Gethsemane

Melanie Hoffman and her husband Roger — the composer of the Latter-day Saint classic 'Consider the Lilies of the Field' — have written sacred and children's music together for more than three decades, from the Scripture Scouts albums to songs for the Friend. In 2007 they were creating Stories of Jesus, an album of songs about the Savior's life for young children.

One song stopped Melanie cold. After months of studying the New Testament, she still didn't know how to write about Gethsemane. How do you explain the Savior's suffering to a four-year-old — honestly, but without frightening them? The question felt too big, and she was, by her own account, afraid of getting it wrong.

The answer came on a drive. Coming down a canyon from a mountain writing session with Roger, words dropped into her mind — she described it as hitting her 'like a thunderbolt': 'Gethsemane! Jesus loves me.' That pairing was the whole insight. Gethsemane isn't first a story about suffering; it's the greatest evidence of the Savior's love.

She hurried home, opened her scriptures at the kitchen table, and the rest of the song came quickly — she wept as she wrote the bridge. Roger said it simply: 'The song was a gift; it was given.' Melanie later explained her hope this way: 'Even the youngest of children need to understand that Jesus suffered for them because He loves them.'

The song found children's hearts almost immediately — Melanie recalled that every young singer approached for the album asked to record 'Gethsemane.' Then, at Easter 2016, a video of three-year-old Claire Crosby singing it spread across the internet, gathering millions of views and introducing the song to families far beyond those who knew the album.

The Church took notice. In March 2018 it published a simplified version in the Friend magazine, and Primary choruses around the world were soon singing it — six years before it had a hymn number.

On May 30, 2024, 'Gethsemane' was released as hymn #1009 in the very first batch of Hymns—For Home and Church — part of the new hymnbook's deliberate choice to place children's songs beside the great hymns, in one collection for everyone. Primary General President Susan H. Porter singled it out: through this song, children learn 'that Gethsemane is not so much about the suffering, but it's about the evidence of God's love for them.' She added, 'I think we vastly underestimate the spiritual capacity of children.'

That October, a choir of 364 children — chosen from more than 2,800 who auditioned — sang it in general conference. The Church's video of their performance passed 4.7 million views within a week. A song written at a kitchen table for preschoolers had become one of the most widely shared moments of conference.