God of Our Fathers

Words: Dan­i­el C. Ro­berts:

The hymn was written in 1876 for a cel­e­bra­tion of the Cen­ten­n­i­al Fourth of July, and sung at Bran­don, Ver­mont, to the tune called Russ­ian Hymn! When our Gen­er­al Con­ven­tion ap­point­ed a Com­miss­ion to re­vise the Hymn­al, I sent it, with­out my name, prom­is­ing to send the name if the hymn were ac­cept­ed. It was ac­cept­ed and print­ed anon­y­mous­ly in the re­port of the Com­mis­sion. Be­fore the Hymn­al was print­ed, the Rev­er­end Dr. Tuck­er, late of Troy, ed­it­or of our best mu­sic­al Hymn­al, and Mr. George Will­iam War­ren, or­gan­ist of St. Thom­as’ Church, New York, were ap­point­ed to choose a hymn for the cen­ten­ni­al cel­e­bra­tion of the adopt­ion of the Con­sti­tu­tion. They se­lect­ed this hymn, then anon­y­mous, and want­ing a tune, Mr. War­ren com­posed a tune to which it has since been set in the Tuck­er Hymn­al.

Music: National Hymn, George W. War­ren, 1888 (MI­DI, score). War­ren wrote the tune for the cen­ten­ni­al cel­e­bra­tion of the Unit­ed States Con­sti­tu­tion.

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.

This hymn is as "on point" now as it was 1888.

If you have a heart for prayer be sure to ask your church
about a prayer ministry, needs, and where you can best serve. Ask God where He would have you serve, needs He wants you to pray about, and how you can serve Him. Remember Jesus was in constant prayer with the Father but also set time aside to sit with His Father and converse (prayer)about EVERYTHING!

I must appologize for the lack of posts for the past few months but I am working hard to post and follow God's lead.

Dear Sweet Father,

You bless us all in ways we can understand and in ways we cannot. Open our eyes to opportunities to serve You. Open our hearts for Your people. Give us the wisdom to counsel and to pray for specific needs. You are our loving Daddy and You only want to see us grow in You and to bring You glory. Thank You for providing opportunities for us to serve You.

Guide and protect us.

Forgive us when we fall short of Glory but let us Praise You in all we say and do.

We pray that You will provide us opportunities to witness to those who are blind to You. Give us the courage and words to do as You ask.

I thank You for all You do for us.

In Jesus' name,
AMEN

The picture (title: Sacrifice of Isaac) above is one of Abraham about to sacrifice his son, Isaac. May we obey like he.

Do you have a relationship with Jesus? If not and would like to know more, please contact me via the email address on the left.