He Sent His Son Singing Time Ideas

This information comes from Stories from The Children’s Songbook by Sister Pat Graham (more information on that book HERE).

Mabel Gabbott said the poem for “He Sent His Son” was written “when I was wondering about our Father in Heaven sending His spirit children to earth to be tested. How could He teach them the way to return to Him? The answer: He sent His Son.”Sister Gabbott worked on the staffs of the Church magazines and was a member of the YWMIA General Board and the General Church Music Committee. She chaired the 1985 Hymnbook Text Committee. She was a very small lady with a very large talent for writing. Her poems have been used as texts for sixteen Primary songs and four hymns. Sister Gabbott lived in Bountiful, Utah, grew roses and cherries, and said, “I love to hear children sing.”

The composer, Michael Moody, believes that “music is a tool for building families. It can bring a sweet spirit into the home. My family sings before scripture reading, before meals, and when we’re traveling in our car.”Brother Moody was chairman of the General Church Music Committee for twenty-five years and Haiti Mission president. He is now serving with his wife, Maria, on a music mission at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center.

Every year Brother Moody writes a Christmas song for his family and friends. For his Christmas song in 1981 he wrote a musical phrase to emphasize each question and answer in Sister Gabbott’s poem, “He Sent His Son.” It was published in the Friend magazine, December 1984. Several melody notes were mistakenly changed in the first typesetting of the music. Brother Moody said maybe it was better that way, and left the change. The optional notes in the last three measures were added for a children’s choir in the tabernacle in 1985.