Above:  All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia, May 8, 2016

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text (1890) by Theodore Claudius Pease (1853-1893)

Source #1 = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904), National Council of Congregational Churches in the United States

Source #2 = The Christian Ministry:  Its Present Claim and Attraction and Other Writings (1894)

The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904) contains five of the seven stanzas; The Christian Ministry (1894) offers the complete text.

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How blest Thy first disciples, Lord,

Whom Thou didst choose to walk with thee,

Who daily met around Thy board,

And made Thy home and family!

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How blest, when throng and press were gone,

And weary day herself had fled,

From all the noisy world withdrawn,

Alone with Thee to break the bread!

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Has the long day its burden brought?

Are heavy hearts in sorrow bound?

What sweet relief in kindly thought;

What sympathy with Thee is found!

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For every care Thou hast an ear;

Thou knowest all their changing moods:

What stirs the timid Philip’s fears,–

Why thoughtful Thomas sadly broods.

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Ah, who would such a meeting miss?

What strength is here to nerve the will!

How fair a home for hearts is this!

Who would not long to find it still?

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And is the vision vain as sweet?

Nay, Lord, Thy table still is spread;

And ever where disciples meet,

Thy blessed hands still break the bread.

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We see Thee not; yet when we turn,

These moments melt in memory,

And all our hearts within us burn,

For we have met and talked with Thee.

Above:  St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Calhoun, Georgia, July 10, 2016

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = The Christian Ministry:  Its Present Claim and Attraction and Other Writings (1894)

Text (1890) by Theodore Claudius Pease (1853-1893)

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Before us, Lord, Thy board is spread,

Thy love’s unchanging token:

We share the cup, we take the bread,

Thy body bruised and broken:

And at Thy table, met with Thee,

Thy word, “In memory of Me,”

Once more to us is spoken!

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No lengthening years of mist and gloom

Have power to change or bound Thee:

To-day, as in the upper room

Thy first disciples found Thee,

O let Thy Presence still our fears,

Remove our doubts, and dry our tears,

While here we gather round Thee!

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We come, our hearts anew to yield

To Thee for Thy possessing:

We come, with lips but now unsealed,

A new-found love confessing:

Grant us, O Lord, Thy promised grace,

Reveal to each Thy loving Face,

And breathe on all Thy blessing!

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Thou knowest all our varied need,

Our gladness and our grieving:

What joys allure, what hopes mislead,

With false lights still deceiving:

With Thee we leave our troubled past,

With Thee our future, dim and vast,–

All things from Thee receiving.

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While here we hold communion sweet,

The dear, remembered faces

Of friends unseen, again we meet

In their familiar places:

For one with Thee is one with all

Who hear Thy voice and own Thy call,

Throughout the starry spaces!