Joy to the World, ELW 267
Devotion
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king;
let ev'ry heart prepare him room
and heav'n and nature sing,
and heav'n and nature sing,
and heav'n, and heav'n and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sin and sorrow grow
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.
In Advent we await the Incarnation, we anticipate once again the entrance of the Messiah into our lives. It is appropriate to notice that this hymn, which begins with such joy and celebration, comes to its third verse and plunges us into a bleak reminder that we live amidst
sin and sorrow, amidst the thorny ground of our own broken relationships, our own human constructions of oppression. All those places, practices and moments have a common aspect, in which we turn away from each other and in doing so turn away from God.
Yet even here, and precisely here, in the midst of the curse—however we understand that painful word— God's promise is that God's blessings will flow through the heart of our brokenness.
Prayer
God of love, God of joy, God of hope, meet us in the midst of the darkness which always threatens to overwhelm us. Prepare our hearts to welcome our Messiah, and draw us through your blessing into radical compassion. Amen.