Washington Gladden (1836-1918) was given his first name in honor of his great-grandfather who served as George Washington’s bodyguard in the Revolutionary War. Washington Gladden came to faith at age eighteen. While he listened to many appeals by revivalist preachers, it was the gentle influence of a “clear-headed minister” who helped him “trust the Father’s love for him.” He pastored churches in New York and Massachusetts before coming to a Congregational church in Columbus, Ohio in 1882, where he served for thirty-six years. It was the post-Civil War era, a time plagued with economic and political corruption. Washington championed the rights of workers and was one of the first pastors in the nation to advocate for trade unions. He was so upset with cronyism in Columbus politics that he ran and was elected to the Columbus City Council. He spoke out against racism and opposed segregation. He took heat for his activism.
The sting of criticism weighed heavy on him one evening as he sat in the sanctuary and prayed for guidance. He later shared his prayer with his congregation, under the title “Walking with God.” The prayer was subsequently turned into the hymn “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee.” The hymn expresses in simple language what we all feel–the desire to walk with God. Stanza 1 asks for the privilege of walking with God in “lowly paths of service free” to learn how to bear “the strain of toil, the fret of care.” He prays for help in stanza 2 to move the “slow of heart” by some “clear, winning word of love” and guide “wayward feet” in “the homeward way.” Stanza 3 turns the prayer back on himself by requesting patience to walk with God in “closer, clearer company.” Stanza 4 takes the long view of looking “far down the future’s broadening way” to live in his Master’s hope and peace. He omitted the words from his public version of the prayer, “Help me to bear the sting of spite, the hate of men who hide thy light.”
Walking with God was central to Glidden’s theology. He wrote in his autobiography Recollections near the end of his life, “Religion is nothing but friendship, friendship with God and with all people.” His prayer leads us into deeper friendship with God: