#175 "O God, the Eternal Father"

This sacrament hymn was in the original LDS hymnbook from 1835.  I've sung it all of my life.  When I was the teacher development leader in the Baldy Mesa Branch, I was teaching a class for the primary teachers about using more eye contact during their lessons.  I challenged the teachers to memorize part of their lesson for the upcoming Sunday.  To show them that I was also going to challenge myself, I told them that I would memorize all four verses of this hymn (which was scheduled for the upcoming Sunday) and not even open my hymnbook for leading it.  (At the time, I was also the branch music director--most of us had two or three callings in the branch.)  So, that Sunday, I led the music for this hymn without even bringing my hymnbook to the music stand.  To this day I still have the words committed to memory.