Reverently and Meekly Now
185

Text: Joseph L. Townsend (1849–1942; LDS)
Music: Ebenezer Beesley (1840–1906; LDS)
Tune name: MEEKNESS

This hymn should call forth special reverence from Latter- day Saints because in singing it we are singing words the poet imagined as those of the Savior himself. Instead of our petitioning him, he is pleading with us to remember his sacrifice, to be prayerful, and to be peaceable and forgiving toward one another.

It is the point of view of this hymn that is so startling and yet so effective. In simple terms, “point of view” means the vantage point from which a story or poem is given. It often involves the question of who the speaker or teller is assumed to be. This hymn is from the point of view of the Savior. Jesus is the speaker.

The writer, Joseph L. Townsend, wrote the words he imagined the Savior would say to us if he could speak to us directly just before the administration of the sacrament. In the hymn text, Jesus first describes the agony of his crucifixion. He then enjoins us to remember what the sacramental emblems stand for. Next, he asks for an end to strife and disagreement; the reward of forgiveness among us will be his “Spirit’s grace.” And finally, he tells us of his love for us and of his hope that we will choose to follow him in obedience.

This hymn was part of the choir section of the 1950 hymnal. In its original arrangement, men’s voices alone sang the third line and the first half of line four. All four parts are now given in these measures, though in the last line the two measures for women’s voices were retained as in the original arrangement. The key was lowered.

When Hugh D. McKeller of the University of Toronto reviewed the 1985 hymnal for the April 1986 issue of The Hymn, the journal of the Hymn Society, he singled out this hymn for special praise (45): “A cameo like ‘Reverently and Meekly Now’ would enhance a communion [sacrament] service in any church.”

The text of this hymn first appeared in 1891, and tune and text were published together in the 1896 Latter- day Saints’ Psalmody.