Scripture Verse

We have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16

Introduction

portrait
Calvin W. Laufer
1874–1938

Words: Will­iam H. Foulkes, 1918.

Music: Hall (Lau­fer) Cal­vin W. Lau­fer, 1918 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Foulkes (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Origin of the Hymn

[This hymn] was wri­tten at the ear­nest so­li­ci­ta­tion of a con­fer­ence group which met at Em­por­ia Col­lege, Kan­sas, in the sum­mer of 1918. That year the morn­ing pray­ers were con­duct­ed in the din­ing room and they were un­us­ual­ly im­pres­sive. How­ev­er, the young peo­ple felt that they would like to have a pray­er hymn that they could call pe­cul­iar­ly their own, and re­quested the pres­ent au­thor [Lau­fer] to pro­duce such a hymn.

He suc­ceeded in com­pos­ing the tune, but got no fur­ther. He was quite sure that he knew what mes­sage the hymn should con­vey, but could not pro­duce it.

A few weeks lat­er he div­ulged his di­lem­ma to Will­iam Hi­ram Foulkes, D.D., on a train bound for Sto­ny Brook, Long Is­land. Both men were on their way to a con­fer­ence si­mi­lar to that held at Em­po­ria Col­lege. When the si­tu­ation had been ex­plained to Dr. Foulkes, he evinced great in­ter­est, and re­quest­ed to see the tune. He showed great en­thus­i­asm for the score and beg­ged to have it for a day or two. Per­haps, said he, the pro­per hymn may come to me, if not to you.

The next day he car­ried the ma­nu­script in his pock­et to New York Ci­ty. The hymn came to him en route. On his re­turn that af­ter­noon to Sto­ny Brook, where he had charge of ves­pers, he pr­oduced three stan­zas of the four which con­sti­tute the hymn. To­ge­ther he and the com­pos­er of the tune went ov­er the new pro­duct­ion, and were so well pleased with the re­sult that dup­li­cates were made and the hymn was sung for the first time the next day at morn­ing pray­ers.

Laufer, p. 100

Lyrics

Take Thou our minds, dear Lord,
We hum­bly pray,
Give us the mind of Christ
Each pass­ing day;
Teach us to know the truth
Tthat sets us free;
Grant us in all our thoughts
To hon­or Thee.

Take Thou our hearts, O Christ—
They are Thine own;
Come Thou with­in our souls
And claim Thy throne;
Help us to shed abroad
Thy death­less love;
Use us to make the earth
Like Hea­ven above.

Take Thou our wills, Most High!
Hold Thou full sway;
Have in our in­most souls
Thy per­fect way;
Guard Thou each sac­red hour
From self­ish ease;
Guide Thou our or­dered lives
As Thou dost please.

Take Thou our­selves, O Lord,
Heart, mind, and will;
Through our sur­ren­dered souls
Thy plans ful­fill.
We yield our­selves to Thee—
Time, tal­ents, all;
We hear, and hence­forth heed,
Thy so­ve­reign call.