Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us (ELW 707)
1 Lord of glory, you have bought us
with your life-blood as the price,
never grudging for the lost ones
that tremendous sacrifice;
and with that hast freely given
blessings countless as the sand
to the unthankful and the evil
with your own unsparing hand.
2 Grant us hearts, dear Lord, to give you
gladly, freely, of your own.
With the sunshine of your goodness
melt our thankless hearts of stone
till our cold and selfish natures,
warmed by you, at length believe
that more happy and more blessed
’tis to give than to receive.
3 Wondrous honor you have given
to our humblest charity
in your own mysterious sentence,
“You have done it all to me.”
Naked, sick, in prison, hungry —
in the least, your face we view,
saying by your poor and needy,
“Give as I have giv’n to you.”
4 Lord of glory, you have bought us
with your life-blood as the price,
never grudging for the lost ones
that tremendous sacrifice.
Give us faith to trust you boldly,
hope, to stay our souls on you:
but, oh, best of all your graces,
with your love our love renew.
Devotion
This hymn seems to speak directly to the situation of the man with the unclean spirit, whom we read about yesterday. It may bring a word for us as well. From the very first words we see image upon image of all that God does for us even in our own unworthiness. God has bought us at tremendous sacrifice, blessed us freely and unsparingly. We, on the other hand, are sometimes unthankful, cold, and selfish. In contrast, I hear in this hymn an echo of Martin Luther’s explanation of the Third Article of the Creed: “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith.” It is God, not us, who has redeemed us. God invites us, and even pursues us when necessary, to step away from our misery and into God’s presence.
Prayer
Loving God, when we are in troubles that overwhelm us, we trust your promise that we are never alone. We thank you for inviting us out of the chaos and into the sunshine of your goodness. Amen.