‘Goosebumps upon goosebumps’: The massive reaction to a children’s choir’s song of Jesus Christ

Tens of thousands responded online as children sang “Gethsemane,” a new hymn of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, during general conference on Saturday.

Published: Oct 5, 2024, 9:43 p.m. MDT

A children's choir sings during the afternoon session of the 194th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday Oct. 5, 2024. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Tad Walch covers religion with a focus on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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The powerful performance of a choir of children ages 8 to 13 — angels, according to many on social media — drew a massive public reaction on Saturday both during and after the afternoon session of the 194th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By nightfall, the Instagram post of one of their songs — “Gethsemane” — had nearly 60,000 likes.

“They brought literal heaven into homes across the world today,” Brooke Delahunty wrote in the comments.

The song about the Atonement of Jesus Christ was written in 2007 by Melanie and Roger Hoffman. It was added to the church’s new hymnbook in May.

Here are the new hymns just released by the Church of Jesus Christ

The crescendo of the arrangement sung on Saturday that got the most attention came in the middle of a verse about Christ’s suffering. The children, who wore white shirts and white dresses, sang:

“The hardest thing that ever was done, the greatest pain that ever was known, the biggest battle that ever was won—

And then the organ stopped, and after a pause, the children continued a cappella for the next two lines:

“This was done by Jesus! The fight was won by Jesus!”

When the organ returned the children sang reverently, “Gethsemane. Jesus loves me, So He gave His gift to me in Gethsemane.”

“Goosebumps upon goosebumps upon goosebumps. Absolutely stellar,” one commenter said.

“Little angels with angelic voices!” added Mckenna Flory Hooker.

“Voices of angels singing Gethsemane! When the organ stopped, ‘the fight was won by Jesus’ was unbelievably powerful. I had tears running down my face! Thank you!!” wrote Lesley Hunt.

“We were there, the whole place was crying happy tears!!!” Brianne Tennant wrote.

“Exactly! My 2-year-old daughter looked over and said, ‘Mommy crying!’ wrote Caitlin Wilson.

You can watch the entire performance here:

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President Susan H. Porter, general president of the Primary, which serves millions of children around the world, said earlier this year that the song shows the depth of understanding children have of Jesus Christ.

“We often think that children can only understand at a very simple level,” she said, “but someone has written a hymn talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross in a way that (children) can understand that what happened in Gethsemane, even though it involved great suffering, was done out of love.

“You can hear 4- and 5-year olds sing ... ‘Gethsemane, Jesus loves me.’ That’s the message ... The song is ‘Jesus loves me,’ and that’s what I get from Gethsemane.”

The choir was made up of children from northern Utah who auditioned this summer. The director was Leslie Walker.

The children sang several selections from the new hymnbook, including “Gethsemane,” “When the Savior Comes Again” and “Holding Hands Around the World.”