My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (ELW 597)
1 My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
no merit of my own I claim,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in ev’ry high and stormy gale
my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]
3 His oath, his covenant, his blood
sustain me in the raging flood;
when all supports are washed away,
he then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]
4 When he shall come with trumpet sound,
oh, may I then in him be found,
clothed in his righteousness alone,
redeemed to stand before the throne! [Refrain]
Devotion
This hymn lifts up the underlying message in all this week’s Scripture readings— the realization that nothing we do can make God love us any more than God already does. Our hope truly is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
We live in a world that is filled with threats of all kinds. As I write, the war in Ukraine rages on. We have had the worst forest fire season on record in our part of Canada. Then the fires were followed by torrential rain which washed out roads and flooded homes. The conflict in Sudan has displaced or killed thousands. Both the US and Canada are experiencing extremes on the political scale like I have never seen before. Edward Mote’s lyrics from the early 1800s remind us that turmoil has always been a part of the human condition, but Jesus came to speak peace in our hearts that transcends every storm. Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Comforting God, you speak your peace that passes human understanding in the midst of the storms in our lives. May that peace be reflected in how we respond to those storms so that others might also know that wonderful peace. Amen.