Come, Thou Almighty King, ELW 408
1 Come, thou almighty King, help us thy name to sing; help us to praise;
Father all-glorious, o'er all victorious, come and reign over us,
Ancient of Days.
2 Come, thou incarnate Word, merciful, mighty Lord; our prayer attend.
Come and thy people bless, and give thy word success, and let thy righteousness on us descend.
3 Come, holy Comforter, thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour!
Thou who almighty art, rule now in ev'ry heart, never from us depart,
Spirit of pow'r.
4 To thee, great One in Three, eternal praises be hence evermore!
Thy sov'reign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore.
Devotion
Too many praise hymns make the assumption that we have got the praise thing figured out. Many contemporary songs in this genre suggest that our devotion to God is similar to the love we have for our nearest and dearest. They suggest that it flows naturally from our hearts to our lips and into our lives. How refreshing to sing a hymn that, in its opening verse, calls upon God for help in this endeavor. The ongoing stance of this wonderfully foursquare hymn is that of petition. Come! Help! Attend! Bless! Give! Let! Bear! Rule! We are asking the Triune God to be for us, and to make good on the promises made in our baptism.
An added bonus in this hymn is the Trinitarian teaching it gets done in four short verses. The work and character of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are illuminated and woven together with names and titles that are deeply biblical and powerfully theological. One does an injustice to poetry by too heavily parsing its phrases and pointing out the nuances. Sing this one with your congregation in four-part harmony. Teach the words to your children.
Prayer
All our prayers are asking, Lord, for you are the source and ground of all goodness and life. Open our lips that we might declare your praises. Give your Word success, even and especially among us. Amen.