The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended
The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended
The second and third stanzas articulate a theology of the church's continuous praise that goes beyond any single evening service: the church around the globe is always in prayer, always in praise, so that every local act of evening worship participates in an unceasing global liturgy. This is a profound ecclesiological vision — the church not as a local institution but as a worldwide body in which the prayer of the part is always caught up in the prayer of the whole. The final stanza's confidence that God's 'throne shall never pass away' connects the evening's closing to eschatological permanence.
History & Background
John Ellerton (1826-1893) wrote this text in 1870 for a mission festival, and it captures a remarkable theological vision: the daily and the global held together in a single evening hymn. As one part of the world settles into darkness, another part is waking to morning prayer — so the church's praise is literally continuous around the globe. This ecumenical and missionary dimension gave the hymn particular resonance in the Victorian era of global mission, and it was famously sung at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Clement Cotterill Scholefield (1839-1904) composed the tune ST CLEMENT specifically for this text, and the combination became immediately popular. The tune's gentle evening character suits the text's meditative quality while its final phrase has a quiet confidence appropriate to the missionary vision of the final stanza.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 569
- Glory to God — 665
- The Hymnal 1982 — 24
- Lutheran Book of Worship — 274
- United Methodist Hymnal — 690
Bulletin Note
Text by John Ellerton (1826-1893), 1870. Tune: ST CLEMENT, Clement Scholefield (1839-1904). Sung at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 1897.
Preaching Connection
As we end our evening service, Christians in another timezone are beginning their morning prayers — which means the church's praise never ceases, which means our small local gathering is always part of something much larger.
Themes
evening global church mission continuous praise ecumenical eschatology worldwide communion