Hymn

Your Mission

If you cannot on the ocean

Sail among the swiftest fleet,

Rocking on the highest billows,

Laughing at the storms you meet,

You can stand among the sailors,

Anchored yet within the bay,

You can lend a hand to help them,

As they launch their boat away.

If you are too weak to journey

Up the mountain steep and high,

You can stand within the valley,

While the multitude go by;

You can chant in happy measure,

As they slowly pass along;

Though they may forget the singer,

They will not forget the song.

If you have not gold and silver

Ever ready to command;

If you cannot toward the needy

Reach an ever open hand,

You can visit the afflicted,

O'er the erring you can weep

You can be a true disciple

Sitting at the Saviour's feet.

If you cannot in the harvest

Garner up the richest sheaf,

Many a grain both ripe and golden

Will the careless reapers leave;

Go and glean among the briers,

Growing rank against the wall,

For it may be that the shadow

Hides the heaviest wheat of all.

Your Mission — Text from Laudes Domini, 1890. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/your-mission

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Questions about this hymn

Who wrote Your Mission?

The words of Your Mission were written by Ellen M. H. Gates; the version here was published in 1890. The library also holds Home of the Soul, another hymn by Ellen M. H. Gates.

Is Your Mission public domain?

Yes. The words here are taken from Laudes Domini, published in 1890. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.