The opening stanza of this call to worship calls on Christians to pray for the Holy Spirit's presence as the service begins, while the final stanza calls for believers to live in the love of God in anticipation of the full redemption of creation when Christ returns.
Text:
The author of this hymn has not been positively identified. It has been traditionally attributed to George Atkins, but no further information has been found about him or the text. The five stanzas of this text first appeared in print in the early nineteenth century. The fourth stanza (“Is there here a trembling jailer”) is often omitted. The final two lines of each stanza, are based on these lines: “pray, and holy manna will be showered all around,” which may be a reference to the story of God providing manna to feed the Israelites in the wilderness.
One issue with this text is the gender-specific language, particularly the emphasis on “brethren” in the first two stanzas, though the third stanza helps balance the wording by addressing “sisters.” One solution used by some hymnals is the substitution of “Christians” in place of “brethren” and “sisters.” The fourth and fifth stanzas are less affected by this.
Tune:
The tune HOLY MANNA is traditionally attributed to William Moore, though just as with the text, this is not beyond doubt. Moore published the earliest known instance of this tune in his Columbian Harmony in 1825. HOLY MANNA is a pentatonic, folk-like tune and can be sung either at a moderate tempo in a four-four pattern or at a quick tempo with a cut-time meter. The tune name comes from the reference to “holy manna” in each stanza of the text.
When/Why/How:
This hymn may be used as a call to worship, as in “Christians, We Have Come to Worship,” which contains a choral opening sentence from the first two lines of the text. A longer choral call to worship blends “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” and “Come, Christians, Join to Sing” in “Come and Worship.” The later stanzas could be used after a sermon on evangelism as a call to action, as in the simple choral setting of this text to its traditional tune, “HOLY MANNA,” or a piano postlude, such as in “The Church Pianist's Library, Vol. 5.”
Tiffany Shomsky,
Hymnary.org
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
