Jesus Savior Pilot Me -- Edward Hopper

He must have listened to lots of tales of the sea as he encountered men recovering from difficult journeys. Why else would Edward Hopper have penned words for “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” in the latter half of the 19^th Century? Hopper was putting words to the yarns men related about their lives on boats, lives that must have been less than the romantic adventures others might have assumed sailors told. Swashbuckling would hardly be the adjective to describe what these fellows must have related to Edward as their minister, someone in whom they confided about rough times, both physically and spiritually (perhaps something like Christ and the Apostles experienced, shown in Rembrandt’s masterpiece here). So, this minister-composer put himself in their shoes as he wrote.  

Edward Hopper was a lifelong New Yorker whose encounters at one church there inspired the poetry of this sailors’ favorite“Jesus…Pilot..” that was published in 1871. Hopper was a 55-year old at that point, and may have composed the words soon after beginning to minister at the Church of the Sea and Land, in New York Harbor, the previous year. This stone church building on New York’s Lower East Side was the scene where Hopper met many men of the sea during the senior years of his ministerial life. That he composed the hymn early in his association with this church and its members suggests he was quickly absorbed into their lives, and wanted to identify with and help them. Do you suppose Edward related the stories of Jesus’ episodes in a boat with the Apostles (Matthew 8 and 14; Mark 4; Luke 8), or of Paul being shipwrecked (Acts 27) to the sailors of the 1870s that he met?  Did he visit them in their livelihoods, stepping onto their ships or going to sea briefly with them?  Perhaps he had firsthand experience with the rough sea of which he writes in five of the six verses of “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me”. Or, more often probably, he heard vivid stories from men who were glad to be on solid ground again. These were people who needed rest and reflection, and also strength to return to their maritime trade. On another plane, did they meet and associate with those who would cultivate their spirits while at work? What do you think? Maybe some of them ‘cursed like sailors’, at least on occasion, or hung out with some who did.

Perhaps the seafaring crowd gets an unfair knock…don’t we all meet, work, and some of us live with saucy people? Even the most hardened folks may have periods when they soften, when they need someone to steer their paths toward the inspired, true, and saving work of the Almighty. He knew what it was like to be rocked about on a boat, and also rocked in other ways, too. Boats and ships rust, and can sink when fired upon. People have characteristics that are similar, and even churches may behave like that. Hopper’s Church of the Sea and Land disbanded in 1972, 100 years after he first ministered there, but it’s still used by Chinese Presbyterians today. But, notably, what Hopper wrote still exists – as does its inspiration. That fact just might speak to a sailor.

The following website has a soundtrack and all six original verses for the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/s/p/jspilotm.htm

See more information on the song discussed above in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and 101 More Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

See biography of composer here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/o/p/hopper_e.htm 

See here for information on composer’s church where hymn was developed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_and_Land_Church