Good Christian Friends, Rejoice (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 288)
1 Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today;
ox and ass before him bow,
and he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today!
Christ is born today!
2 Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
now ye hear of endless bliss:
Jesus Christ was born for this!
He has opened heaven’s door,
and we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this!
Christ was born for this!
3 Good Christian friends, rejoice
with heart and soul and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave;
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all
to gain the everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!
Text: Medieval Latin carol; Music: German carol; Public Domain
Devotion
This old familiar carol continues to speak simply and clearly as it turns from what has and is happening in Christ to why it has happened. Verse two calls us to rejoice in endless bliss, to sing that heaven’s door is opened, to rest our souls in the blessings of this Child’s coming. Verse three invites our hearts to no longer fear, even the grave, for Christ comes to rescue and to call all of us into this particular joy—the promise of life in him, now for each other, and beyond for all who have been and will be. The hymn proclaims that our present and our future are bound up in Christ’s birth. Christ is our calling and our hope. His blessing is for ourselves and the whole community of Christ-friends. Indeed, so we rejoice and sing!
Prayer
Dearest Christ, let our voices, hearts, and souls resound in praise for your coming yet again, and for what that coming means for us—for the life of the present and its call to serve and the hope of the bliss to come, where we may join in the blessed, endless song of all your friends. Amen.