Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 246)
1 Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding!
“Christ is near,” we hear it say.
“Cast away the works of darkness
all you children of the day!”
2 Wakened by the solemn warning,
from earth’s bondage let us rise;
Christ, our sun, all sloth dispelling,
shines upon the morning skies.
3 See the Lamb, so long expected,
comes with pardon down from heav’n.
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
one and all, to be forgiv’n;
4 So, when next he comes in glory
and the world is wrapped in fear,
he will shield us with his mercy
and with words of love draw near.
5 Honor, glory, might, and blessing
to the Father and the Son
with the everliving Spirit
while unending ages run!
Text: Latin hymn, 1632; Music: William H. Monk; Public Domain
Devotion
The dreaded alarm. Even for morning people, there are times when we need to set an alarm to interrupt what we were doing and signal the start of something new. On Monday mornings, mine goes off at 4:30 a.m. I need to be at my local Y by 5:00 a.m. to instruct an early morning fitness class. And even though this has been my routine for over a decade, that 4:30 alarm still feels like a jarring sound—a “solemn warning,” as the hymnist puts it—that it’s time to rise. There are people depending on me to show up. As unpleasant as alarms can be, they serve a purpose: They get our attention.
The Advent season works in much the same way. It invites us to stop, to pay attention, and to wake up to what God is doing around us. Where might God be calling you to shift your focus? To begin something new? Take time today to pause and listen. Let God’s Spirit awaken you from your slumber, for something new is breaking into the world—shining, even now, upon the morning skies.
Prayer
God of morning—we ask that you remind us to pay attention today. Help us to see where you are active in our lives and what we must awaken from. Amen.