Christ is the heavenly food that gives (website only)
Christ is the heavenly food that gives
to every famished soul
new life and strength, new joy and hope,
and faith to make them whole.
We all are made for God alone,
without him we are dead;
no food suffices for the soul
but Christ, the living bread.
Christ is the unity that binds,
in one the near and far;
for we who share his life divine
his living body are.
On earth and in the realms beyond
one fellowship are we;
and at his altar we are knit
in mystic unity.
Words: Timothy Rees (1874–1939)
Metre: 86.86. (C.M.)
Suggested tune: Jerusalem (Grosvenor) (StF 436ii). Other options include Kilmarnock (StF 542) and Capel (StF 164)
Ideas for use
Timothy Rees’s hymn was written originally in 1922 for services of Holy Communion. It had a different opening verse that began, ‘Christ is the Sacrifice we plead / Before th’eternal throne’.* In its adapted version, with language modernised, it remains suitable for services of Communion but could also be used more widely.
The text was published here as part of the Methodist worship resources for Lent 2025, titled ‘Soul Food’. The theme grew out of the account of Jesus’ temptations in the desert (Luke 4:1-13), for which these words provide a helpful response.
Also reflected in these words is God’s desire to draw God’s people together as one, suggesting their suitability for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
More information
Timothy Rees (1874–1939) was an Anglican priest and academic. His hymn God is love: let heaven adore him (StF 103), popularised by the 1951 BBC Hymn Book, was one of four included in Hymn & Psalms. (Image right, design by LM Baur for memorial floor brass in Lady Chapel, Llandaff Cathedral.)
In 1906/7, Rees joined the monastic Community of the Resurrection (CR) at Mirfield, Yorkshire. Founded in 1892, the community was rooted in Christian Socialism. (A later member of the Order was the leading anti-apartheid spokesman, Trevor Huddleston.) Rees’s hymns often reflect the social and political contexts in which he wrote – for example, ‘O Crucified Redeemer’ (H&P 424) responds vividly to both the human cost of war and the impact of social inequality: “the anguish of a million hearts that break in dumb despair”.
Rees was principal of the theological college at Mirfield during the 1920s. In 1931, he was appointed Bishop of Llandaff, the first member of a religious community to be appointed to an Anglican see in Wales for over three centuries. It was a time of industrial depression and widespread unemployment. As president of the South Wales and Monmouthshire Council of Social Service, Rees helped to promote occupational clubs and other activities for the jobless and, in 1935, led a deputation to Whitehall to ask for government help in the rejuvenation of South Wales. He died on 29 April 1939 and is buried in Llandaff.
*JRW. "Christ is the heavenly food that gives." The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed December 8, 2024, http://www.hymnology.co.uk/c/christ-is-the-heavenly-food-that-gives.