Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for being with me today.
During the Advent and Christmas seasons we will take a look
at some of the hymns of the season on Saturday. I think this might be a helpful
devotional habit because the hymns we sing are expressions of faith and often
teach us important lessons. They are, in a sense, God’s Word rearranged and set
to music. I also think we don’t look closely enough at what we sing. There are
beautiful and inspiring biblical messages contained in the hymns.
The hymn we will look at today is Comfort, Comfort Ye My People. You can listen to it here. I am looking at it
in the Lutheran Service Book from Concordia Publishing House where it is hymn
number 347.
The hymn begins, “Comfort, comfort ye My people, Speak of
peace,” thus saith our God…. Does that sound familiar? It should! This hymn is
a setting of Isaiah 40, our Old Testament lesson for this week.
This hymn speaks to us of God’s peace, comfort and gladness,
which are rooted in His forgiveness for our sins. It also calls us to
repentance. Verse 3 says, “Hark, the herald’s voice is crying In the desert far
and near, Calling sinners to repentance, Since the Kingdom now is here.” The
Kingdom of Heaven has come! Salvation is won! How should we respond? We repent
and rejoice in our Savior. The hymn continues this idea of repentance in v. 4, “Make
ye straight what long was crooked; Make the rougher places plain. Let your
hearts be true and humble, As befits His holy reign.”
The hymn concludes with this line, “And all flesh shall see
the token That [God’s] Word is never broken.” What is this token the hymn
writer speaks of? Well, on the one hand we could say that it is the manger that
God has taken human flesh and dwelt among us, we have seen his glory full of
grace and truth. Another view might be to say that the token is the cross where
the Son of God died to pay for our sins. Neither would really be wrong, but
both answers are incomplete. The token in Jesus – from Incarnation to
Crucifixion and from Resurrection to triumphant return. Jesus is the Word that
is never broken, the Word become flesh, the promise of our salvation realized
in His body. It is in Him that we find our comfort, our peace, our reason for
repentance, and our hope and joy as we wait for His return.
Prayers
For our prayer today we will use the Collect for Peace from
the liturgy for Evening Prayer in the Lutheran Service Book from Concordia
Publishing House. It can be found on p. 251.
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels,
and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world
cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey
Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our
enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our
Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever. Amen.
Memory Verse: 2
Peter 3:13 - But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a
new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pet. 3:13 ESV)
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
Before I go I want to remind you that Advent is a good time
to practice that old devotional habit of giving of alms. Where can you show
God’s love to the poor, the hurting, or just someone who needs help? How can
you give of yourself joyfully, prayerfully, and gratefully? I pray that you
will see someone’s need and that you will be moved to help … even if in some
small way.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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