DRUDGERY DIVINE
Teach Me, My God and King*
George Herbert (1593–1632)
Music by George Bayley (d. 2017)
Teach me, my God and King
In all things Thee to see;
And what I do in anything
To do it as for thee! To do it as for thee!
All may of Thee partake;
Nothing can be so mean
But with this tincture, “for thy sake,”
Cannot grow bright and clean. Cannot grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room, as for Thy sake,
Makes that and the action fine. Makes that and the action fine.
This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told. Cannot for less be told.
This hymn is sung as an anthem yearly by the choir. Our version combines old words with new music and channels the old “science” of alchemy (familiar to Harry Potter readers) to reveal the transforming power of God. The speaker/singer prays to be taught to see God in all things, so that any ‘thing’ the speaker does will be done as for God.
In the second stanza, the speaker testifies that God offers His love and transforming power to all, no matter how “mean” or degraded in this world, so as, as each takes part, each is transformed to wholeness, “bright and clean.” There’s a sweet, deft, irony that the “magic” words are so simple to say: “for thy/your sake.”
The third stanza cites a humble, daily, dusty task anyone can do of sweeping a room as something “fine,” or exceptional, when done in prayer.
What a comfort the final stanza assures us of! Owning God and being touched and “owned” by God replaces the long sought philosopher’s/sorcerer’s stone, thought to turn all to “gold,” for the value of those whom God “doth”(does) touch and own is true worth (“cannot for less be told”).
Sweet, mysterious, and profound. A blessing to sing and to hear, especially this Lent.
—Linda Jeffries-Summers
*A piano recording of the hymn can be found here.
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