May the Mind of Christ My Savior
May the Mind of Christ My Savior
Katie Barclay Wilkinson
1 May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By his love and pow'r controlling
All I do and say.
2 May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through his pow'r.
3 May the peace of God, my Father,
Rule my life in ev'rything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.
4 May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea.
Him exalting, self abasing:
This is victory.
5 May we run the race before us,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As we onward go.
“May the mind of Christ my Savior” was written with children particularly in mind. It first appeared in the Children’s Special Service Mission hymnal, Golden Bells (1925), and seems to be the only known hymn by Kate (Katie) Barclay Wilkinson.
The hymn draws upon several phrases from the letters of the New Testament. The opening line paraphrases an injunction to the early church in Philippi: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Verse 2, emphasizing the importance of the scriptures in Christian living, borrows from Colossians 3:16 (“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”); and verse 5 draws on Hebrews 12:1-2 – “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us”.
However, though there may be an intentional teaching element to this hymn, there is nothing preachy about the text. Rather, there is a personal, prayerful, quality to the writing.
In a sequence of simple petitions, each verse draws upon the life of Jesus as sole guide and example for the spiritual and practical Christian life. Naming the gifts and qualities that God offers through Christ (the “mind of Christ”, God’s Word, the peace of God, and the love of Jesus), Wilkinson shows that they are all offered to us in order that we may offer them on to others – “that I may be calm to comfort / sick and sorrowing” – “so that all may see I triumph / only through his power”.
The hymn has an original sixth verse:
May his beauty rest upon me
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only him.
This reads like a slightly pale echo of verse 2 and represents a falling-off from the confident, almost exultant, fifth verse with which the now familiar version of the hymn concludes.
Little is known about Kate Barclay Wilkinson. She was born on 27 August, 1859, in Timperley, Cheshire, and died on 28 December, 1928, in Kensington, London. A member of the Church of England, she appears to have worked with girls and young women in West London.
Blessings,
Dorene
Source:
https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/hymns/may-the-mind-of-christ-my-saviour-stf-504/
https://hymnary.org/text/may_the_mind_of_christ_my_savior