History of Hymns: 'Christ Be in Your Senses'

"Christ Be in Your Senses”
by Mary Louise Bringle

Christ be in your senses,
marked with sacred sign.
In the Incarnation
flesh became divine.
Christ be in your hearing,
tune you to rejoice;
in each shout or whisper,
hear God's calling voice.
© 2002 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The hymn “Christ Be in Your Senses” by Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle (b. 1953) is a beautiful example of how prayer and music can connect the sacred with the everyday. This hymn encourages believers to invite Christ into every aspect of their lives, including their senses. Her text juxtaposes the holy with the mundane by engaging the five senses.

In 2000, Catholic Composer William Rowan (b. 1951) asked Bringle to prepare a hymn for the Roman Catholic Rite of the “Signing of the Senses,” part of the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. The text was set to Rowan’s tune, APPALACIAN FALL, where it first appeared in the author’s collection, Joy Wonder, Love and Longing (Chicago, 2002) and subsequently in several Catholic hymnals—Gather Comprehensive (2nd Ed.) (2004), Gather (3rd Ed.) (2011), Worship (4th Ed.) (2011)—and two Protestant collections, Community of Christ Sings (2013) and Voices Together (2020).

The ritual, “Signing of the Senses,” signifies a pivotal moment for those seeking to join the church, marking their transition from being outside the church to being formally welcomed into the community of faith. It is a “ritual performance that affects the transformation in the soon-to-be-catechumen,” symbolizing their willingness to live according to the Gospel (O’Malley, 2019, p. 48).

A primary ritual action in the rite is tracing the cross on the forehead, followed optionally by the signing of the senses—ears, eyes, lips, heart, shoulders, hands, and feet—each with a blessing. This embodied blessing inspires Bringle's hymn, reflecting the belief that our senses can be dedicated to God's service and transformed into instruments of divine grace. This ritual invites us to visualize the sacred within the mundane and realize that only through God's grace can we encounter the divine within our simplest moments.

Rooted in the concept of the Incarnation, the hymn opens with a theological reflection on the presence of Christ in human life. Bringle begins the text by saying, “Christ be in your senses, / marked with sacred sign. / In the incarnation, / flesh became divine." Bringle connects the humanity of Christ with our human experience. This stanza reflects the union of the sacred with the ordinary, as well as the human and the divine, driving home the idea that Christ is not a figure to worship from afar but a presence that imbues our lives through our senses.

Subsequent stanzas invite us to recognize Christ with every sensation we experience. The hymn resonates with teachings found in the New Testament, where the apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (NRSV). "Christ Be in Your Senses" shows that all the senses can become pathways to encounter Christ.

Stanza 2 is a prayer of provision from Christ. “Christ be in your vision, guard you day and night” speaks of a need for direction and safety, a prayer for clarity in our lives. The hymn continues by inviting us to bear Christian witness in all we speak: “Christ be in your speaking, train your every word.” We bear a verbal witness through the sermon in liturgy and in every conversation and personal interaction.

The third stanza introduces us to a more intimate part of our existence—breathing. Breathing is essential to human life. Bringle emphasizes bringing this unconscious action that sustains life to a moment of connection with God. Genesis 2:7 portrays God breathing life into humanity, and later, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into his disciples (John 20:22). To live is to breathe. Bringle's text reminds us to live in the grace of God constantly.

“Christ Be in Our Senses” is ultimately a prayer for transformation. Through the text, Christians are invited to see their lives not as separate from their faith but as intertwined with God's presence. By reflecting on our senses in the hymn, we see the world through a lens of ultimate divine grace, where every action has the potential to become holy. It reminds us that the work of the Spirit is not only in the grandiose and divine but also in the simple and mundane acts of our lives.

The recapitulation of the initial four lines at the end reconnects the hymn with the central theme of sanctifying the senses. The constant invocation of Christ in our senses conforms every action to prayer, reminding us that God is not limited to sacred spaces but is present in any part of our lives.

Mary Louise Bringle, one of the leading hymn writers of this century, is a professor of philosophy and religion at Bravard College (North Carolina), an institution she has served since 2000. She has served as president of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (2008–2010) and was the chair of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (2008–2012) that produced Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (2013). Bringle was elected a Fellow of the Hymn Society in 2020.

SOURCES:

Mary Louise Bringle. “Christ Be in Our Senses,” Joy and Wonder, Love and Longing, GIA Publications, 2002 (pages 26–27).

Timothy P. O’Malley, Divine Blessing: Liturgical Formation in the RCIA (Collegeville, Minnesota, United States of America: Liturgical Press, 2019).

Chelsea Stern, “Mary Louise Bringle,” The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, http://www.hymnology.co.uk/m/mary-louise-bringle.

Jacob Royle is a senior organ performance major at the University of North Texas (Denton), where he studies organ with Dr. Malcolm Matthews and sacred music with Dr. Joshua Taylor and Dr. Michael Conrady. He is the organist and choir director at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Garland, Texas.