Timothy Dwight

I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.
Colossians 1:25-26

 I Love Your Kingdom, Lord LBW 386

1    I love your kingdom, Lord, the place of your abode;
      the church our blest Redeemer saved with his own precious blood.

2    I love your church, O God! Its walls before you stand,
      dear as the apple of your eye and graven on your hand.

3    Beyond my highest joy I prize its heav’nly ways,
      its sweet communion, solemn vows, its hymns of love and praise.

4    Sure as your truth shall last, to Zion shall be giv’n
      the brightest glories earth can yield, and brighter bliss of heav’n.

Text: Timothy Dwight, 1752-1817, alt.

      Timothy Dwight was the grandson of one of the most famous American theologians and preachers, Jonathan Edwards.  A brilliant scholar in his own right, he could read Latin at age 6 and graduated from Yale at age 17 where he later became a teacher.  He was so popular there that his students wanted him to become president of the university at the age of 25, but instead he enlisted in the Continental Army in 1777 to serve as a chaplain.  It was there that he began to write hymns as a way to bolster the morale of the troops under General Washington.

      After the war he served as a pastor. But finally in 1795, he accepted a call to be president of Yale.   Sadly, by the time he returned, there were few, if any, practicing Christians attending the university where his famous grandfather once preached. So he invented another genre…the revival.  It was for the first revival at Yale that he wrote this hymn, used for revivals there for 100 years after. It is still the earliest American authored hymn in use today.

Prayer: Lord, we always think our problems are unique, that we are the first generation to live in a country where people doubt their faith.  So remind us, Lord, that you alone are God.  And remind us that the church is the fractured vessel you have sent to bear the precious burden of the Gospel to the world. We love your Kingdom Lord, now help us love the world you have revealed it to.  Amen.