There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, ELW 588
1 There's a wideness in God's mercy,
like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in God's justice
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth's sorrows
are more felt than up in heav'n.
There is no place where earth's failings
have such kindly judgment giv'n.
2 There is welcome for the sinner,
and a promised grace made good;
there is mercy with the Savior;
there is healing in his blood.
There is grace enough for thousands
of new worlds as great as this;
there is room for fresh creations
in that upper home of bliss.
3 For the love of God is broader
than the measures of our mind;
and the heart of the eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
But we make this love too narrow
by false limits of our own;
and we magnify its strictness
with the zeal God will not own.
4 'Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
it is something more than all:
greater good because of evil,
larger mercy through the fall.
Make our love, O God, more faithful;
let us take you at your word;
and our lives will be thanksgiving
for the goodness of the Lord.
Devotion
Just when we figure we know how big a table God has set for the Kingdom, when we think we know who is "in" and who is "out," Jesus comes along with his challenging parables and stirs the pot. He seems to expand our horizon. A s the hymn says: "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, like the wideness of the sea." When we are hurt or angry (these two are twins) or when we are in judgment mode, we don't see wide, but narrow. When I am hurt by the sins of others, I am less likely to see the wideness of grace. Instead, I compare its size to a narrow stream, like the kind that are everywhere in the northern part of Minnesota, where I live. But if I walk just eight blocks from my house to Lake Superior, (which you can't see across!) I get a notion of what Frederick Faber was talking about in this familiar hymn:
For the love of God is broader, Than the measures of our mind,
And the heart of the eternal, Is most wonderfully kind.
There is mercy with the Savior, there is healing in his blood,
There is grace enough for thousands
of new worlds as great as this
there is room for fresh creations in that upper home of bliss
Prayer
God, you call me to stop, look and listen to the grandeur of your grace. Grant me expanded vision to the greater horizons of your love. Help me to see everyone differently today, through your eyes, not mine. Amen.