{"id":459651,"date":"2026-05-25T20:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459651\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T20:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:57:10","slug":"learn-about-new-song-elijah-and-the-still-small-voice-church-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459651\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn about new song \u2018Elijah and the Still, Small Voice\u2019 \u2013 Church News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music and melodies come first to songwriter Alan L. Patterson\u2019s mind. Then he ponders on the theme, story, scriptures and words that go with the music.<\/p>\n

In the case of \u201cElijah and the Still, Small Voice<\/a>,\u201d a new children\u2019s song in \u201cHymns for Home and Church<\/a>\u201d from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the music had \u201ca little bit of an exotic sound, something different. And it kind of had a voice of mystery to it,\u201d Patterson said.<\/p>\n

This made him think of the Old Testament. And then, because of his own conversion experience, he thought of the Holy Ghost.<\/p>\n

Patterson remembers struggling at age 14 with a long bout of depression. He remembered the Book of Mormon promised that for those who read and asked God, God would \u201cmanifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost\u201d (Moroni 10:4<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Every night, Patterson would read in the Book of Mormon and would pray. But he didn\u2019t get the manifestation he was looking for. He found Doctrine and Covenants 11:25<\/a>, which says, \u201cDeny not the spirit of revelation, \u2026 for wo unto him that denieth these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

He realized that if he received revelation, he would have to change \u2014 but he wanted the Lord to make him happy without changing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was when I said, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll do whatever you want me to do.\u2019 And that\u2019s when the experience came, something that I had never felt, something beautiful \u2014 the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. And it was fragile. It was calm. It was wondrous. It was beautiful. It was like light shining through me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The story of Elijah<\/p>\n

With the Holy Ghost on his mind, Patterson also pondered on what story from the Old Testament could fit the melody. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the story of Elijah came,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Elijah had done great things among the people through God\u2019s power but found himself running for his life. He went to Mount Horeb, discouraged and in need of guidance, to seek God. <\/p>\n

While he was there, a strong wind, an earthquake and a fire passed by, but he realized God was not in any of them. After the fire, Elijah heard a \u201cstill small voice\u201d (1 Kings 19:12<\/a>) and finally received the direction he had been seeking.<\/p>\n

\"AnA raven brings Elijah food in this illustration from the Friend September 2018 magazine about 1 Kings 17. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints <\/p>\n

Patterson\u2019s oldest two children are deaf, which helped him and his wife realize that audible words are not the only way to communicate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSigning became the way of conveying meaning without dependence upon audible sounds, which became critical to understanding the things that are most important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That led to him trying to understand the Spirit from an experiential point of view. The song\u2019s words originally talked about Elijah feeling the still, small voice, but Patterson changed that to \u201chear.\u201d He knew that everyone can learn to \u201chear\u201d the Holy Ghost in personal ways. <\/p>\n

And while the Lord uses thunder, fire and earthquakes, \u201cthose things turn us towards the greater voice, which is the voice of His Spirit. The message always comes by means of the still, small voice,\u201d Patterson said. <\/p>\n

Symbolism in melody<\/p>\n

Patterson wanted two verses to keep the song short and simple for children to learn. He also wanted it to be vivid and full of imagery. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe melody has to bear testimony along with the words. It has to be singable. If a person can\u2019t come away humming the song, I feel I\u2019ve failed,\u201d Patterson said.<\/p>\n

The harmony parts have a purpose as well; for example, the notes of the tenor line sway and swell, like the feel of the wind, which coincides with the wind that Elijah hears.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sunrise on the summit of Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Horeb, in Egypt. Mount Sinai is where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Mount Horeb is where Elijah sought refuge. | Blumesser \u2013 stock.adobe.com <\/p>\n

The song has an ABA structure, where the first section, A, is followed by a different middle section, B, and then ends similarly to the first section. Only, in this case, the ending offers a conclusion that teaches what the words are saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first A section is a kind of an introduction. Elijah is on this mountain peak, he\u2019s listening, he wants to know something. And then the B section comes in, it has some tension. There\u2019s some dissonance to it. It has this longing sound. The pitch raises that the things are happening in this second section. Then comes the last section, A. It repeats the first section, but in a more triumphant way. Elijah comes in. He receives his answer. The still, small voice comes,\u201d Patterson explained. <\/p>\n

The last chord of the song doesn\u2019t end on a fifth \u2014 or dominant note \u2014 but ends on a third, which Patterson said added beauty and something unexpected.<\/p>\n

Because of the Spirit, \u201csomething has changed in Elijah,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cBy the end of the song, you as a person are changed. \u2026 In effect, the music is bearing testimony of the purpose and gift of the Holy Ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cElijah and the Still, Small Voice\u201d<\/p>\n

1. Long ago on a mountain peak,
Elijah listened for God to speak.
He heard the wind blowing, a shaking of ground,
The roar of a fire, but the Lord was not found.
Then Elijah did greatly rejoice;
At last he heard the still, small voice,
The still, small voice.<\/p>\n

2. Listen, listen, for as we pray,
We too can know what the Lord would say.
No thundering voices or sounds we may hear,
But calm, gentle feelings will tell us He\u2019s near.
Like Elijah, we too will rejoice,
For we can hear the still, small voice,
The still, small voice.<\/p>\n

Listen to the song here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music and melodies come first to songwriter Alan L. Patterson\u2019s mind. Then he ponders on the theme, story,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,140201],"class_list":["post-459651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sacred-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}