Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah—Bless the Soldiers

November 25, 2008


I’m posting music videos Monday-Thursday as we make our way toward Thanksgiving Day. Yesterday it was a medley of Thanksgiving hymns. Today I decided on “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” a beloved hymn that is perhaps not as well known as it was a generation ago. But this famous Welsh hymn (sung to a tune called “Cwm Rhondda") deserves to be sung often by young and old alike because it speaks to the universal sense that we are all pilgrims on a journey through “this barren land.” I found a short article giving the story behind the hymn. If there is such a thing as a “man’s hymn,” this is it. I can imagine a men’s chorus singing it or my friend Huw Priday, the gifted Welsh tenor.

YouTube offers a number of fine videos of this hymn, including a version by the Men’s Choir of the Crystal Cathedral. But after some meditation, I settled on this very moving video that joins a traditional choral rendering with accompanying still shots featuring scenes of our soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was touched by the thought of our brave men and women who will celebrate Thanksgiving far from home. 

So this video goes out to them. And I send it out with a special prayer for Christopher Eaton, serving somewhere in Iraq. God bless him and God bless all the members of our Armed Forces wherever they may be.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?