Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown

The first reading for today, the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, was Genesis 32:22-31:
"The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip."

All of the Old Testament texts since Pentecost have been about Abraham and his family. Today's story about Jacob wrestling with God gave us an opportunity to sing a rarely sung hymn, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown" by Charles Wesley. It was one of my father's favorite hymns. I wanted to have it sung at his funeral last week, but there were so many other hymns that we couldn't fit this in. The tune in the Methodist Hymnal is the Scottish melody Candler arranged by Carlton R. Young. Other hymnals use the tune St. Petersburg by Dmitri S. Bortniansky or Melita by John Bacchus Dykes . That's the hymn tune known mostly as the Navy hymn "Eternal Father Strong to Save."

Wesley wrote many verses to this hymn, but these are the four that are included in most hymnals today.

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee,
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery or sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there.
But who, I ask Thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
But who, I ask Thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

Yield to me now, for I am weak
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me, if thy name is Love.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me, if thy name is Love.

'Tis Love, 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart:
The morning breaks, the shadows flee.
Pure universal Love thou art;
Thy mercies never shall remove,
Thy nature and thy name is Love.
Thy mercies never shall remove,
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

The Gospel lesson for July 31 is Matthew 14:13-21, the story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. We didn't have a hymn to go with this reading at our church today. I can't think of any hymns that are about loaves and fishes, but all of the Eucharistic hymns fit the text. Here's one I like.

O Food to Pilgrims Given
It's from the Maintzich Gesangbuch, translated by John Athelstan Laurie Riley. The tune is a German melody, O Welt, Ich Muss Dich Lassen.

O food to pilgrims given,
O bread of life from heaven,
O manna from on high!
We hunger; Lord, supply us,
Nor thy delights deny us,
Whose hearts to thee draw nigh.

O stream of love past telling,
O purest fountain, welling
From out the Savior's side!
We faint with thirst; revive us,
Of thine abundance give us,
And all we need provide.

O Jesus, by Thee bidden,
We here adore thee, hidden in forms of bread and wine.
Grant when the veil is risen,
We may behold, in heaven,
Thy countenance divine.