And yet Rinkhart found reason to pen these words of praise and gratitude:

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His earth rejoices;
Who, from our mothers’ arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love
And still is ours today.¹

Today we likewise have reason to thank our God. After 19 months of restrictions brought on by the pandemic, The Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and Bells at Temple Square are performing again in person. Until now we have been airing previously recorded broadcasts, with new Spoken Word messages added each week. The inspiring music of the Choir and Orchestra—even though it wasn’t live—inspired and lifted us during those difficult times. Still, there’s nothing like being together in person. And we feel deeply grateful to be together again, continuing 93 years of continuous broadcasting. 

Hymns of praise and thanksgiving have always been an essential part of the repertoire of the Choir and Orchestra. But today those same hymns take on new meaning.

So, after what we’ve been through together, we reunite to thank God for what we’ve learned while we were apart. We’re thankful that tough times and difficult days have deepened our awareness of blessings we would otherwise take for granted. We’re thankful for cherished relationships, as we’ve realized more than ever how much we need each other. And we’re thankful that even when things seem dark and discouraging, we can hold on to hope, seek for the light, and carry on in faith. After all, that’s why this broadcast exists: to inspire all, in good times and bad, with the hope and peace and love of God.

The last time we sang together, on March 8, 2020, the Choir and Orchestra performed one of their signature songs, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Today we conclude with this same hymn of praise that captures so well our feelings. Every blessing—including some that are unexpected—comes from a loving God who extends to us His never-ceasing mercy and grace. In gratitude, today and always, we offer Him our “songs of loudest praise.”²

1. “Now Thank We All Our God,” Hymns, no. 95.
   
2. “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Hymns [1948], no. 70.