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 first-fruits give.
3 The captive to release,
to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace –
it is a Christ-like 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.
Devotion
This hymn was written in 1858 by William Walsham How, a son of a wealthy English solicitor who became a minister in the Anglican Church and served in rural areas throughout his career. As a gesture of his concern for the common person, he rode in public transportation instead of in a private carriage.
I would like to focus on the phrase “a trust, O Lord, from thee.”
I was named in a trust fund a while back with the responsibility to care for the property in trust so it can be passed on to others.
I am reminded that in the same way everything that you and I have, we have as a trust given to us from God. We ask God to guide us in sharing all that God has given us. One of my parishioners once said, I never realized how much I had, till I began to tithe. May we all be good stewards of God’s trust as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Gracious God, may we learn from this hymn about having all things as a trust from you. May we learn to teach others of the way of life and peace, it is a Christ-like thing. Amen.