CHRISTIAN CHURCH >> COMMUNITY IN CHRIST
SDAH 352
This is My will, My one command,
That love should dwell among you all.
This is My will that you should love
As I have shown that I love you.
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For Worship Leaders
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Hymn Spotlight: This Is My Will
Based on John 15:12–17, this hymn beautifully captures Jesus’ command to love one another as He has loved us. Written by James Quinn and first published in New Hymns for All Seasons (1969), the text reminds us that Christ’s will for His followers is rooted in sacrificial love and lasting friendship. Set to the tender Irish melody SUANTRAI, arranged by T.H. Weaving, the lullaby-like tune invites us into quiet reflection on the heart of Christian discipleship—love expressed in humble service, even to the point of laying down our lives.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
The words paraphrase John 15:12-17. James Quinn (1919- ; see SDAH 349) included the hymn in his New Hymns for all Seasons, 1969.
The beautiful melody SUANTRAI is in Charles V. Stanford’s edition of The Complete Petrie Collection of Ancient Irish Music, 1902, where it has the title “Lullaby or Nursery Song.” Weaving arranged it for the Gaelic hymnal of the Church in Ireland, Leabhar Iomann.
Thomas Henry Weaving was born in 1881 in Birmingham, England, and educated at Wesley College, Dublin, Ireland. At the Royal Irish Academy of Music he studied piano, organ, harmony and counterpoint, double bass, and voice production. Later he taught at the academy. After serving as organist in various churches, he became organist-choirmaster at the Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, where he stayed for 30 years. He found his greatest personal enjoyment in The Strollers, a Dublin singing club more than 100 years old, the directorship of which he held from 1928 until his death in 1966. He wrote many anthems, hymn arrangements, and service music. Most of his material is unpublished but still in use at Christ Church Cathedral.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
This is My will, My one command,
That love should dwell among you all.
This is My will that you should love
As I have shown that I love you.
2
No greater love a man can have
Than that he die to save his friends.
You are My friends if you obey
What I command that you should do.
3
You chose not Me, but I chose you
That you should go and bear much fruit.
I chose you out that you in Me
Should bear much fruit that will abide.
4
All that I ask My Father, dear,
For My name’s sake you shall receive.
This is My will, My one command,
That love should dwell in each, in all.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
John 15:12-17
Author
James Quinn (1919-2010)
Year Published
1969
Copyright
Words copyright 1969 by James Quinn, SJ, printed by permission of Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell Ltd.
Hymn Tune
SUANTRAI
Metrical Number
L.M.
Arranged
T.H. Weaving (1881-1966)
Tune Source
Irish melody
