So a German who used the name Laurentius Laurenti, born in a territory under Danish rule, writes a hymn that gets translated into English by Sarah Borthwick Findlater, a Scott, which gets picked up by Swedish Lutherans in the U.S. and joined to a Swedish folk song. The result is one of my favorite Advent hymns regardless of what nationality it belongs to: “Rejoice, rejoice, believers.”

Here’s a choir anthem based on it. 

Isn’t that uplifting?

The theme of the hymn is actually based on the story of the wise and foolish maidens waiting for the bridegroom in Matthew which in the old lectionary was a lesson for near the end of the church year rather than Advent, but the themes are related.

In this version the first three stanzas are address to us, the believers, the watchers, the saints. And then a shift, a prayer.

Our hope and expectation,
O Jesus, now appear!
Arise, Thou sun so longed for,
O’er this benighted sphere!
With hearts and hands uplifted,
We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth’s redemption
That brings us unto Thee.

O Jesus now appear! You can see how that applies to Advent as we await the coming of the Christ Child, but it’s more than that. We pray for Jesus to be among us now “in this benighted sphere.” This stanza describes our crazy world but more importantly, it identifies who we need–Jesus.

Pray that we might be like Jesus so that this mixed up world may see him in us.

Read Matthew 25:1-13 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne