Hymn Reflection: Father in Heaven, Grant to Your Children

Introduction

“Father in Heaven, Grant to Your Children” is a trinitarian prayer hymn written by a Methodist theologian from Sri Lanka, Daniel Thambyarajah Niles (1908–1970). He wrote this hymn to fit Elena Granada Maquiso’s tune HALAD, a Cebuano term for “offering,” to be included in the East Asia Christian Conference Hymnal (1964) that he himself edited. The website Hymnary.org identifies Niles not as author, but as translator of a hymn originally authored by Elena Maquiso.[1] There is no mention of the title of the original Filipino hymn text source of Niles’s translation, which brings this piece of information into question.

Maquiso wrote two hymn texts for the tune HALAD, first published in the Filipino hymnal Alawiton sa Pagtoo (Hymns of Faith), which includes many of her original compositions and hymn texts. One is a one-stanza offertory response titled Panalangini ang Among Halad (Bless our Offering), whose text translates “Bless our offering that we bring before you, may we receive your grace, O Father, Amen.”[2] Obviously, this was not the text that Niles translated, since it has only one stanza, against Niles’ three stanzas, plus the texts show no resemblance. The second hymn text, titled O, Amahan nga Mahigugmaon which translates “O Loving Father,” is a prayer hymn asking for God’s mercy and guidance with life’s difficult problems (see original text in the table below).

Comparing my English translation of Maquiso’s O Amahan nga Mahigugmaon and Niles’s “Father in Heaven, Grant to Your Children” one can clearly see that Niles’ hymn text is totally different from Maquiso’s text.[4] Additionally, Maquiso’s text contains four stanzas while Niles’s has only three. Both are prayer hymns, but Maquiso’s text is a rather general prayer while Niles’s addresses the Trinity. It seems obvious that Niles’ work is not a translation of Maquiso’s.

Here I see two possibilities: First, Niles perhaps wrote a new hymn text for Maquiso’s tune HALAD. Or, second, he might have translated an unpublished text of Maquiso’s for the tune HALAD. It seems that further research is called for. If, indeed, Hymnary.org is referring to O Amahan nga Mahigugmaon (O, Loving Father) as the original text translated by Niles into “Father in Heaven, Grant to Your Children,” corrections need to be made.

The Composer

Elena Granada Maquiso (1914–1995) wrote the music for this hymn. She was born in Guindulman, Bohol, Philippines, and finished her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Christian Education at Silliman University, Dumaguete City in 1948 and 1949. In 1951, she obtained the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Education. She studied at the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary in New York the year after that. In 1966 she finished her doctoral program in Religious Education in the same seminary.[5] In 1974, she edited the first Cebuano hymnal of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Alawiton sa Pagtoo.

The tune HALAD is based on an Ilonggo folk lullaby, Ili, Ili, Tulog Anay (Little One, Little One, Sleep Now)[6]. Maquiso developed the folk tune into a hymn tune by changing the meter from triple to quadruple, by changing some note values, and by adding and omitting some notes.[7] This hymn is best sung with the guitar as accompanying instrument.

Stanza Analyses

1 Father in heaven, grant to your children
Mercy and blessing, songs never ceasing;
Love to unite us, grace to redeem us,
Father in heaven, Father, our God.

The first stanza opens with an address to the Father in heaven, an allusion to the first line of the Lord’s prayer (Matt. 6:9), asking for the Father’s mercy and blessing, unending offering of songs, the love of the Father that unites his children and his grace that redeems his people from sin. God the Father is seen here as the source of goodness, mercy, love, grace, and the source of faith expressions in song. In the last line, the “Father in heaven” is recognized as God.

This stanza has also undergone some textual alterations. The United Methodist Hymnal, for instance, changed the first line to “O God in heaven, grant to thy children,” and the last line into “O God in heaven, dear Lord, our God.”[8] The Hymnal of a Faith Journey of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines did the same for the first line, “O God in heaven, grant to your children,” and changed the last line to “O God in heaven, author of love.”[9]

2 Jesus, Redeemer, may we remember
Your gracious passion, your resurrection:
Worship we bring you, praise we shall sing you,
Jesus, Redeemer, Jesus, our Lord.

In the second stanza, Jesus is described as Redeemer and we are invited to remember how Jesus saved us, as manifested in his suffering on the cross and his resurrection, as narrated in the gospels. The third line proceeds with the Redeemer as someone who is worthy of worship and praise because of this redemptive act. This stanza invites the believer to render worship and praises in song to Jesus, our Lord, because of his gift of salvation. The last line repeats the first two words in the first line of this stanza with an added phrase recognizing Jesus as Lord.

3 Spirit descending, whose is the blessing:
Strength for the weary, help for the needy;
Sealing Christ’s Lordship, blessing our worship,
Spirit descending, Spirit adored.

In this last stanza, the author mentions the “Spirit descending.” A Biblical allusion close to this phrase is found in Matthew 3:16, reading “the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” The Holy Spirit comes down to us to strengthen and give hope when all else seems hopeless; providing “help for the needy,” those on the margins and those who are lost. It is also the Holy Spirit which promotes, mediates, and affirms the Lordship of Christ through the way Christ is reflected in our lives.

Overall Evaluation

This hymn is simple; it does not use figurative languages to get its message across. It is noticeable that for each stanza, the last line is always a variation of the first, probably, a technique used by the author to show consistency. The first to the last stanzas evoke God the Father, Jesus the Redeemer and the Spirit descending, all three as members of the Triune God. However, the hymn lacks a closure stanza to describe more fully the indwelling of the three in the Triune God. Another weakness that I see is that while the second and last stanzas mention the worship of Jesus the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit, there is no mention that the God of heaven is worthy of worship too. Nevertheless, the simplicity of this hymn provides a ready and easy avenue for believers to understand the Trinity in ways that are modest, yet relevant and meaningful to their context.

Notes

[1] “Father in Heaven, Grant to Your Children,” https://hymnary.org/text/father_in_heaven_grant_ to_your_children, accessed January 30, 2018.

[2] Alawiton sa Pagtoo, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (Dumaguete City: Silliman University Press, Inc., 1974), 165.

[3] Ibid., 328.

[4] Elena Maquiso and I speak the same native language, Cebuano, the language she used in writing O Amahan nga Mahigugmaon.

[5] Elena G. Maquiso, “A Study of Indigenous Hymns in the Evangelical Church in the Philippines: Implications for Christian Education” (Ph.D. diss., Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1966), ii.

[6] Filipinos who speak Ilonggo or Hiligaynon live predominantly in the middle part of the Philippines, the Visayas region, particularly in Panay, Guimaras and Negros Occidental.

[7] Elena Maquiso, “A Study of Indigenous Hymns in the Evangelical Church in the Philippines: Implications for Christian Education,” 106–107.

[8] The United Methodist Hymnal: Book of United Methodist Worship (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 119.

[9] Hymnal of a Faith Journey (Quezon City: United Church of Christ in the Philippines, 2002).