Rector’s Reflections Thursday 27th February 2025
Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer : A Hymn and its Background
We have seen that the English version of Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer , as it is usually sung today, is the result of a collaboration between two Welsh Calvinistic Methodists from the 18th Century : William Williams, who wrote the original version in Welsh, and Peter Williams, who decided that it needed to be translated into English.
So why did they write this hymn? What was its message?
Both William and Peter were committed Evangelists, and their hymn should be seen in the context of their desire to proclaim the gospel. In the following paragraphs, phrases in inverted commas are quotations from the text of the hymn.
The starting point is the idea that we are on a journey through life, and we’re all on this journey together. This is of course a familiar image. But William and Peter and evangelists, so they remind us of an uncomfortable reality. This journey of life is n’t for ever. At some point, it’s going to come to an end. It might be tomorrow. It might be in 50 years’ time. But we’re all going to die at some point. And then what? Well we’re going to end up in one of two places : in Heaven (“Canaan”) or in Hell. Which is it going to be? No wonder that we contemplate the prospect of death with “anxious fears”.
So the journey through life is n’t some aimless wandering without purpose or direction. It’s a spiritual journey. How are to get to our true destination (Heaven) and avoid ending up spending an eternity in hell?
We might think we can rely on our own resources, but the reality is that we can’t. We are “weak”. We are “anxious” and full of “fears”. We need to avail ourselves of God’s strength. We need to be held by God’s “powerful hand”. And we need to be fed with the “bread of heaven”. Only the “bread of heaven” will give us the energy we need to complete our pilgrimage through life.
And we have a further need as well. We are all sinners, wounded human beings in need of healing. Where is this healing to come from? Not from human skill and wisdom. It can come only from the “healing stream” which flows from the “crystal fountain” of God’s grace.
So there is good news for each one of us. Yes, we are sinners in need of God’s healing grace. Yes, we face the prospect of being judged for all eternity. But God is our “strong deliverer”, who is able to rescue us from Hell. He can be our “strength and shield” to protect us during our journey of life , and when we come to our life’s end here on earth, and “tread the verge of Jordan”, God can bring us through the waters of death so that w may “land …safe on Canaan’s side”.
And how should we respond to such a God? With “songs of praises”? Or with cynical disbelief?
William and Peter have issued us with a challenge. Do we surrender ourselves to God’s guidance and grace, or do we not? What are we planning to do when it comes to be our turn to “tread the verge of Jordan”?
There are other questions too, and we shall look at some of these in tomorrow’s reflections, which will be the last in the current series.