Establishing Zion

I recently attended a concert by Yo-Yo Ma. He is truly a master. The most moving part of the concert for me was the second and third numbers, where he not only played, but sang some of the notes, without words, and then invited the audience to sing with him on a piece by Carolin Shaw called “When” which was divided into sections called “a shared tone, a shared pulse, a shared song”. It was like a musical chant. Participating required everyone to listen to the music and to each other carefully and responsively. There was a great feeling of unity. YoYo Ma called it “communing”. It was a Zion experience.

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Zion, the celestial society, is our goal. Moses 7: 18 says that, among other things, the Lord called His people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind.  That is not an easy thing for the us to achieve, as we must overcome the self-centeredness of the natural man or woman to do so.  But the Lord has provided regular opportunities in our church worship and service and in other associations with one another to practice the kind of unity needed to create Zion.

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• We gather on a regular basis to worship. Being together allows us to feel one another’s spirits as well as the Spirit of God.

 

• As with the YoYo Ma concert, the music in our worship services can help us to commune with one another as we listen together, or play and sing together in unison, or in harmony.

 

• We are commanded to repent and to forgive before taking the Sacrament each week, helping us overcome our divisions.

 

• We can be of one heart and one mind as we pray together, with one person being the voice for all, and the rest of the participants repeating the words of the prayer in our minds and hearts. We end with” Amen” making the prayer our own.

 

• We make covenants together, often through shared ordinances or rituals in which we act together.  Our covenants create a relationship between ourselves and God, but also between ourselves and others of the covenant.

 

• We raise our hands together before God to indicate our willingness to sustain one another in our church callings. To sustain is to hold up or support, to cause or allow to endure or continue. (See Elder Patrick Kearon, “About His Business, April 2026 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2026/04/13kearon?lang=eng)

 

• We teach and learn gospel principles to and from each other in church talks and classes. We testify to one another of sacred experiences and the feelings and knowledge we have received through them. As we teach and listen with the spirit, the spirit affirms truth to us together.

 

• We serve in Church callings and assignments together, learning to love those we serve and those with whom we serve as we provide help, work out solutions to problems and make plans to achieve the Lord’s purposes together. We minister, mourning with those that mourn and comforting those that stand in need of comfort. We listen with empathy to understand, express our love and find ways to support and meet needs.

 

• We have the opportunity to participate in councils for Church governance, bringing our own strengths and thoughts to the discussion and learning from the other participants as we listen respectfully and consider their ideas.

 

• We can build and share traditions that bring us together to remember and celebrate sacred events.

 

• As we seek that which is virtuous, lovely, or of good report together, we can experience and share appreciation of beauty in nature or the arts.

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Some of these practices are ancient and have been used in the worship of many religions, which is not surprising since we are all descended from Adam and Eve who taught their children the things they were taught of the Lord. We can gain insights from other religions that will aid us in our own efforts to be of one heart and one mind. Let’s explore a few of these disciplines more carefully.  

Music

 

There is a whole area of our brains that is devoted to music. Blending our voices brings our minds together. Music, not just the words of songs but the music itself, is a language that has the power to teach us truths at the feeling level as we focus on it.  But it does require focus on both the music and the words we sing. Clayne Robison, who was a professor of music at BYU, taught that we can choose not to participate in the hymns in our church services at all, or we can participate at one of several levels.

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Level 1 is the rote level. At level 1 we are not paying attention to what we are singing, and the music and words go in the eyes and out the mouth without ever touching the brain.

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Level 2 occurs when we understand the words and know what we are singing.

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Level 3 is achieved when we sing and play, meaning every word, and feeling the way the music enhances the message. Prof. Robison said, “Level 3 is an actor’s concept, not a musician’s. To be convincing on stage, every thought you speak must be your own thought, not the playwright’s. It must generate anew each time in your heart and mind, find its automatic subtle reflections in your body and spirit, and then, and only then, begin to come out of your mouth as a collection of words to express what is now your own thought. It’s a pattern: original thought, spiritual response, words; original thought, spiritual response, words; and so on, each unit always overlapping the next, but never out of order. No words come that are not preceded by a thought in the mind and a feeling in the spirit.”[1]

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We reach Level 4 when we perform hymns at level 3 and the Lord confirms them with his Spirit.

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The Lord said that He delights in the song of the heart: that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto Him and it will be answered with a blessing upon our heads.[2] As we bring our minds and our hearts to worshiping with our brothers and sisters through music, part of the blessing we receive is the unity we feel with the spirit and with each other.

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Group Prayer

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As we approach God in joint prayer, we also approach one another. We can pray by joining our minds and hearts and voices in music, and we can also join our minds and hearts as we think and feel the words spoken by the person acting as voice in a group prayer. The Sacrament prayers are an especially powerful tool, since we hear them each week and can readily learn the words. We end the prayer by echoing aloud together the “amen” spoken by the person offering the prayer.

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The mantra “Om” or “Aum”, used in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Tibetan Buddhism, is considered by their practitioners to be the primeval sound of creation.[3] It is chanted to bring one into harmony or unity within oneself and with the divine. It means “yes”, “it is so”, “let it be so”; to submit oneself, “to be in agreement with or part of”, “to be one”.[4] Our “Amen” carries many of the same meanings.

 

The Wikipedia article on “Amen” notes that it is one of the few untranslated words in our Bible. The article quotes Linguist Ghil’ad Zuckerman, who said, “Like Halleluia, the word amen is usually not replaced by a translation due to … the perception that there is something intrinsic about the relationship between the sound of the signifier (the word) and what it signifies (its meaning).”

Amen is a declaration of affirmation and can mean “verily”, “truly”, “it is true” and “so be it”. Meanings of the Hebrew root include “to be firm or confirmed, to be faithful, to have faith, to believe”.[5]

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As we say “Amen” together, after listening carefully in a group prayer, remembering the meaning of what we are saying can make our connection to the spirit and to each other more powerful.   

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Councils

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Elder Hugo Martinez of the Seventy has taught about receiving revelation in Church meetings. He quoted Elder Ballard’s 14th Article of Faith which starts, “We believe in meetings.” and noted that we do have many of them. Then he taught that there is a foundational principle for Church meetings and councils found in D&C 107.  Speaking of the quorums of the First Presidency, the Apostles, and the Seventy, the Lord said, “And every decision made by …  these quorums must be by the unanimous voice of the same; that is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to its decisions, in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity one with the other.” 

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Elder Martinez noted that this applies to any of our councils or meetings. It especially applies in the councils of husbands and wives.  If we act under the guidance of the Holy Ghost we will be united and we can be committed to the decisions made. He said that sometimes that takes more than one meeting. For the First Presidency and the Twelve, sometimes it takes years as revelation is received. They must be unanimous, and they don’t act before that. Every member of the quorum must be agreed. Then the outcome will be valid and have power. D&C 104 says, “Decisions are to be made in all righteousness, holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity, Because the promise is, if these things abound in them, they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord.”

 

Elder Martinez suggested that maybe no one has all these qualities. But someone may have great faith, another may be particularly good at long-suffering. Another may have knowledge, or kindness, or temperance. And when we come together, then we have the contributions of these Christ-like attributes. The purpose of meeting together is to bring them into the deliberation, the thought process, and to seeking revelation on the final decision. If I miss a meeting, the problem is not that I missed the information, but that in the deliberation, whatever I could have contributed was missed. By preparing, coming together worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and focusing on listening to one another, these attributes come together.

 

When this happens, as D&C 104 says, we shall be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord: what the Lord thinks, how He feels, how He would act, and therefore how He would want us to act, which is the desired outcome of every council and every meeting. Because we receive that revelation jointly, we can be certain that this is the right direction; and then go to work, remembering the revelation that was received. We all know that sometimes it is not a strait, smooth road covered with rose petals after a decision is reached. One of the definitions of faith in Jesus Christ is staying the course of the direction received, pushing through obstacles and opposition. And then at the end of the road, seeing the hand of the Lord and knowing that it is done because of Him. He has allowed us to grow, to have knowledge of how He thinks, know how He feels, know how He would act.[6]

 

We need to counsel together with preparation and engagement. We need to contribute. We need to listen with respect and with open hearts and to consider others’ contributions. As we seek the spirit together, we can be of one heart and one mind. 

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Shared Traditions

 

Part of the excitement of Christmas is feeling unity with Christians all over the world as we celebrate the birth of the Savior together. This year (2026), we have seen a great increase in the significance of our Easter celebration as members of the Church have responded to the encouragement of our Church leaders to focus on a Christ-centered holiday. We can experience more unity in our Church congregations and in our families as we create traditions for holidays or repeat other well-loved experiences with people we love.

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Seeking That Which Is “Virtuous, Lovely, or of Good Report or Praiseworthy” Together.

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The central concept in Navajo religion is “Hózhǫ́”, to walk in beauty. Hózhǫ́ is not only experienced in communing with nature and expressing beauty in art, it also means being in harmony with oneself, others and the laws of the ordered universe. It recognizes that everything is interconnected and interdependent and that harmony and balance must be maintained in the physical, aesthetic, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of life to have well-being. It requires mutual support expressed through community rituals such as The Blessing Way. To walk in beauty is to participate in the dance of the cosmos.[7], [8]

 

As the poet Keats said,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

 

As we seek that which is virtuous and lovely and share our wonder and appreciation of the beauty that God has created for us, through direct experience or through the arts, we can also grow in understanding and in empathy for one another.

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Conclusion

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Eleanor Roosevelt said that if we are to live together we have to talk.[9] We not only have to talk, we must see each other, hear each other respectfully, and understand each other. There is much in modern life that militates against that, that separates and isolates us. We have to reach out to each other. And we can more consciously use the means the Lord has provided for us to learn to be of one heart and one mind.

   

To receive full benefit from these processes requires mental effort. We must bring our mind and our heart to the practices outlined here and to other things that help us increase our empathy and our understanding of one another. We cannot simply sit in church going through the motions with our thoughts wandering and become one with those around us. As we sing, as we pray, as we minister and serve, as we teach and learn, as we experience and share joy and sorrow together we need to be mindful, to be present and aware, to focus on what is happening around us, to pay attention. We need to earnestly seek the spirit, engage with love, participate in council, exercise our creativity, listen, share feelings, and govern our thoughts,

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “By union of feeling we obtain power with God.”[10] And we must pray to God for His power to help us obtain union of feeling as we practice being of one heart and one mind.

 

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[1] Clayne Robison - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1977/07/singing-hymns-with-new-power?lang=eng accessed 4/16/2026.

[2] D&C 25:12

[3] https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/5-things-to-know-about-om  accessed 4/19/2026.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen accessed 4/19/2026.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen   accessed 4/19/2026. This entire article is worth reading and thinking about.

[6] My notes from Martinez, Hugo, Church History Department All Hands on Deck Conference Aug. 31, 2023.

[7] https://nativeamerican.mythologyworldwide.com/the-navajo-concept-of-hozho-finding-beauty-and-balance-in-life/ accessed April 4, 2026.

[8] peopleofonefire.com › the-navajo-hozhǫ  accessed April 4, 2026.  

[9] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/119770-we-have-to-face-the-fact-that-either-all-of accessed 4/10/2026.

[10]“Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842,” 61, Joseph Smith Papers