“A Hymn Story of Jesus: Our Redeemer”
Come, dear children, see the baby resting on his papa’s knee;
see the stable, see the shepherds, see this child who sets us free.
He’s our Redeemer, he’s God’s chosen one. He’s our Redeemer, he’s our King.
See his mama, how she loves him; join me now, her song we’ll sing.
Hear his voice there on the hillside, telling stories to the crowd,
speaking wonder, speaking mercy to the least and to the proud.
There’s our Redeemer and our gracious Lord. There’s our Redeemer and our King,
raising up the poor and humble, like a bird upon the wing.
Gaze upon the ruined tree, friend, feel the wood against your hands;
touch his wounds and touch his tears now, touch the pain that sin demands.
That’s our Redeemer and the Lamb of God. That’s our Redeemer, that’s our King.
At this tree we touch God’s mercy, saving all from sin’s last sting.
Come, you women, in your silence, bowing down into the cave.
Smell the fragrance of a new life at the terror of a grave.
He’s our Redeemer, tell the world he lives. He’s our Redeemer, he’s our King.
We will join you in your witness; into darkness faith we bring.
Come, all people, to Christ’s table, join the laughter in this place.
Eat this bread and drink this wine now, taste the sweetness of God’s grace.
Sing our Redeemer, sing of God’s own Son. Sing our Redeemer, praises sing!
As we are, we come, God’s children, to the table of our King.
Text: Gary A. Westgard (used by permission)
Tune: “Come Thou, Fount of Every Blessing” (ELW 807)
Author’s Note: I wrote the words above for an anniversary celebration of the congregation we joined after I retired: Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, in Watertown, South Dakota.
Devotion
On the album Will the Circle Be Unbroken?, John Denver is getting ready to sing and he asks, “Is this practice?” One of the band members replies, “They’re all practice.”
That kind of describes life. It’s all practice. There is no perfection in us, and yet—
We are like the child as she attempts to nail a box together. With great effort and care she pounds each nail and tries to get angles right, the sides even. When she is done, she holds the crooked box up to her father. He takes the box in his big hands, looks at it all around, then looks down at his daughter and says, “Perfect, just perfect.”
For sure we get it wrong. But we are always God’s children. So we can practice with faith and joy, doing good in this world. We are free to fail or to do good imperfectly. We have been redeemed.
Prayer
Beautiful Savior, King of creation, Son of God and Son of Man! Truly I’d love thee, truly I’d serve thee, light of my soul, my joy, my crown. Amen. (ELW 838)