Joy to the World, ELW 267
1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king;
let ev'ry heart prepare him room and heav'n and nature sing,
and heav'n and nature sing, and heav'n, and heav'n and nature sing.
2 Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
3 No more let sin and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.
4 He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love.
Devotion
I see pictures through the internet of the starving children in Somalia, the terrorist attack in Norway, the tremendous damage from tornadoes and flooding across the country, my sister's home in South Dakota surrounded by dikes to save her house. With all these images of destruction bombarding us, one could feel like the world is under attack on all sides. One could wonder why God has let all this destruction occur not only to property but to people's lives.
Or, we can simply say that we don't know why the world works as it does, why God seems to intervene as certain times but not others. We don't know all the answers, but we do know that the Lord has come! The earth is full of joy and is a different place because of what God has done in Jesus. We know that he comes to make his blessings flow and that he rules the world with truth and grace. And because of this we sing of the wonders of his love.
Prayer
Lord, in the midst of famine and war, tornadoes and floods, come to our world and bring us peace. Prepare our hearts with your truth and grace so that we may sing, with heaven and earth, the wonders of your love. Amen.