Love Has Come (ELW 292)
1 Love has come
—a light in the darkness!
Love shines forth in the Bethlehem skies.
See, all the heaven has come to proclaim it;
hear how their song of joy arises:
Love! Love!
Born unto you, a Savior!
Love! Love!
Glory to God on high.
2 Love is born!
Come, share in wonder.
Love is God now asleep in the hay.
See the glow in the eyes of his mother; what is the name her heart is saying?
Love! Love!
Love is the name she whispers;
Love! Love!
Jesus, Immanuel.
3 Love has come and never will leave us!
Love is life everlasting and free.
Love is Jesus within and among us.
Love is the peace our hearts are seeking.
Love! Love!
Love is the gift of Christmas.
Love! Love!
Praise to you, God on high!
Devotion
John 3:16 is familiar if not famous to us for telling the gospel story so succinctly: “God so loved the world, that he sent his Son” This hymn captures that news in an equally succinct twist of phrase: “Love has come.” In fact, it does so in repetitive word and rhythm—I count the word “love” twenty times! Not “loved” by everyone, still this hymn with its catchy folklike rhythm has become a favorite of mine.
If one takes the final verse and reads it in reverse, it seems to capture this great story of God’s gift of “Christ the Son”: Love is the gift of Christmas; Love is peace in our hearts; Love is Jesus among us; Love is life everlasting; Love has come and never will leave us. The poet here has indeed invited us to think of and celebrate all the ways in which one can describe what it means to say that in Christ Jesus our Lord God has indeed loved us. “Praise to you, God on high!”
Prayer
God of Love, we give thanks and praise to you for the gift of your Son. May that gift of love fill our hearts to become agents of that love as we care for your people and your creation. Amen.