These posts focus our hearts and minds on the One who is worthy

Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quick’ning pow’rs;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

Look, how we grovel here below,
Fond of these earthly toys;
Our souls, how heavily they go,
To reach eternal joys.

In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise;
Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.

Father, and shall we ever live
At this poor dying rate,
Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,
And Thine to us so great?

Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quick’ning pow’rs;
Come, shed abroad a Savior’s love,
And that shall kindle ours.

Isaac Watts, 1707
Romans 8:6-11

The Holy Spirit enables us to live a life that honors Christ. He empowers us to overcome temptation. He convicts us when we do sin. He helps us understand and recall Scripture. Jesus and God the Father knew how much we would need the Spirit’s help. In 2024, lets resolve to lean more on the Spirit.

Lift up your heads, you mighty gates!
Behold, the King of glory waits.
The King of kings is drawing near;
the Savior of the world is here.
Life and salvation he will bring;
therefore rejoice and gladly sing.
To God the Father raise
your joyful songs of praise.

The King is born in poverty,
his chariot is humility,
his kingly crown is holiness,
his scepter, pity in distress.
The end of all our woe he brings;
therefore the earth is glad and sings.
To Christ the Savior raise
your grateful hymns of praise.

How blest the land, the city blest,
where Christ the ruler is confessed!
O peaceful hearts and happy homes
to whom this king in triumph comes!
The cloudless sun of joy is he
who comes to set his people free.
To God the Spirit raise
your happy shouts of praise.

Fling wide the gates; prepare your heart
to be a temple set apart
from earthly use for heav’n’s employ,
adorned with prayer and love and joy.
So shall your Sov’reign enter in
and new and nobler life begin.
To God alone be praise
for word and deed and grace.

Redeemer, come! I open wide
my heart to you; here, Lord abide!
O enter with your saving grace;
show me your kind and friendly face.
Your Holy Spirit guide us on
until our glorious goal is won.
Eternal praise and fame
we offer to your name.

Georg Weissel, 1642. Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1855
Read Psalm 24: 1-10

“LIft Up Your Heads” was originally written for the first Sunday of Advent, but it is often sung on Palm Sunday. Either way, it celebrates the coming King. Our charge: “prepare your heart to be a temple set apart”. Let’s take this Christmas season to recommit ourselves to our King and make ourselves ready for Him.

As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold,
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright,
so, most gracious Lord, may we
evermore be led by thee.

As with joyful steps they sped,
Savior, to thy lowly bed,
there to bend the knee before
thee, whom heav’n and earth adore,
so may we with willing feet
ever seek thy mercy seat.

As they offered gifts most rare
at thy cradle, rude and bare,
so may we with holy joy,
pure and free from sin’s alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee, our heav’nly King.

Holy Jesus, ev’ry day
keep us in the narrow way;
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.

In the heav’nly country bright
need they no created light;
thou its light, its joy, its crown,
thou its sun which goes not down.
There forever may we sing
alleluias to our King!

W. Chatterton Dix, 1859
Read Isaiah 60:1-6

This Christmas hymn is new to me, but it calls us to follow the example of the wise men, specifically their joy and intrepid journey to worship the King. They brought gifts at great sacrifice and worship should mean sacrifice on our part. It is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1). But it also looks forward to the day when we see Christ, just as the wise men did.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
all seated on the ground,
the angel of the Lord came down,
and glory shone around.

“Fear not,” said he, for mighty dread
had seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
to you and all mankind.

“To you, in David’s town, this day,
is born of David’s line
a Savior, who is Christ the Lord;
and this shall be the sign:

“The heav’nly Babe you there shall find
to human view displayed,
all meanly wrapped in swaddling clothes
and in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith
appeared a shining throng
of angels, praising God, and thus
addressed their joyful song:

“All glory be to God on high,
and to the earth be peace;
good will henceforth from heav’n to men
begin and never cease.”

Nahum Tate, 1700
Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

God chose shepherds. The announcement of the Savior’s birth wasn’t made to the king, to the governor, to the scholar, to the priest, the merchant, or even to the notable. It was made to regular guys, overlooked and excluded by the rest of society. That in itself is a message of hope for all of us. The message of salvation is to us and for us. Let’s make sure we respond with as much wonder and enthusiasm as the shepherds.

Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!
Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning;
Zion in triumph begins her mild reign.

Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Long by the prophets of Israel foretold!
Hail to the millions from bondage returning!
Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold.

Lo, in the desert rich flowers are springing,
streams ever copious are gliding along;
loud from the mountain-tops echoes are ringing,
wastes rise in verdure and mingle in song.

See, from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,
praise to Jehovah ascending on high;
fall’n are the engines of war and commotion,
shouts of salvation are rending the sky.

Thomas Hastings, 1831
Read Isaiah 35:1-10

“Hail to the Brightness” looks forward to a day when Christ at last rules and reigns and the whole earth is restored. It is the moment we pray for when we say “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is not a fairytale. We will see this day.