I tell the children, “I have a video for you.” I turn off the sound and play the New Testament video from the Church website Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me. (You should download it so that there is no interference if your streaming is interrupted.) I start at minute 1:05, stopping the video when I have sung one verse of the song through twice.
As the video plays, I sing “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” with pauses as I point to different things in the video.
It is a profound experience for the children and myself. Watching the video and imagining ourselves in the setting with Jesus deepens our feeling about the song and what it might be like for us to be beside the Savior. The Holy Ghost often attends this experience, filling the room. The children are often extremely quiet and engaged in this activity.
Tofi Vaioli
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Lynn
Thank you for sharing! There is a song in The Friend March 2018 titled “Gethsemane.” Do you ever share these songs with the children? It would also fit with a silent video like this that you have shared. I wondered if we are allowed to share these in primary since they are featured in The Friend.
Megan
In the handbook it says you can use songs from the children’s songbook, the hymn book, and from LDS magazines. Anything else you need to check with your bishop. So you should be fine to use that song now that it’s in the Friend!
Renée
Are you singing all three verses or just one verse two times?
Jan
I just sang “Gethsemane” to the silent video of “Jesus suffers in Gethsemane. Well, about the middle third of it. I sang it without my pianist because I forgot the music I printed for her. My voice quivered with emotion but the kids didn’t care. Many of my primary children knew some of the words. By the end they were all singing the chorus. The Holy Ghost filled the room. Teachers and children were teary eyed. I identified the feeling of peace in the room and told the children the Holy Ghost was testifying that what we had sung was true. Wow, that was powerful. Thank you for this amazing idea.