SALT LAKE CITY — President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to befriend and mingle with Utah
residents of other faiths. He also urged the audience to never forget the
trials, sacrifices and tenacity of the Mormon pioneers in establishing Salt Lake
City. President Hinckley used the themes as he spoke during the Church's first
annual Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert.
A near-capacity audience filled the 21-thousand seat
Conference Center this evening to listen to President Hinckley speak and to hear
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square perform. The
program featured a medley of hymns and anthems portraying the faith and
sacrifices of pioneers. Lloyd Newell, voice of the weekly "Music and the
Spoken Word" broadcast, narrated the program. Songs included "They,
the Builders of the Nation," "Faith in Every Footstep" and the
pioneer hymn "Come, Come, Ye Saints."
In acknowledging the present-day diversity of people in the
Salt Lake Valley, President Hinckley admonished Church members, "This city
and state have now become the home of many people of great diversity in their
backgrounds, belief, and religious persuasions. I plead with our people to
welcome them, to befriend them, to mingle with them, to associate with them in
the promulgation of good causes." He cautioned Latter-day Saints against
being clannish or self-righteous but asked them to practice their religion
without being offensive to others.
The Church president quoted Brigham Young's prophecy about
the Salt Lake Valley. "This will become the great highway of the nations.
Kings and emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit us here, while
the wicked and ungodly will envy us our comfortable homes and possessions."
President Hinckley then alluded to the large number of visitors who come to Salt
Lake City and to those who will come during the 2002 Winter Olympics, saying
"people in great numbers will come from across the earth."
The leader of 11-million Latter-day Saints concluded by urging people to
remember the pioneers who founded the communities of Utah. ". . .let us
never forget it," he asked. "Let us remember with gratitude and
reverent respect those who have gone before us, who paid so dear a price in
laying the foundation for that which we enjoy this day . . . ."
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