Friday, March 4, 2011

Lord, We Come before Thee Now

I discovered a little gem of a hymn in the LDS hymnal that I don't think I've ever sung before. The only reason I found it is because I've taken up the practice of singing hymns from the LDS hymnal that correspond to scripture texts I've been reading in my daily scripture study.

"Lord, We Come before Thee Now" (LDS hymnal #162) was written by William Hammond, who was born in England in 1719. Hammond became a Methodist in 1743 -- during the First Great Awakening -- and later joined the Moravian Brethren. He died in England in 1783, 22 years before the birth of the prophet Joseph Smith. He wrote a number of hymns that were popular on both sides of the Atlantic, in the American colonies and in Great Britain.

The words to this hymn seem so suitable to the situation GLBT LDS face:

Lord, we come before thee now;
At thy feet we humbly bow.
Do not thou our suit disdain;
Shall we seek thee, Lord, in vain?

In thine own appointed way,
Now we seek thee; here we stay.
Lord from hence we would not go,
Till a blessing thou bestow.

Send some message from thy word
That may joy and peace afford.
Comfort those who weep and mourn;
Let the time of love return.

Grant we all may seek and find
Thee, our gracious God, and kind.
Heal the sick; the captive free.
Let us all rejoice in thee.

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