CHRISTIAN HOME >> Marriage
SDAH 658
Heav’nly Father, hear our prayer
As we bow before You:
Bless them in the life they share,
Humble we implore You.
Get the hymn sheet in other keys here
For Worship Leaders
Make each hymn more meaningful with these helpful tools: Short, ready-to-use hymn introductions for church bulletins, multiple ways to introduce a hymn based on your worship theme and in-depth history and insights to enrich your song service.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
Both the author and composer of this beautiful wedding hymn are Lutherans. The text, written for a friend’s wedding, was later printed in 1975 in a weekly church bulletin of the Lutheran Church in America and was used in the Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978. The Hymnal Companion is the source of the information on this hymn and tune. This lovely hymn is a song for the congregation; it is a fervent prayer for God’s blessing on the couple.
Barbara Adam was born June 21, 1939, in Evanston, Illinois. She majored in piano and became a teacher at Ebenezer Lutheran school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she helped 4-year-olds to learn music, art, and “anything else [she] saw fit.” She and her husband served the church at Regina, Saskatchewan, where she directed the choirs at the large Grace Lutheran Church. Later they moved to Swift Current, where she directs the junior choir at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Besides teaching piano and directing children’s choirs, she has produced a significant body of published devotional material.
NAME OF JESUS was first composed for the text “Jesus, Name All Names Above,” and appeared in the Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal, 1958. The third score is most attractive in the way the composer uses melodic and harmonic sequences to go into the key of F, and then in just three chords back to the home key of D flat.
Ralph Alvin Strom was born October 31, 1901, at St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Augsburg College, University of Minnesota, and St. Olaf College, Minneapolis College of Music, receiving his Doctorate in 1974. His career, spanning the years 1941 to 1972, included teaching in high school and organist-choirmaster at several Lutheran churches in Minnesota. Active in community affairs, he founded the Bethesda Hospital Nurses’ Choir in 1926 and directed it for 46 years. He composed a number of anthems and hymn tunes, four of which were included in The Hymnal, 1925, of the Augustana Synod, Lutheran Church. He died January 25, 1977.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
Heav’nly Father, hear our prayer
As we bow before You:
Bless them in the life they share,
Humble we implore You.
Be their guide in all endeavors,
Be their hope that nothing severs;
Constant source of love divine,
Let Your love within them shine!
2
As they pledge their love this day
Here before Your altar,
May their hearts, upon You stayed,
Never fail or falter.
Be their comfort in all sorrow;
Be their reason for tomorrow.
Grant them strength to live each hour
Trusting solely in Your pow’r.
3
Blest Creator, Lord of life,
Hear our glad thanksgiving.
Husband You have joined to wife
For their earthly living.
Justified by Jesus’ merit,
Life eternal they inherit.
When their days on earth have passed,
Take them to Your home at last!
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Matt 19:6
Author
Barbara E. Adam (1939-)
Copyright
Words copyright Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America. Reprinted by permission. Music copyright 1958 Service Book and Hymnal. Used by permission of Augsburg Publishing House.
Hymn Tune
NAME OF JESUS
Metrical Number
7.6.7.6.8.8.7.7.
Composer
Ralph A. Strom (1901-1977)
