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The United Methodist Hymnal · No. 627 · Words: Charles Wesley · Tune: STOOKEY
O the Depth of Love Divine
Create PowerPoint slides from this hymn →A 1745 Charles Wesley hymn meditating on the mystery of Holy Communion — how ordinary bread and wine convey Christ's divine presence and life to the faithful. It embraces the paradox rather than explaining it, inviting wonder over doctrine.
Verse 1
O depth of love divine,
the unfathomable grace!
Who shall say
how bread and wine
God into us conveys!
How the bread
his flesh imparts,
how the wine
transmits his blood,
fills his faithful
people’s hearts with
all the life of God!
Verse 2
Let the wisest mortals
show how we
the grace receive;
feeble elements bestow
a power not
theirs to give.
Who explains the
wondrous way,
how through these
the virtue came?
These the virtue
did convey, yet
still remain the same.
Verse 3
How can spirits
heavenward rise,
by earthly matter fed,
drink here with
divine supplies
and eat immortal bread?
Ask the Father’s
wisdom how:
Christ who did
the means ordain;
angels round our
altars bow to
search it out, in vain.
Verse 4
Sure and real
is the grace,
the manner be unknown;
only meet us
in thy ways
and perfect us in one.
Let us taste
the heavenly powers,
Lord, we ask
for nothing more.
Thine to bless,
’tis only ours to
wonder and adore.
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