O My Father

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"O My Father" (originally "My Father in Heaven",[1] also "Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother"[2]) is a Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) hymn written by Eliza R. Snow who felt inspired to write it after Joseph Smith, Jr. had taught her the principle of heavenly parents. The hymn is interesting in terms of Mormon theology in that it is one of the few direct references to a "Heavenly Mother" in materials published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After discussing pre-mortal existence and a sense of belonging to "a more exalted sphere" in heaven, stanza three reasons that the if there is an eternal Father there must also be an eternal Mother:

I had learned to call thee Father, Through thy Spirit from on high,
But until the key of knowledge Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal Tells me I've a mother there.

Snow wrote "O My Father" under the title "My Father in Heaven" in October 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Times and Seasons first published the words on 15 November 1845, more than a year after Joseph Smith, Jr. was killed.[1] The poetry was later set to the music of another Christian hymn, "My Redeemer" by James McGranahan, and included in Latter-day Saint hymnals, including the current one. When a collection of Snow's poems were published in 1856, this work was placed first in the double-volume set and entitled "Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother".[2]

Contents

[edit] Lyrics

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?
For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,”
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.
I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.
When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Eliza R. Snow, "My Father in Heaven", Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 1039 (15 November 1845).
  2. ^ a b Eliza R. Snow, Poems, Religious, Historical, and Political (Liverpool: F.D. Richards, 1856) 1:1–2.

[edit] External links

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