Sunday, July 5, 2009

Take Me, O My Father, Take Me

I am always surprised when we sing a hymn I have not heard before. This morning was especially wonderful - a hymn written by Dmitri Bortniansky, 1818 (Ukraine) It has a simple tune which emphasized the words and struck a chord with me (no pun intended).

If you are familiar with Psalm singing, this tune is VESPER HYMM 8.7.8.7.D

Take me, O my Father, take me, save me, through thy Son.
That which thou wouldst have me, make me, let thy will in me be done.
Long from Thee my footsteps straying, thorny proved the way I trod.
Weary come I now, and praying take me to thy love, my God.

Fruitless years with grief recalling, humbly I confess my sin;
At thy feet, O Father, falling, to thy household take me in.
Freely now to thee I proffer this relenting heart of mine;
Freely life and soul I offer, gift unworthy love like thine.

Once the world's Redeemer, dying, bore our sins upon the tree;
On the sacrifice relying, now I look in hope to thee.
Father, take me; all forgiving, fold me to thy loving breast;
In thy love forever living I must be forever blest.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That hymn was absolutely beautiful, and the tune lifted up the words! Hymns are so poetic. It's like reading the King James version, versus reading the Living Bible. One may be easier to read at first glance, but the other has so much more depth and symmetry. Taking the extra time to understand it gives it so much more meaning. God knew what He was doing when He gave His word to us, yet made it not so easy to understand with just a casual reading. Treasure which we mine, is so much more valuable than that which we just pick up on the street!

Lynn

Anonymous said...

Amen Lynn!
I have never read these words before. Deeply moving!
Thank you.
Susie

JoAnn said...

Susie- if you have a Trinity hymnal it is page 491 and the tune is simple! It reminds me of the days we used to sing in my living room!