With Humble Heart
171

Text: Zara Sabin (1892–1980; LDS)
Music: Thomas L. Durham (b. 1950; LDS)
Tune name: WITH HUMBLE HEART

The familiar weekly ritual of partaking of the sacrament can become, unfortunately, a habit that may not carry a great deal of meaning. “With Humble Heart” reminds us that the sacrament offers an opportunity for profound insights and spiritual rededication.

Using the first person pronouns I and we, Zara Sabin describes an experience of being personally touched by the sacrament. In the first verse she alludes to the patterns and symbols that characterize any conscientious worshiper: she thinks of the Savior, taking the bread and water in his remembrance. But her thoughts then begin to reach for a deeper spiritual sense, one that moves beyond this outward ritual; her prayer is to “grow, dear Lord, to be like thee.” These last four words kindle a spiritual high point, and they are immediately repeated as the opening of verse three: “To be like thee!” The possibility of becoming like the Savior— the meaning of this gift, this goal— causes her to lift her eyes from earth to heaven, and the hymn concludes with a prayer for “a change of heart, another birth,” to make this possibility a reality.

The hymn tune was written in Salt Lake City in 1973. Composer Thomas L. Durham stated: “My father, Lowell M. Durham, who is also a contributor to the hymnbook, mentioned to me in 1973 that a new hymnal was being proposed. He handed me three or four different poems, and the one by Zara Sabin appealed to me because it was a sacrament hymn. It has always been my feeling that the sacrament hymns of the Church are the best— musically and spiritually. I sat right down at the piano, wrote out the melody, and the harmony followed immediately thereafter. The hymn nearly composed itself in the thirty to sixty minutes I was at the piano.”

The text and tune appeared together for the first time in the 1985 hymnal.