Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?
Mark 10:38
Words: Earl B. Marlatt, 1926. Marlatt was on the faculty at the Boston University Theological Seminary School of Religious Education when he was asked to write an original hymn for a consecration service.
Music: Beacon Hill Harry S. Mason, 1924 (🔊 pdf nwc). Mason was a graduate student at the same school.
If you know where to get a good photo of Mason (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Are ye able,
said the Master,
To be crucified with Me?
Yea,
the sturdy dreamers answered,
To the death we follow Thee.
Refrain
Lord, we are able. Our spirits are Thine.
Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine.
Thy guiding radiance above us shall be
A beacon to God, to love and loyalty.
Are you able to relinquish
Purple dreams of power and fame,
To go down into the Garden,
Or to die a death of shame?
Refrain
Are ye able, when the anguish
Racks your mind and heart with pain,
To forgive the souls who wrong you,
Who would make your striving vain?
Refrain
Are ye able to remember,
When a thief lifts up his eyes,
That his pardoned soul is worthy
Of a place in paradise?
Refrain
Are ye able when the shadows
Close around you with the sod,
To believe that spirit triumphs,
To commend your soul to God?
Refrain
Are ye able? Still the Master
Whispers down eternity,
And heroic spirits answer,
Now as then in Galilee.
Refrain