My Life Flows On in Endless Song (ELW 763)
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
Two of this week’s readings have spoken of Jesus as a “rock” or fortress, indeed as a “living” rock upon which foundation our hope and salvation rest. This joyful hymn that I have come to know and love in my later years quickly comes to mind as it so ably picks up the imagery of Jesus as a rock and fortress in its confident refrain: “No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.” That confidence rests in the affirmation: “The Lord my Savior liveth” (verse 3). And since the risen Christ is Lord, “how can I keep from singing?” In the midst of darkness or doubt, the fears and storms that surround us these days, this hymn is a beautiful and confident assertion of the joy and trust that belong to God’s Easter people.
Amid all the tumult and uncertainties of these days, we are still called to affirm—no, even more, to let the music of joy sing in our hearts—that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. How can we keep from singing?
Prayer
O God, may the joy of knowing Jesus as our Rock, our Risen Savior, and our Lord continue to flow from our hearts so that we live this day and each day as a sign of your new creation. Amen.