O God, Above the Drifting Years

Above:  John Wright Buckham

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1931/1935), Congregational Christian Churches

Text (1916) by John Wright Buckham (1864-1945), for the fiftieth anniversary of the Pacific Theological Seminary, the Pacific School of Religion since 1916

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O God, above the drifting years,

The shrines our fathers founded stand,

And where the higher gain appears,

We trace the working of thy hand.

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From out their tireless prayer and toil

Emerge the gifts that time has proved,

And seed laid deep in sacred soil

Yields harvests rich in lasting good.

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The torch to their devotion lent,

Lightens the dark that round us lies;

Help us to pass it on unspent,

Until the dawn lights up the skies.

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Fill thou our hearts with faith like theirs,

Who served the days they could not see;

And give us grace, through ampler years,

To build the Kingdom yet to be.