More great hymns for Labor Day–and by extension for celebrating the ministry of all God’s people during worship–keep showing up. Here’s another one a friend just called our attention to:
Those who love and those who labour, follow in the way of Christ;
Thus the first disciples found him, thus the gift of love sufficed.
Jesus says to those who seek him, I will never pass you by;
Raise the stone and you shall find me; cleave the wood, and there am I.
Where the many work together, they with Christ himself abide.
But the lonely workers also find him ever at their side.
Lo, the Prince of common welfare dwells within the market strife;
Lo, the bread of heaven is broken in the sacrament of life.
Let the seeker never falter, till the truth is found afar.
With the wisdom of the ages underneath a giant star,
With the richest and the poorest, of the sum of things possessed,
Like a child at first to wonder, like a king at last to rest.
It’s in a number of hymnals, but most easily found online at GodSongs.net, which had this to say about the source:
This hymn, based on the poetry of Geoffrey Dearmer, was published inSongs of Praise in 1925.
With meter of 87.87D, it is most commonly sung to the traditional Irish tune DOMHNACH TRIONOIDE
There’s a musical score on GodSongs as well as lyric slides for worship, plus a sample of a choir rehearsing it. (Which seems to be the only such example on YouTube, so here it is:)
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