Weekday Advent Service Three
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Howard, SD
The Hymns of Advent
O Lord, How Shall I Meet You LW 19
By: Paul Gerhardt
O Lord, how shall I meet you,
How welcome you aright?
Your people long to greet you,
My hope, my heart's delight!
Oh, kindle, Lord most holy,
Your lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please you best.
Your Zion strews before you
Green boughs and fairest palms;
And I too will adore you
With joyous songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For you with praises new
And from your name shall never
With hold the honor due.
I lay in fetters, groaning;
You came to set me free.
I stood, my shame bemoaning;
You came to honor me.
A glorious crown you give me,
A treasure safe on high
That will not fail or leave me
As earthly riches fly.
Love caused your incarnation;
Love brought you down to me.
Your thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
Oh, love beyond all telling,
That led you to embrace
In love, all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race.
Rejoice, then, you sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn your joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not; he is near you,
There, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
He comes to judge the nations,Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A terror to his foes,
A light of consolations
And blessed hope to those
Who love the Lord's appearing.
O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth your beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home.
There’s something special about a Hymn that is also a prayer. There are a few that are like that. One of my father’s favorites was Lord, Take My Hand and Lead Me. I like it too. And that’s the very first thing that you notice about this one.
O Lord, how shall I meet you,
How welcome you aright?
Your people long to greet you,
My hope, my heart's delight!
Oh, kindle, Lord most holy,
Your lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please you best.
It is the classic advent question. We think we know how to prepare for Christmas. The gift giving frenzy gets really hot as the last minutes are ticking away, especially with the threat of bad weather. And last week we had a wonderful telling of the reason for the season right here, given by the children of the congregation. We heard of angels and shepherds, magi and gifts, mother father and of course the Child. We are reminded that He was born to die for the sins of the whole world. We know that one of the best ways to prepare for Christmas is to re-tell the story of what God has done through the Best Gift. But this hymn really is asking a larger question. With the on going preparation for the Christmas and the picture of God-in-the-flesh lying in a manger in fresh in our minds; how do we prepare for the self-same Lord, to return again?
It begins an answer to that question by reciting who we are. Your people long to greet You. Your people, is a very warm and wet idea. In a way it is a phrase pulled right out of the Red Sea. God continually told the Israelites that they could know they were His people because of what He did for them by bringing them out of Egypt through the Red Sea waters. He said, “I will be your God and you will be My people. You remember, God parted the sea and they walked through on dry ground, while the Egyptian army was drowned. In our case we are His people through water too, our Adoption in Holy Baptism.
Speaking in the context of the work of the Holy Spirit in Baptism St. Paul tells us:
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:7, ESV)
We are God’s people having been justified through faith in Jesus Christ, given to us through our adoption in Baptism.
Oh, kindle, Lord most holy, Your lamp within my breast To do in spirit lowly All that may please you best. (There’s so much packed in these lines, I think we could do a whole Advent series right here!) They say, in essence, Lord, through the Work of Spirit and Word in me (gifts of Holy Baptism!), produce good works in my life, and keep my sinful pride out of the way. Do that in me, then be prepared for your coming.
Your Zion strews before you
Green boughs and fairest palms;
And I too will adore you
With joyous songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For you with praises new
And from your name shall never
With hold the honor due.
These words put us on the road with those who honor Jesus on Palm Sunday waving Palm branches and shouting Hosanna! We shout though knowing the whole story. The Palms lead to Passion. Jesus goes to Jerusalem not to sit on a throne of gold but to hang on His heavenly throne of wood. And I too, means especially because we know the outcome. We see His bloody death we’ll shout all the more, and adore. Because of what He does there (and I just love this picture of eternal life with God) My heart will bloom forever for you with praises new…
I lay in fetters, groaning;
You came to set me free.
I stood, my shame bemoaning;
You came to honor me.
A glorious crown you give me,
A treasure safe on high
That will not fail or leave me
As earthly riches fly.
Here we have in more depth the reason for the joyful response to Jesus and what He has done. I lay in fetters, groaning; I stood, my shame bemoaning; You came to honor me. That’s where sin always leaves us, bound-up, in slavery, groaning our lives away because we are helpless to remove its chains. But our coming Lord has set us free. Jesus says it like this:
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36, ESV)
But instead of what we should receive, punishment for our guilt and sin, we receive a King’s prize; a crown of eternal life. And not only that but one that is safe from theft and decay and that will last forever. (Matt 6:19ff)
Love caused your incarnation;
Love brought you down to me.
Your thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
Oh, love beyond all telling,
That led you to embrace
In love, all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race.
God is love (1 John 4:8). The word incarnation means coming in the flesh. Nothing shows us the true nature of God more clearly than His becoming a human being willing to suffer and die on the cross for us. It is His love that compelled Him to do that. It is His love that was not content to leave us in our sins forever to be separated from Him. He came down to us to retrieve us out of the mess of our own making. The hymn uses the wonderful phrase Your thirst for my salvation to purposely remind us of the way that our liberty was procured. It’s a play on the words of Our Lord on the cross. “I thirst.” (John 19:28) What He did there, as He was speaking those words is the love beyond all telling, the love that is above all other love excelling.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10, ESV)There is no better way, the hymn says in answer to its own question, than to think about, speak about, shout about, and live in the salvation of our God brought to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that’s what the rest of the hymn says, too. It shifts from question to response. It’s only natural, because whenever God’s people hear the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ again (God’s Word spoken or sung!) We can’t help but respond in joy. It’s not really so much commanding us to rejoice, but describing the source of it.
Rejoice, then, you sad-hearted,We are realistic people, and yet, especially at this time of year we pretend to set aside the worlds cares and troubles, as if just saying the words Peace on Earth can make it true. But it all comes rushing back into our lives round about January with the new credit card bills. Our reason to rejoice in a troubled world is much deeper than looking for an easy life. Our peace in an un-peaceful world is found in a life where God really is near to us. He is near you There, standing at the door. And the picture of the Lamp-Holding-Jesus knocking has probably popped into your mind. That’s a picture of the incarnate, God-in-the-Flesh, Jesus coming to help and cheer you. Unfortunately we think of that picture as Jesus asking unbelievers to come to faith, it’s much more than that. It’s Jesus, promising to be near you who already believe. It’s Jesus bringing His Word to be placed into your heart.
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn your joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not; he is near you,
There, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20, ESV)The context of this verse in Revelation is clear, Jesus is speaking to the church, He’s speaking to you and me. It’s Jesus inviting us to listen to His Word and eat with Him. Despair not Jesus is here in this place right now. Here is where you hear His voice and eat the food that He provides. Jesus says, “Bring your cares and troubles, your pain and sorrow here, and I will comfort you; I will help and cheer you with my presence.” You, dear Christian, are not alone, Jesus is here.
He comes to judge the nations,Jesus is coming; a baby born in a Bethlehem stable; a judge to judge the nations. From the moment of His first breath He had enemies. King Herod, who thought Jesus was a threat to His place in the world, was willing to commit infanticide to kill Him. The religious leaders of the day, who couldn’t accept Jesus’ Words about forgiveness for all, had Jesus nailed to the cross to stop Him from speaking. And people today, from those who want Jesus to be a self-help guru, or as simply an example of a purpose filled life, to those who only want Jesus to be their path to prosperity, and those who want no Jesus at all, the day Jesus comes will be a terror, because they haven’t heard His voice at all, but were following their own hearts.
A terror to his foes,
A light of consolations
And blessed hope to those
Who love the Lord's appearing.
For you and me and all who love the Lord’s appearing, in the stable, in His Word and Sacraments, in His coming soon, it is a blessed hope a light of consolations knowing that this world of troubles will come to and end and we will live with God forever.
And so we end where we began, a prayer.
O glorious Sun, now come,Come Lord Jesus, be our guest… Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come… or as the Beloved Apostle says in response to Jesus promise:
Send forth your beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home.
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21, ESV)
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