Creator of the Stars of Night (ELW 245, focus on verse 3)
1 Creator of the stars of night,
your people’s everlasting light,
O Christ, redeemer of us all,
we pray you hear us when we call.
2 When this old world drew on toward night,
you came; but not in splendor bright,
not as a monarch, but the child
of Mary, blessed mother mild.
3 At your great name, O Jesus, now
all knees must bend, all hearts must bow:
all things on earth with one accord,
like those in heav’n, shall call you Lord.
4 Come in your holy might, we pray,
redeem us for eternal day;
defend us while we dwell below
from all assaults of our dread foe.
5 To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
praise, honor, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.
Text: Latin hymn, 9th cent.; tr. Hymnal 1940, alt.
Text © 1940 Church Pension Fund, admin. Church Publishing Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A730924
Devotion
Verse 3 of our theme hymn draws images of the day we all wait for and long for in Advent—that good day when all of Earth shall know Jesus as Lord and all of creation will be made new.
In biblical times, many thought that day was imminent. But after long ages, we are still living in the tension of what is and what is not yet. In Advent, we wait expectantly for Jesus to come to make all things new—even when we know he is already present. In Advent, we let our finite human weary selves acknowledge and name out loud our longing for the day we’re promised, when God’s expansive love, justice, and peace will reign once and for all—even when we know that work is already begun here on Earth as it is in heaven. In Advent, we join the voices of saints across the millennia in praying, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”
Prayer
Jesus, we long for the day when every knee will bow at the sound of your name and your love will reign forever. Until that day, transform us to be bearers of that love to the world. Amen.