Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song (ELW 808)
1 Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey;
I’ll tell ev’rybody about you wherever I go:
you alone are our life and our peace and our love.
Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
2 Lord Jesus, I’ll praise you as long as I journey.
May all of my joy be a faithful reflection of you.
May the earth and the sea and the sky join my song.
Lord Jesus, I’ll praise you as long as I journey.
3 As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant,
to carry your cross and to share all your burdens and tears.
For you saved me by giving your body and blood.
As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant.
4 I fear in the dark and the doubt of my journey;
but courage will come with the sound of your steps by my side.
And with all of the family you saved by your love,
we’ll sing to your dawn at the end of our journey.
Text: Les Petites Soeurs de Jésus and L’Arche Community; tr. Stephen Somerville, b. 1931
Text © 1987 Les Petites Soeurs de Jésus, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Tr. © 1970 Stephen Somerville, admin. Augsburg Fortress.
Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A730924
Devotion
Our theme hymn chosen for our Lenten reflection is one of my favorite new hymns, “Lord Jesus, You Shall be My Song as I Journey.”
The metaphor of Jesus as “my song as I journey” is new and provocative. The psalms generally have very concrete metaphors for God: shepherd, rock, light, fortress, refuge, and the like. John goes further and says that Jesus is the Word.
This hymn creatively moves beyond Jesus as the Word and says, “You shall be my song as I journey.” The hymn then describes Jesus as a song of life, a song of peace, a song of love. Jesus as our song provokes us to think about the melodies and tunes that we hum or whistle. It invites us to reflect on the “ear worms” that are playing in the background of our thoughts. How do those tunes and melodies become our Jesus as we travel?
Prayer
Lord, you are our song, sing to us. Play in our hearts and minds the music of eternity. Let our lives sing your song of forgiveness. Amen.