This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Oh, to walk with you, Lord Jesus
Oh, to walk with you, Lord Jesus
Oh, to walk with you, Lord Jesus,
on the hills of Galilee:
talk with you, pursue my questions,
hear you speaking just to me.
Yet you went, ascended to heaven,
to your Father, God Most High.
Send your Spirit to my heart, that
in my praying I'll know you, Lord, close by.
Oh, to see your face, Lord Jesus,
in the land of Palestine:
recognize your grace and presence,
know I'm yours and you are mine.
Yet the cloud concealed your ascension:
you now dwell in perfect light.
Send your Spirit to my heart, that
I may know you by faith instead of sight.
Oh, to feel your touch, Lord Jesus,
as you walked the Holy Land:
as the cripple, crutch discarded,
found his healing in your hand.
Yet you left, and promised your power:
clothing all who trust in you.
Send your Spirit to my heart, that
I may feel you and spread your healing too.
In these latter days, Lord Jesus,
sometimes doubts can grip my mind.
I lament the haze which hides you:
I'm two thousand years behind.
Yet you reign, Lord Jesus, in heaven,
for they witnessed you ascend.
Send your Spirit to my heart, that
I'll be certain you're with me to the end.
Words copyright © John Hartley 2007.
Story behind the song
I wrote the words for this hymn on Ascension Day 2007 (17th May), while revisiting an old sermon on how Jesus could say that it was to his disciples advantage that he should go away, for if he went he would send the Spirit to them (John 16:7 - and the sermon was a variation of the one which appears in one of Rev'd Michael Botting's book of talks for family services in the "Teaching the Families" series). I was trying to address the wistful question "Wouldn't it be better if I could still meet Jesus in the flesh?"
There has been a bit of discussion about the tenses of the hymn: whether I should have recast the first half of each verse into the past tense ("To have walked with you, Lord Jesus ..." etc.), but I was trying to express the desire for a close walk in the present rather than in the past, even though Jesus' ascension is now many years in the past. The song tries to take up the ways in which Jesus can still be real to the believer through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who is now given to us.
Note: at present there is no tune for this hymn, which is why the media player above and the graphic below are both disabled.
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.