How Good, Lord, to Be Here! (ELW 315)
1 How good, Lord, to be here!
Your glory fills the night;
your face and garments, like the sun,
shine with unborrowed light.
2 How good, Lord, to be here,
your beauty to behold
where Moses and Elijah stand,
your messengers of old.
3 Fulfiller of the past
and hope of things to be,
we hail your body glorified
and our redemption see.
4 Before we taste of death,
we see your kingdom come;
we long to hold the vision bright
and make this hill our home.
5 How good, Lord, to be here!
Yet we may not remain;
but since you bid us leave the mount,
come with us to the plain.
Devotion
“How Good, Lord, to Be Here!” reviews this week’s imagery of Christ, the revealed, radiating light to all the world, and humans’ transformative mountaintop encounters with God. Based on the Transfiguration text, it transitions us from the end of the Time after Epiphany and into the beginning of our journey across Lenten plains.
In addition, this hymn begins and ends with a rephrasing of Peter’s words, “Master, it is good for us to be here” (Luke 9:33). Although Peter probably didn’t fully understand Christ’s Transfiguration, he spoke the truth. It was true that it was good for the disciples to be there with Christ then. It is true that it is good for us to be here with Christ now as we travel down from mountaintop experiences onto the plains of our daily lives and Lenten journeys. There is no better place to be than with Christ now and always.
Prayer
Lord, it is so good to be with you here and always! Prepare us to begin our Lenten journeys with you alongside us every step of the way. Amen.