On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry, ELW 249
1 On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
announces that the Lord is nigh;
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
Awake! Hearken! The Lord is coming! John the Baptist implores us from Jordan's bank. I often think that we have lost the wonder of Jesus' coming. Growing up in church, the gospel can quickly lose its luster. The Bible becomes just another book for our shelf. We've read it, we know how it ends. The cross loses its power, becoming just another church symbol. We need to be infected with the urgency of John's message.
John is heralding the coming of Jesus. God is coming to earth. Everything is about to change. God is turning the world upside down through the salvation of Jesus Christ. God's grace is changing the world and changing our hearts. We can only respond in the words of verse 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." Without Christ we are nothing.
Prayer
Jesus Christ, awaken our hearts that we might know the urgency of your message in the midst of our daily lives. Amen.