The first stanza of this hymn, especially written for families and praising love in the home, comes from Ephesians 3:14,15: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Written in 1939 and printed first in 6.6.6.6.8.8. meter in the 1940 Report of the Joint Committee on the Revision of the Hymnal (Episcopal), Tucker changed the meter to fit the tune RHOSYMEDRE. It was then voted into the Hymnal 1940.

Francis Bland Tucker was born on January 6, 1895, the son of an Episcopalian bishop, at Norfolk, Virginia. His college work was at University of Virginia. At Virginia Theological Seminary he earned the B.D. in 1920 and the D.D. in 1944. After service in a hospital during World War I, he was ordained and served churches in Virginia and Washington, D.C. In 1945 he accepted a call to Christ Church, Savannah, Georgia, following in the footsteps John Wesley made there 210 years before. Tucker remained there until retirement in 1967.

He was a member of the committee for the hymnal noted above and was the only living member of that committee when work was begun on the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 (which was published in 1985). As a valued working member of that committee also, he was honored by this resolution in 1982: “His octogenarian vigor, seasoned humor, and artistic wisdom have been an inspiration to all with whom he has worked. He has been in our midst as a living symbol of the richness of our Anglican heritage, and of the high calling to preserve and enhance our praise of God through hymns.” Six of his hymns were in the Hymnal 1940, and a like number, plus some revisions and extra stanzas, in the Hymnal 1982.

When he retired, his parish gave him the rectory to live in for life. He loved to tease them with, “You never anticipated that I’d last so long!” It was in this beautiful 1853 house in Savannah’s historic district that he hosted the final meeting of the text committee for the Hymnal, 1982. At his funeral on January 4, 1984, eight great hymns were sung by the congregation, including “Our Father, by Whose Name.”

The tune RHOSYMEDRE was originally called LOVELY and ended with an extended “Hallelujah!” It was in John Edwards’ Original Sacred Music, published about 1840. John David Edwards was born December 19, 1805 or 1806, at Penderlyngoch, Cardiganshire, Wales, and graduated from Jesus College, Oxford. He became a deacon in 1820 and a priest in 1832. He ministered in the town of Rhosymedre, in North Wales, for many years, and died November 24, 1885. He wrote quite a bit of music, but this tune is best remembered. In many hymnals it is used with the text “My Song Is Love Unknown,” by Samuel Crossman (see SDAH 188), for which SDAH indicates RHOSYMEDRE as an alternate tune.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.