Lead me, O God, the day is done (website only)
Lead me, O God – the day is done;
What troubles lie ahead?
The night is dark, the path unknown,
Where now my feet must tread.
Lead me, O God – for darkness shines
With you as morning light;
Held by your hand, the strength is mine
To pass the gates of night.
Lead me, O God – keep me, I pray;
Sustain me by your power.
Encircle me; safeguard my way
Each day, each night, each hour.
Lead me, O God – to you I cling;
Hold me to your sure way,
And when the night has passed, I’ll sing
Your praise at break of day.
Words and music © Rosalind Smith
Metre: 86.86.
Download words and music:
arrangement for piano (PDF)
three-part harmony with instrumental lines (PDF)
For an alternative tune, there are many 86.86. (Common Metre) options in Singing the Faith. You may like to start with St Columba (Erin) (StF 155i). Other options include St Fulbert (StF 73i) and Dundee (StF 549).
Ideas for use
Rosalind’s setting has a lovely modal/folk quality, which works well with the words. It is worth getting to know, though alternative tunes are also an option (see above).
Most obviously this is an evening hymn. It would fit well within a service of Compline (see below). However, these words also speak to those facing difficult times, if the idea of darkness is also taken to meet a period of entering the unknown. (Note verses 11-12 of Psalm 139, which were one of Rosalind’s sources of inspiration.) And for those working night shifts, here are words of comfort:
Lead me, O God – for darkness shines
With you as morning light;
Held by your hand, the strength is mine
To pass the gates of night.
More information
These words by Rosalind Smith really struck a chord with the StF hymn submissions group. Theologically, the message that God is present in the darkness as well as the light is an important one. It is reflected in two sources of inspiration that Rosalind references: : Psalm 139, vv. 11 to 12, and the preamble to Minnie Louise Haskin’s poem, The Gate of the Year, made famous by King George VI in his Christmas speech in 1939:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown".
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way".
There is a timeless quality about the text (with echoes in it of the evening Office of Compline), but the words arose from Rosalind’s own experience of long illness with ME/CFS that resulted from a virus:
“I remember the feeling that I was entering uncharted and difficult territory, where I felt I had nothing left and hence could depend only on God. It was this sense of stepping out into the dark, together with the reliability of the One in whom I was putting my trust, that I wanted to communicate.”
Rosalind’s words suggested other contexts to the submissions group, including the Take Back the Night campaign; and the work of Street Pastors in town centres. Beneath the sung words lie suggestions of individuals, women in particular, making their way home along poorly lit streets; and of pastoral groups going about their work as the pubs and clubs empty on a Friday night.
For some, there may also be a sense of the questioning, worried times in the middle of the night when we want to be asleep but find ourselves awake instead.
These are the experiences of everyday (or ‘everynight’) that give Rosalind’s words a striking immediacy. At the same time they hold all our actions, hopes and situations within the encircling love of God. In the repeated prayer that God will lead the way, we acknowledge the divine presence going before us, walking beside us, and sustaining our life-long pilgrimage.
Compline
The name ‘Compline’ comes from the Latin word for ‘completion’, and the service is one of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. In the monastic tradition established by St Benedict of Nursia, compline was the last of the seven daytime prayer liturgies, followed only by a nighttime Vigil.
See e.g. the Church of England Order for Night Prayer (Compline). Within the Methodist Worship Book there are two liturgies for Morning, Afternoon, or Evening Services. Another contemporary example of an Evening Liturgy is included in the Iona Abbey Worship Book (revised in 2016).
Rosalind Smith
Rosalind Smith has been an accredited Methodist local preacher for 20 years. Following her long interest in mission and outreach, she spent six years working with her husband for the United Methodist Church in Romania. She is a part-time local lay pastor in the Newark and Southwell Methodist Circuit. Married with three daughters and one granddaughter, Rosalind lived with ME/CFS while her children were young, and was severely limited in what she could do for many years following.