LBW #474, "Children of the Heavenly Father"
Devotion
The first time I really understood this hymn was as a young five-year-old, sitting in the front pew at my father’s church. The daughter of my parent’s friends, John and Margaret, died. It was a blustery winter’s mourn, the light from the chancel fell upon the little white casket.
Before the service ended, there was a note of hope struck on the keyboards of all our hearts. Margaret got up, carrying a bright yellow blanket. She stood next to the casket, gently tucked the blanket around her little girl and whispered: “Good night, sweetheart, I’ll see you in the morning.”
What gave her such faith in the face of deep sadness and loss? Forty some years later now, I think back on the words of the hymn: “Children of the heav’nly Father, Safely in his bosom gather; Nestling bird or star in heaven, Such a refuge ne’er was given.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, enfold us again this day in the swaddling cloths of your love which we know in Jesus, our Savior—from which neither life nor death can ever separate—and into your tender bosom, your children, safely gather. Amen.