Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love
The hymn embodies the Lutheran emphasis on faith expressing itself through love and service, rooted in Christ's example of radical humility in washing the disciples' feet. It calls believers to emulate Christ's sacrificial servant love as the fruit of Gospel grace.
History & Background
Tom Colvin wrote this hymn in 1969 while serving as a missionary in Kenya, adapting it to an African melody (Chereponi). The text was first published in World of Worship (1969) and has since become widely used in Lutheran and ecumenical worship.
Tom Colvin , long-term missionary to Africa, wrote Scripture References this text in 1963 in Chereponi, northern Ghana, while he was st. 1 =John 13:2-5 attending a lay-training course in agriculture, development, and evangelism. New converts had brought a folk melody to this meeting, which they thought might be appropriate for a text about Christian love. Colvin explained his writing of the text as follows: Sitting there in the moonlight, I felt it simply had to be about black and white, rich and poor. I was ashamed of the wasteful affluence of my people but proud of the Gospel that transforms us into servants of one another. It is only when we who are rich learn to have the humility of the slave towards the poor of the world that we shall be able to learn from them; they have so much to teach us and share with us. Colvin shared text and tune with the Iona Community in Scotland. After the hymn was published in their collection Free to Serve: Hymns from Africa (1968), its popularity spread to other Christian communities. It was also published in many other hymnbooks. 776 SOCIETY This fine text is based on Jesus’ personalized object lesson on servanthood when he washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-17) and on Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan. That parable was his response to the question “Who is my Neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37).
Hymnal Appearances
- Chalice Hymnal — 600
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 708
- Glory to God — 203
- The Hymnal 1982 — 602
- Lutheran Service Book — 980
- Lift Up Your Hearts — 366
- New Century Hymnal — 498
- Psalter Hymnal — 601
- United Methodist Hymnal — 432
- Voices Together — 395
- With One Voice — 765
Liturgical Use
Many occasions of worship in which Christian servanthood is the theme, thus missions services and services that focus on diaconal work.
Bulletin Note
Composed by Tom Colvin in 1969, set to the West African tune CHEREPONI, this hymn fuses the Maundy Thursday washing with contemporary witness to serve Christ in the hungry, stranger, and prisoner.
Preaching Connection
This hymn embodies the Law's demand for sacrificial service by grounding it entirely in the Gospel's prior gift of Christ's self-emptying love, making discipleship not obligation but grateful response.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From Christ's exemplary self-emptying love (John 13 foot-washing) to the Church's mandate for humble service, expanding from known neighbors to enemies, and culminating in eschatological healing and justice
Themes
Servant leadership Humility Foot washing Christian love Discipleship