New episodes are typically uploaded by Monday morning. 

Click here to listen to the audio.

Click here to watch the video.

Also available on your favorite podcast platform, Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo. 

Download the 8:50 a.m. Service bulletin

Download the 10:50 a.m. Service bulletin

Bulletins are uploaded on the Friday before these Sunday services.

by Joshua L. Mazur, Director of Music 

Sunday, August 3, 2026 

Hymn 660: O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee 

Some hymns ask God to do great things. Others ask Him to change us. "O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee" belongs firmly to the second category. Written in 1879 by the American pastor and social reformer Washington Gladden and paired with the gentle tune MARYTON by Henry Percy Smith, this beloved hymn is a quiet prayer that Christ would shape our hearts for lives of humble service. 

The opening stanza sets the tone for the entire hymn. 

"O Master, let me walk with thee 

in lowly paths of service free." 

Notice what the hymn does not ask for. It does not pray for success, recognition, or even extraordinary gifts. Instead, it asks for the grace simply to walk with Christ. The hymn reminds us that true discipleship is found in patient endurance, gentle speech, compassionate hearts, and faithful service. 

Each succeeding stanza deepens that prayer. We ask to learn Christ's patience amid the "strain of toil," to bring His peace into anxious places, to speak words that lift the discouraged, and to live with the quiet hope that comes from trusting Him. Rather than focusing on dramatic moments of faith, the hymn teaches us that holiness is often formed in the ordinary rhythms of daily life. 

The tune MARYTON perfectly complements the text. Its flowing melody is warm, graceful, and unhurried, allowing the congregation to sing as though offering a personal prayer. There is no sense of triumphalism. Instead, the music quietly invites us to place ourselves in the hands of Christ, asking Him to make us more like Himself. 

This hymn speaks beautifully to this Sunday's appointed lessons. In Genesis, Jacob wrestles through the night and emerges with both a blessing and a limp, forever changed by his encounter with God. In the Gospel, Jesus looks upon the hungry crowds with compassion, heals their sick, and feeds more than five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. His miracles reveal not only His divine power, but also His deep love for those in need. St. Paul, writing to the Romans, expresses his profound sorrow and love for his own people. Together these readings present a life of faith marked by perseverance, compassion, and self-giving love. 

That is precisely the life for which this hymn teaches us to pray. We are not called merely to admire Christ's compassion. We are called to imitate it. Having encountered Him in Word and Sacrament, we ask that our own lives might become instruments of His mercy in the world. 

As you sing this hymn on Sunday, notice how every stanza begins with a request. The Christian life is not self-improvement through determination alone. It is the lifelong work of Christ forming His likeness within us. 

As you sing, consider this question: 

How is Christ inviting me to serve someone this week with His compassion, His patience, and His love?