O Thou Who Art the Shepherd

A Spanish Shepherd

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1965), of The Methodist Church

Words by the Rev. John W. Shackford, born in 1878 and still alive in 1964; he was a leader in Christian education within the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South (extant 1845-1939)

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1.  O Thou who art the shepherd

Of all the scattered sheep,

Who lovest all thy lost ones

On every mountain steep,

Create in us  a yearning

For those whom thou dost seek,

The hopeless and the burdened,

The crippled and the weak.

2.  We would be thy disciples

And all the hungry feed;

Nor seek our own salvation

Apart from others’ need;

These, Father, are thy children

Thou sendest us to ifind;

Help us by deeds of mercy

To show that thou art kind.

3.  Awake in us compassion,

O Lord of life divine;

Create in us thy spirit;

Give us a love like thine.

Help us to seek thy kingdom

That cometh from above,

And in thy great salvation,

Show forth thy boundless love.