At the House of Bishops last week, the Bishops’ Choir sang O Love by Elaine Hagenberg, with a text by George Matheson. You can listen to the piece here (sung a little better than we did!) but the text is easy to share:
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thy ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seeks me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
It’s a transcendent anthem and one I had not previously heard. The text made me reflect on the concept of kenosis, the self-emptying of oneself in following Jesus, who offered himself completely for us; and the concept of theosis, of becoming One with God through prayer and sanctification.
I invite you to join me in praying this text (and I invite choir directors to consider using it in worship!). How do you experience the Love of Christ? What of your life are you offering back to God? Where have you found your personal wants and desires to be replaced with the wants and desires of God for you? When has the joy of God pierced through the pain of grief or illness?
4 comments on “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”
Oh, my…beautiful.
It was a song I had not heard before. I truly loved both versions and listening to the words made me feel closer to Jesus.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful hymn.
Just an update on this anthem. It is a very famous hymn.
(as in Methodist Hymnal #480) Does not appear to be in Hymnal 1982. The original melody is by Albert Peace 1884, and has 4 verses.
Here is the 4th verse:
O Cross , that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms life that shall endless be
In North Carolina where I was born, this was a favorite sung at funerals along with “I walk in the Garden alone” and “The Old Rugged Cross”. These are old hymns found in the Baptist Hymnal and known by all denominations in the South.