Feast of Edwin Hodder (March 1)

Above:  The Union Jack

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EDWIN HODDER (DECEMBER 13, 1837-MARCH 1, 1904)

English Biographer, Devotional Writer, and Hymn Writer

Edwin Hodder, born in Staines, Middlesex County, England, in 1837, migrated to New Zealand in 1856, when he was nineteen years old.  Five years later he returned to his homeland and commenced a career in the Civil Service, retiring in 1897.  His hobbies obviously included researching and writing, for Hodder produced an impressive line of of books (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Hodder%2c%20Edwin%2c%201837-1904), from biographies (http://archive.org/details/lifeofsamuelmorl00hodduoft and http://archive.org/details/lifeworkofsevent00hoddiala) to histories of missions (http://archive.org/details/cu31924023021755, http://archive.org/details/cu31924073052809, and http://archive.org/details/conquestsofcross03hodd) to histories (http://archive.org/details/historysouthaus03hoddgoog and http://archive.org/details/historyofsouthau02hodd) to The New Sunday School Hymn Book (first edition, 1863; revised and enlarged edition, 1868).

I have posted one of Hodder’s hymns, “Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord,” at my GATHERED PRAYERS blog.  According to the hymn, God’s Word is like, in sequence, a garden, a glorious choir, an armory, and a trusty sword.

Careers can be ways to serve God and to help one’s fellow human beings.  And so can hobbies.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 18, 2013 COMMON ERA

PROPER 15–THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF ERDMANN NEUMEISTER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT HELENA, MOTHER OF EMPEROR CONSTANTINE I

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PORCHER DUBOSE, EPISCOPAL THEOLOGIAN

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God of grace and glory,

you have given a rich variety of interests and talents to us; thank you.

Thank you for those who have served you and helped their fellow human beings

in their daily lives habitually via their vocations yet most memorably their avocations,

and for those who do so.

May we, reminded of and encouraged in our responsibilities to you and each other by their examples,

continue faithfully in the endeavors you assign us.

In the name of Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 38:24-34a

Psalm 33

Romans 14:7-8

Matthew 5:13-16

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 14, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CROFT, ANGLICAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS, EPISCOPAL SEMINARIAN AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

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Revised on December 23. 2016

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