“All In” excerpt: Bishop Gérald Caussé Shares How Recording “Where Can I Turn For Peace?” Changed His Perspective of the Hymn

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“Where Can I Turn For Peace?” is among the most-beloved Latter-day Saint hymns. Written by the late Emma Lou Warner Thayne amidst her oldest daughter’s battle with mental illness, the hymn asks a series of questions that have resonated over the more than 45 years since the hymn was penned.

“Sitting at my makeshift desk, I asked on paper what I had implored—so many times. ‘Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace? When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul?’ Three verses of a poem found their way to the page, voicing my anguish and providing the answer I carried in my heart,” Thayne later wrote for the Church News.

(Read more of the story behind “Where Can I Turn For Peace?” in an excerpt from Jane Clayson Johnson’s Silent Souls Weeping here.)

The song evokes many emotions, but joy is not typically one of them. So, when Bishop Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, heard his friend Nicolas Giusti’s almost whimsical arrangement of the hymn, he was confused. Read an excerpt below to find what Bishop Caussé learned from Nicolas about the joy associated with the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Editor’s Note: The following excerpt has been edited for clarity. 

Morgan Jones: Do either of you, or do both of you have a favorite song on the album? Or a favorite arrangement?

Nicolas Giusti: No. These are like children. We have six children. I love every one.

MJ: That's what Mack Wilberg told me, too so you're in good company. He wouldn't pick a favorite.

NG: I cannot do that.

Geráld Caussé: Maybe I can suggest one. It's the first one on the album, "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" And the reason is when he sent me the arrangement, I didn't feel it was a good one because I always listen to that music, that hymn, thinking of how sad it is—when you're facing adversity, and you need the help of the Lord. And I call him back. I say it's too joyful. It's not appropriate for the theme and the topic. It's all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And then I received a lesson on the phone and he said, President Nelson would say happiness has nothing to do with the circumstances of our life but everything to do with the focus of our life. And he said, “No, the Atonement is in a way a joyful event that we need to celebrate. And there is a lot of joy in the good news of the gospel, including in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” And he was right. And I feel it's the most beautiful hymn on the album because it reminds me of that experience and what I learned with Nicolas.

Read a full transcript of the interview here.

Lead Image: All In host Morgan Jones is photographed with Bishop Caussé and Nicolas. 
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