"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Sunday, July 31, 2016 “We Give Thee but Thine Own” (ELW 686)

"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Sunday, July 31, 2016 “We Give Thee but Thine Own” (ELW 686) 

“We Give Thee but Thine Own” (ELW 686)
1. We give thee but thine own,
whate'er the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone,
a trust, O Lord, from thee.
2. May we thy bounties thus
as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us,
to thee our firstfruits give.
3. The captive to release,
to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace--
it is a Christlike thing.
4. And we believe thy word,
though dim our faith may be:
whate'er we do for thine, O Lord,
we do it unto thee.
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My wife and I were members of a church in a suburb of Minneapolis whose music provided a sense of continuity from one week to the next. The worship always began with "Holy, Holy, Holy" and the offering song was always the first verse of "We Give Thee but Thine Own." William Walsham How, Bishop of Bedford in the mid-19th century, was a prolific writer with as many as sixty of his works still in use today. He wrote this simple stewardship song in 1858 to address an issue of his day. Bishop How had a deep sense of responsibility for the poor street children of the East Side of London. This song was his attempt to recruit others to join his initiative.
I did not know that part of the history of this hymn until lately; all I knew was that the words seemed too old-fashioned in style. The music director of our church must have also sensed that some of us were tiring of the sameness and so she would insert interesting additions. One Sunday as she was playing the offering song she started the chimes--partly because she knew it bugged the pastor leading worship that day. On another occasion, when the Twins were in the World Series, she played a couple chords of "Take me out to the ball game" in the middle of "We give thee..." Her antics have added a sense of both sentimentality and a touch of humor about this hymn. And now, once I have read the other verses I have come to appreciate its message more fully. They all move us to consider what we think of as our possessions. All of the readings for this Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost do similarly, pushing us to realize that we own nothing, but to hold all that we have as a trust from God.
God of abundance, we do give thanks for all you entrust us with. Help us to freely release and pass on this trust so that others might share in the basics of life. Guide us to new understandings of how we might love others by letting go of those things that keep us from following you. Amen.
Rodger Prois
Bishop Western Iowa Synod, ELCA
Master of Divinity , 1993
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