The 100-year-old president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted a personal Christmas message Sunday morning that included a video of him playing a verse of “Silent Night” on the piano.
“My dear friends, I have always found so much joy in the beautiful Christmas hymns that testify of Jesus Christ’s sacred birth and divine mission,” President Russell M. Nelson wrote in the post released on his social media accounts.
“Whether your voice is young or old, we can all join the angels who sang rejoicing on that ‘silent night’ so long ago, even as we look forward to the day he will come again. I love you all and wish you ‘heavenly peace,’ not only at Christmas but every day as we strive to walk the path of discipleship.”
President Nelson, who for years played the piano during meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles before he became the prophet and president of the church in 2018, is blessed with perfect pitch.
He played the Christmas hymn shared in Sunday’s video message in a living room filled with nativity scenes.
At the end of the message he smiles and says, “Merry Christmas!”
“Silent Night,” a hymn about the calm night and the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child, was written in Austria in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, a young priest, and swiftly spread across the world.