Today, I’d like to take a look at the second hymn we sang during this past Sunday service. If you’re following from the Lutheran Service Book, it is hymn 842.

Congregational Singing

*Note: It is not easy to find good videos/audio of these hymns being sung by a congregation. I was very happy to have found this one. If your Church records the congregation singing these hymns, please send me a link via Contact Us.

Studio Singing

I just realized I managed to find 2 videos with piano accompaniment rather than organ. 🙂

Lyrics (Hymnary.org)

1 Son of God, eternal Saviour,
source of life and truth and grace,
Son of Man, whose birth incarnate
hallows all our human race,
thou, our Head, who, throned in glory,
for thine own dost ever plead,
fill us with thy love and pity;
heal our wrongs, and help our need.

2 As thou, Lord, hast lived for others,
so may we for others live;
freely have thy gifts been granted,
freely may thy servants give:
thine the gold and thine the silver,
thine the wealth of land and sea,
we but stewards of thy bounty,
held in solemn trust for thee.

3 Come, O Christ, and reign among us,
King of love, and Prince of peace;
hush the storm of strife and passion,
bid its cruel discords cease;
by thy patient years of toiling,
by thy silent hours of pain,
quench our fevered thirst of pleasure,
shame our selfish greed of gain.

4 Son of God, eternal Saviour,
source of life and truth and grace,
Son of Man, whose birth incarnate
hallows all our human race,
thou who prayedst, thou who willest,
that thy people should be one,
grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:
here on earth thy will be done.

Discussion

When you find a song that so clearly declares the Person and Work of Christ, it’s hard to keep the emotions in check. It’s also hard for me to find ways of expanding upon what is so clearly written. So, I’ll just comment a bit and share a link to a radio program where we can listen to some Pastors discuss the song.

1. The opening of the song feels a lot like we’re reciting one of the Creeds (Nicene, Athanasian, or Apostle’s). We are making a very clear proclamation of Christ’s Deity, Eternal Personhood, the incarnation, the very source of Life, Truth, and Grace. Amazing. This is our confession of Christ and it is also a rebuke to those who deny Christ or create their own versions. I love how it closes out in the present tense, acknowledging that we still wrong and we still need and we look to Christ to heal our sin and help us in our needs.
2. In this verse, we see our righteousness before God clearly presented as a free gift from God, nothing we have earned in any way, and we also pray that we might serve our neighbors as an outflow of that free gift. We pray that He might help us be good stewards of God’s bountiful grace.
3. In this verse, I see the Preached Word, Law and Gospel. When we gather around the Word of God, Christ is among us. The Law convicting us of our sin, shaming our greed, mortifying the flesh, and the Gospel giving us life, quenching our passions.
4. This last verse returns to the confession of the Person and work of Christ as he continues to serve us, and will Return on the Last Day. The closing line reminds me of part of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

If you’d like to listen to some more in-depth discussion of this hymn, give a listen to KFUO Radio’s discussion here.

Thank you for reading. If you like this feature, please let me know. It’s sometimes difficult to find good, clear recordings of the lyrics being sung so I’m not sure if I can keep it going on a regular basis, but I will do my best. I think this feature will serve as a good counter-balance to the DiM work on the chart-toppers in CCM.

Jude 24-25 (ESV) Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge