Lord Thee I Love with All My Heart, LBW 325 & ELW 750
1 Lord, thee I love with all my heart;
I pray thee, ne’er from me depart;
With tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share,
Yea, Heav’n itself were void and bare
If thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break,
My trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought;
Thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
Forsake me not! I trust thy Word.
2 Yea, Lord, ’twas thy rich bounty gave
My body, soul, and all I have
In this poor life of labor.
Lord, grant that I in every place
May glorify thy lavish grace
And serve and help my neighbor.
Let no false doctrine me beguile,
Let Satan not my soul defile.
Give strength and patience unto me
To bear my cross and follow Thee.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
In death Thy comfort still afford.
3 Lord, let at last thine angels come,
To Abr’hams bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me,
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, thy glorious face,
My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise thee without end!
Devotion
This week’s Bible readings occasion questions of hunger, both physical and spiritual, and Schalling’s hymn makes a startling response. The hymn seems to despise the things of this world (“Earth has no pleasure I would share”), but in actuality the hymn puts the things of this world in their rightful place. Indeed, daily bread is a good gift from God. It was “thy rich bounty gave/ My body, soul, and all I have/ In this poor life of labor,” and I ought to use these gifts to “serve and help my neighbor.” Even heaven would be barren without Jesus’ presence, because it is Jesus who grants comfort in death and will thence awaken us. In Christian faith, our hunger gives way to trust—and trust gives way to praise. Both Bach and Schütz—commemorated earlier this week—wrote arrangements of this hymn, Bach in his St. John Passion.
Prayer
Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, thank you for daily bread as well as the bread of life. Give me strength and patience to bear my cross and follow you. Amen.