LBW #142, "Hail Thee, Festival Day"
Devotion
I have loved this hymn since the first time I heard it. Ralph Vaughn William's melody is powerful and melodic; the Fortunatus poetry is beautifully translated.
However, (that's right: however) my strongest congregational memory is that of hearing hymnbooks being dropped into pew hymn racks with a loud thud! And it would happen before we got through verse one. And it happened after my careful introduction of the way the verses flow. The book-dropping thuds would drain me of my enthusiasm for the singing.
Life itself has a way of draining God's people. The bumper sticker says, "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention." Between being drained and being angry, God's people hunger for the Good Word which Pentecost shouts today. "Now flow in us, fount of our being." Do not lose hope; the source of life and power shines in the world with his grace.
Prayer
Spirit of God, appearing in likeness of fire, purify us, warm us, rage within us, make us noticeable in a world so drained of loving energy. Amen.