“On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist’s Cry,” ELW 249 and LBW 36
1 On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
announces that the Lord is night;
awake and hearken, for he brings
glad tidings of the King of kings.
2 Then cleansed be ev’ry life from sin;
make straight the way for God within,
and let us all our hearts prepare
for Christ to come and enter there.
3 We hail you as our Savior, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward;
without your grace we waste away
like flow’rs that wither and decay.
4 Stretch forth your hand, our health restore,
and make us rise to fall no more;
oh, let your face upon us shine
and fill the world with love divine.
5 All praise to you, eternal Son,
whose advent has our freedom won,
whom with the Father we adore,
and Holy Spirit, evermore.
Devotion
Usually we sing this hymn in Advent, during the pre-Christmas shopping season. It always seems a bit unsettling to sing “the Lord is nigh ... cleansed be ev’ry life from sin; Make straight the way for God within” while at the same time buying a lot of Christmas presents.
But isn’t it always like that, whether it’s before Christmas or not? Isn’t there always one more thing to do, one more call to make, one more errand to take care of, before we pay attention to the glad tidings that the prophet brings? Yet there truly is one needful thing, which puts everything else in perspective:
We hail you as our Savior, Lord
Our refuge and our great reward
Without your grace we waste away
Like flow’rs that wither and decay. (v. 3)
The voice of one crying in the wilderness can, by grace, set our priorities straight.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, straighten our paths, enlighten our minds and restore our hope in you. Amen.