THE LIVING CHRIST PROJECT

The story behind the Living Christ Project:

A few years ago, I was approached by Lizzy Jensen, Founder of The Small Seed, blogger, influencer, and mother of five. She asked if I would be willing to write music to The Living Christ, a document written by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Lizzy wanted it put to music so that people could more easily memorize it. Because, let’s face it, when you learn a song, you pretty much remember it your whole life. 

The Living Christ is a short document. It fits on one page. It declares the truth about Jesus – touching on His birth, life, death and resurrection, His great atoning sacrifice, and His divine role as the Savior of all mankind. It’s packed with simple statements that carry profound meaning to those who believe. 

I think it's beautiful. So I said, “Sure!” 

I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I was willing to try.

Then reality set in. 

As beautiful as the words of The Living Christ are, they simply weren’t written to be set to music. They don’t have a meter. They don’t rhyme. Some phrases are short and some are long. They don’t follow any pattern at all. Which makes them the complete opposite of a musical lyric. Of course, I knew that going in, but I had never tried something like this, so I guess I was naively optimistic. 

I’ll spare you the details of how I went about trying to make it all work. I’ll just say that through the process, I have learned to love these words. And more importantly, to love my Savior more. Every phrase could be studied in depth, like this one: “He taught…the potential of the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.” 

I divided the document up into 8 sections, and the song for each section is unique. It's not a great work by any stretch of the imagination. I just hope it will be memorable.

And it’s only the second week, so it’s not too late to join in. If you follow along with us and learn all 8 sections, you’ll finish on Palm Sunday. How cool is that? 

Lizzy has brought together artists who've created coloring pages, flip books, screen wallpaper and art to help your family memorize it. All the content is on Vursity. GO HERE TO GET IT. You'll need to create a free account to begin with. Then click on ‘classes’ and you’ll see “Memorize the Living Christ.”

All the best with your efforts! I would love to hear your comments, and to learn what your family is doing to memorize it.