Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions
January 28 O ZION, HASTE Mary Ann Thomson, 1834–1923 May Your ways be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. (Psalm 67:2) The Christian church is God’s appointed means of spreading the gospel around the world. A church that is not a missionary church will quench the Spirit of God and miss His blessing. God’s agenda for history is “that all nations might believe and obey Him” (Romans 16:26). All too often, however, the church has allowed itself to become self-centered, merely maintaining the status quo and failing to respond actively to this biblical directive. That’s why we need missionary hymns like this one. Its author, Mary Ann Thomson, was born in London, England, but spent most of her life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was active in the Church of the Annunciation. She wrote a number of hymns and poems, this being the only one to survive, however. She wrote “O Zion, Haste” out of a stressful experience in 1868. One night, as she was watching her child who ...