For those who have difficulty sleeping, do you know there is a hymn written expressly for those among us who struggle with sleep? The first verse of this 350-year-old hymn sets the tone for everything that follows in its 14 stanzas, asking God to release us from all impure thoughts and terrors of the night. Thomas Ken (1637-1711) is best known for three hymns he composed during his years as a college chaplain. He initially wrote two hymns, one for the morning and the other for the evening, which are still included in most hymnals today. His evening hymn,”All Praise to Thee, My God This Night” is one I can recall singing in vesper services. He penned these songs for students at Winchester College at Oxford University for use upon rising in the morning and at bedtime each evening. He wrote in the forward to his manual, “It is good to tell of the loving kindness of the Lord in the morning and of his truth in the night season.” He later added a third hymn, My God, When I in Sleep Awake, for students requesting a song to settle them at midnight. This nocturnal hymn has fallen out of favor in our day. I suggest we bring it back into circulation! All three hymns have this in common: they conclude with the Doxology, widely sung in churches today. Likely, you have sung the lyrics, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Him, all creatures here below, praise him above, ye heav’nly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Ken also included in his student manual prayers for morning and evening use. We join in praying one of his more popular prayers:
Thomas Ken
O God, make the door of this house wide enough
to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
and a heavenly Father’s care;
and narrow enough to shut out
all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough
to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back
the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway
to thine eternal kingdom.
“Three Hymns and a Doxology by Thomas Ken, Hymnology Archive
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.