Scripture References:
st. 1 = Luke 24:28-31
st. 2 = Luke 22:12ff, 1 Cor. 11:23-26
st. 3 = 1 Cor. 10:16-17
st. 4 = Luke 24:35, 1 Cor. 12:27
This fine text celebrates the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Stanzas 1 and 4 allude to the part of the Emmaus story (Luke 24:28-35) in which the two disciples invite Jesus to be their guest, but then Jesus becomes their host. Stanza 2 focuses on our partaking of the sacrament and stanzas 3 and 4 on the oneness we share with all believers in this world and in heaven.
Originally written as "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest," the text by George W. Briggs (b. Kirkby,Nottingham County, England, 1875; d. Hindhead, Surrey, England, 1959) was first published in the original edition of the British hymnbook Songs of Praise (1925). Briggs, however, regretted a change suggested by Percy Dearmer (PHH 595), editor of that hymnal–from "thine own sacrament" to "this our sacrament" in stanza I-so he later published the text in its original form in his own Songs of Faith (1945). The Psalter Hymnal text is slightly altered from the revision published in Hymns for Today's Church (1982).
Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Briggs was a well-known twentieth-century hymn writer. A clergyman in the Church of England, he served a number of parishes and was a chaplain in the Royal Navy. He was especially interested in promoting meaningful worship in the British schools and consequently wrote Prayers and Hymns for Use in Schools (1927) and Prayers and Hymns for Junior Schools (1933). Briggs was a founding member of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Liturgical Use:
Lord's Supper services-fits well as a congregational song either before the sacrament or during distribution of the bread and wine; also makes a fine choir anthem, preferably unaccompanied, during the sacrament.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987
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