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
This beautiful hymn is a creation of the Little Sisters of Jesus and the L’Arche communities. The Little Sisters are a contemplative order, dedicated to living and working alongside those on the margins of society, often among nomadic peoples. L’Arche is a global network of people both with and without intellectual disabilities, living, working, and worshipping together in intentional community. Reading again the hymn’s lyrics, with knowledge of the communities that produced it, helps us to see the journey described not just as metaphor for “life’s journey,” but as our actually traveling alongside others in need of companionship.
The hymn portrays Jesus as the focus of our journey. But companionship with others along the way of Christ is the life of discipleship. Taking inspiration from the Little Sisters and L’Arche, with whom do you need to make this journey through Lent, and through life? Who needs you to come alongside them?
Prayer
Jesus, you are our journey’s origin and its end. Be now our joy, our song, our life, our peace. For with you we share all burdens and tears. Amen.