Hymn of the Week – Jesus Where’er Thy People Meet

This week’s Hymn of the Week is one that we sang last Sabbath morning in our worship at Ballymacashon Congregational Church. I was especially impressed with the truth of the last verse, for sometimes when meeting in such a tiny gathering of saints, it can be easy to become discouraged. Cowper, the hymn writer, remindes us that even though we may be few in number, the Lord is with us.

It is an echo of the promise given in God’s Word, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Jesus, where’er Thy people meet,
There they behold Thy mercy seat;
Where’er they seek Thee Thou art found,
And every place is hallowed ground.

For Thou, within no walls confined,
Inhabitest the humble mind;
Such ever bring Thee, where they come,
And, going, take Thee to their home.

Dear Shepherd of Thy chosen few,
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here, to our waiting hearts, proclaim
The sweetness of Thy saving Name.

Here may we prove the power of prayer
To strengthen faith and sweeten care;
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all Heav’n before our eyes.

Behold at Thy commanding word,
We stretch the curtain and the cord;
Come Thou, and fill this wider space,
And bless us with a large increase.

Lord, we are few, but Thou art near;
Nor short Thine arm, nor deaf Thine ear;
O rend the heavens, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts Thine own!

William Cowper