Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, ELW 310
Devotion
Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise;
manifested by the star
to the sages from afar,
branch of royal David's stem
in thy birth at Bethlehem:
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in flesh made manifest.
Manifest at Jordan's stream,
prophet, priest, and king supreme;
and at Cana wedding guest
in thy Godhead manifest;
manifest in pow'r divine,
changing water into wine;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in flesh made manifest.
Manifest in making whole
weakened body, fainting soul;
manifest in valiant fight,
quelling all the devil's might;
manifest in gracious will,
ever bringing good from ill:
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in flesh made manifest.
Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
present in thy holy word;
grace to imitate thee now
and be pure, as pure art thou;
that we might become like thee
at thy great epiphany,
and may praise thee, ever blest,
God in flesh made manifest.
When Christopher Wordsworth—nephew of the great romantic-poet, William Wordsworth—wrote this hymn, he stated that it was intended for use on the 6th Sunday after Epiphany. His comment was certainly fitting, for the stanzas identify manifestations (Epiphanies) that are reported in the Gospel accounts of the work and words of Jesus that are read during the successive Sundays of the Season of Epiphany. One year, in order to emphasize this, I had my congregation sing this hymn every Sunday during the entire Season of Epiphany. After about the third or fourth Sunday, one member of the congregation voiced the opinion that the words and the music of this hymn were not worth singing that much. Yet, that person did relent and give it more thought when I pointed out that this is one of 127 hymns published by a highly intelligent orator, educator, lecturer and priest, and further that the music had been arranged by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach.
Prayer
Living and Loving God, open our eyes to see you in all that Jesus did; open our minds to hear what Jesus says; and make of us persons who radiate in our lives your redeeming presence, power and purpose. Amen.