Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

In between the morning and afternoon sessions of the general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last Saturday, I had playing on the television the April 2025 World Report of the Church of Jesus Christ that was being broadcast on KSL.

During one segment of the program, the narrator said, “The church is focusing on the greater love of Christ in many ways, including … music videos, with a performance of the Tabernacle Choir singing ‘Gethsemane’ with a children’s choir.”

For those unaware, at the October 2024 general conference, a children’s choir sang “Gethsemane,” a song that has recently been designated a hymn by the church. It was the type of performance that would go viral, and it did. To date, it has over 1.3 million views on YouTube.

Following the narrator’s words, a boy named Andrew King, who participated in the choir, spoke on camera. With tears rolling down his cheeks, and emotion making it difficult for him to speak, he said, “I hope that people know that Jesus is always there for them — that no matter what’s happening, I hope that they can feel that testimony when we sing that song.”

It was a remarkable interview, and one that I had to play again a number of times just because of the sheer awe of this maybe 10- to 12-year-old boy so powerfully gripped by the spirit and his love for Jesus that he was brought to tears.

Ryan Comer, Standard-Examiner

They say if you live long enough you’ll see everything; well, the kind of heartfelt testimony that child displayed is something I have never seen before. It makes perfect sense why that choir performance resonated with so many, including myself, when it included kids like Andrew.

I wish I could meet him and shake his hand. I’d feel like I was in the presence of a future general authority, member of the Quorum of the Twelve or … well … that’s more than enough pressure.

Introduction to President Holland’s talk

Andrew’s conviction reminded me of a talk that I had just listened to during the morning session of general conference, which was “As a Little Child” by President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church.

President Holland discussed being like a little child, and I can’t help but think Andrew was exactly the type of child President Holland was counseling us to emulate.

What Jesus said about children

To become as a little child, President Holland reminded us, was a directive given by Jesus himself.

“One day Jesus witnessed an argument among the Twelve and later asked, ‘What was it that ye disputed among yourselves?’ Apparently embarrassed, they ‘held their peace,’ the record says. But this greatest of all teachers perceived the thoughts of their hearts and sensed the first blush of personal pride. So He ‘called a little child unto him, …

“‘And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

“‘Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'”

Why we should become ‘as little children’

What could it be about children — or as President Holland referred to them, “life’s junior varsity” — that would lead Jesus to give such counsel?

President Holland mentioned “their purity and innocence, their inborn humility and what it could bring to our lives if we retain it.”

Contrasting children to the pride exhibited by so many, President Holland said that it’s “as if heaven is in the room” when a child is at prayer.

“God and Christ are so real, but for others later on, the experience can become more superficial,” President Holland said.

“As Elder Richard L. Evans quoted some 60 years ago: ‘Many of us profess to be Christians, yet we … do not take Him seriously. … We respect Him, but we don’t follow Him. … We quote His sayings, but we don’t live by them.’ ‘We admire Him, but we don’t worship Him.’

“How different life could be if the world esteemed Jesus above the level of a profane swearing streak from time to time.

“But children really do love Him, and that love can carry over into their other relationships in the playground of life. As a rule, even in their youngest years, children love so easily, they forgive so readily, they laugh so delightfully that even the coldest, hardest heart can melt.

“Well, the list goes on and on. Purity. Trust. Courage. Character.”

A courageous example of Christlike submissiveness

To put an exclamation point on his message, President Holland shared the triumphant story of a boy who completed a task far too many young men take for granted their ability to perform – passing the emblems of the sacrament.

“On January 5, 2025 — 91 days ago — Easton Darrin Jolley had the Aaronic Priesthood conferred upon him and was ordained a deacon in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” President Holland started.

“Easton had longed to pass the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for as long as he could remember. But this sacred opportunity was accompanied by the stomach-wrenching fear that he would fail, that he would fall, that he would be teased or embarrass himself and his family.

“You see, Easton has a rare and very destructive illness, Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy. It has progressively filled his young life with formidable challenges while shattering his hopes and dreams for the future. He will soon be in a wheelchair permanently. His family does not talk about what awaits him after that.

“The Sunday after his ordination, Easton would pass the sacrament for the first time. And his privately held motivation was that he could present himself and these sacred emblems to his father, who was the bishop of the ward. In anticipating that task, he had begged and pled and wept and begged, extracting a guarantee that no one, no one, would try to help him. For many reasons, private to himself, he needed to do this alone and unaided.

“After the priest had broken the bread and blessed it — an emblem representing the broken body of Christ — Easton, with his broken body, limped up to receive his tray. However, there were three sizable steps from the meetinghouse floor to the elevated stand. So, after receiving his tray, he stretched up as high as he could and placed his tray on the surface above the handrail. Then, sitting down on one of the higher steps, with both hands he pulled his right leg up onto the first step. Then he pulled his left leg onto the same step, and so on up until, arduously, he was at the summit of his personal three-step Mount Everest.

“He then maneuvered himself to a structural post by which he could climb to a standing position. He made his way back to the tray. A few more steps and he stood in front of the bishop, his father, who, with tears drenching his eyes and flooding down his face, had to restrain himself from embracing this perfectly courageous and faithful son. And Easton, with relief and a broad smile consuming his face, might well have said, ‘I have glorified [my father and] have finished the work [he gave] me to do.’

“Faith, loyalty, purity, trust, honor and, in the end, love for that father he so wished to please — these and a dozen other qualities make us also say, ‘Whosoever … shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'”

Conclusion

Just before he concluded, President Holland said:

“Sisters and brothers and friends, at the top of the list of the most beautiful images I know are babies and children and youth as conscientious and priceless as those we have referred to today. I testify that they are images of the kingdom of God flourishing on earth in all of its strength and beauty.”

Just imagine a world filled with people like Andrew and Easton. That’s a world I would be proud to live in for eternity.

Contact Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net. Follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rbcomer8388.