Thursday, May 29, 2014

55. Ascension Hymn

Disciples, why gaze up in awe?
He who was taken from your sight
Will us and others heavenward draw
Till He returns in clouds of light.

God's Son from heaven came to mend
The schism twixt His heart and ours;
The Son of Man must now ascend
To be enthroned above all powers.

In Him humanity is raised
To fill all things eternally;
The Godhead who alone is praised
Thus graces man with dignity.

He took a Servant's form and work,
Of sin and death to make an end.
Since cross and death He did not shirk,
Now every knee to Him shall bend.

A little while, and we will see
The Lamb once slain who lives again,
Returning whence He gloriously
Was taken from the sight of men.

O for that awful, wondrous day
When every heart will be revealed!
Till then, dear Christians, know the way
To find your Savior and be healed.

Our Christ dwells in no distant sphere,
Confined in some celestial space;
For God's right hand is ever near,
Unseen yet present with our race.

Behold the marks whereby He now
Is pleased to visit us with grace:
Through word and sacrament, His vow
Assures us He is in this place.

Amen, we cry: come quickly, Lord!
Come where we gather in Your name;
Come where Your life is given, poured;
Come live within us through the same.

Amen, we cry, and thrice Amen!
Like leavened dough, like branches spliced,
We live with Him who comes again,
The never gone, returning Christ.

To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
One God from whom all goods descend,
We raise, with all the heavenly host,
A fume of worship without end.

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