Sunday's Hymn: Reader's Choice

This week’s hymn is chosen by Carla of Reflections of the Times. Abide with Me is written by the Scottish minister Henry Lyte. The most commonly told story of this hymn is that Henry Lyte wrote it when he was dying of tuberculosis, but at the Center for Church Music, the suggestion is that it is more likely that

he wrote this hymn in 1820, after visiting a dying friend, who, on his death bed, kept murmuring the passage from Luke 24:29, where the disciples who were traveling to Emmaus asked Jesus to “abide with us, for it is evening and day is almost spent.”

If so, he would have been in his twenties when he wrote it.

Abide with Me

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Listen: Voice, piano, or organ. 

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Arise, My Soul, Arise at The Happy Wonderer
• Art Thou Weary at Above the Clouds
• The Awakened Sinner, from The Valley of Vision  at The Thirsty Theologian
  
• From Greenland’s Icy Mountains at John Dekker’s Journal
• Master, Speak! Thy Servant Heareth at Seasonings of the Heart
• A Mighty Fortress is Our God at joythruChrist
• The Collect for The First Sunday after Trinity at Magic Statistics
• It is Well with My Soul at Thoughts from the Teahouse
• There is A Higher Throne at Hiraeth
• In Christ Alone at Jam and Books
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list. If you’d like to see your favorite hymn featured as a Reader’s Choice hymn, go here and leave a comment. Just tell me your favorite hymn and a little bit about why you like it and I’ll feature your hymn when your turn comes.

Comments

[Lisa Johnson]

What a great hymn. I downloaded the voice file and it is beautifully done. Thanks! Maybe I'll have a chance to request it tonight at church.

Lisa
www.teahouselj.blogspot.com