My Life Flows on in Endless Song, ELW 763 & WOV 781
1 My life flows on in endless song; above earth's lamentation,
I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Refrain
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I'm clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
2 Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing.
It finds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?
Refrain
3 What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth.
What though the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth.
Refrain
4 The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?
Refrain
Devotion
“Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear that music ringing. It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?”<.i>
How can we praise when there is so much wrong in our world and in our lives? Are we disingenuous if we praise when we don’t feel like it? Are we just trying to escape the world and deny reality? Or are we resigning ourselves to the status quo? If we sing praises when the world is full of injustice and violence, are we just giving up on hoping, longing and working for things to be different?
We praise in the midst of suffering, not trying to escape it or resign ourselves to it, fully aware of suffering’s power and yet defying the power of suffering to define us and our world. We praise so that we can claim the truth that God is at work. This truth gives us hope and help in our personal struggles and it empowers us to join God in bringing in a new world.
Prayer
God of all, you give us a new song to sing. You empower us to trust and hope at all times. Help us raise our voices in praise to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.