I’m preaching a series on the Ascension this Easter season, inspired by the Rev. Gerrit Scott Dawson of First Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Baton Rouge and his work on the subject; this hymn is one we’ll be singing this morning as we begin the series. It’s a text by my RCA colleague James L. H. Brumm, and I appreciate it because it captures the significance of Jesus’ ascension for us.
God Has Gone Up with Shouts of Joy!God has gone up with shouts of joy!
Christ claims the throne of glory:
Immortal Word in mortal flesh
To share with God our story
Of humans lost to death and sin
Who ache to be invited in
To Love’s eternal blessing.Christ has gone up, still bearing wounds,
Still bound to race and gender;
His royal robe all crimson blood;
His triumph all surrender.
Now we, though bound to who we are,
Can follow, with our pain and scars,
To Love’s eternal blessing.Christ has gone up! Now Christ in us
Leads all the world to glory.
The Word finds voice on Fiery Breath;
Our lives relate the story
Of how God went through death and Hell
That we might have Immanuel
And Love’s eternal blessing!Words: James L. H. Brumm
Music: Bohemian Brethren’s Kirchengesänge, 1566
MIT FREUDEN ZART , 8.7.8.7.8.8.7.