Christ, Be Our Light (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 715)
Refrain:
Christ, be our light!
Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in your church gathered today.
1 Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
light for the world to see.
2 Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has pow’r to save us.
Make us your living voice.
3 Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
shared until all are fed.
4 Longing for shelter, many are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others,
walls made of living stone.
5 Many the gifts, many the people,
many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
signs of your kingdom come.
Text © 1993 Bernadett Farrell, admin. OCP Publications
Devotion
On All Saints Sunday, in some faith communities, we light candles as we say the names of family and friends who have died. In one congregation, we wrote names on leaf-shapes and fastened them to branches of a tree. There is solace in sharing our grief and the hope we see shining in one another.
This hymn reflects our homesick yearnings to reorient troubles into peace, despair into hope. We ache for the reversal Jesus described when the hungry are fed, the house-less are homed, the lonely embraced, the suffering soothed. It’s the light we want to shine, the church we want to be.
Regardless of the lamenting over main-line churches’ decline, the church belongs to Christ. We, the saints, the believers, are connected through centuries and around the globe. Because we belong to the Lord, our light cannot be extinguished.
Prayer
May you shine in us all, O Lord, as we are gathered today. Shine through us in ways that bring real change to dark places. Light us up, that we may shine for others. Amen.