Hymmetry - Servants of Christ

Hymmetry

1 Servants of Christ arise,

shine, for his light is here!

Darkness deserts the skies,

Advent is drawing near.

He will indeed return

in power one day:

let us discern

how we should work and pray.

2 Now let disputings cease,

fury be put to flight:

Jesus is Prince of Peace,

Christ is the world’s true light.

Dying to set us free:

he paid the price,

suffered to be

God’s perfect sacrifice.

3 Christians today take heart -

Jesus is at our side;

wisdom he will impart ,

he will equip and guide.

So let us all unite

and live for him,

lamps burning bright -

let not our faith grow dim.

4 Church of the Lord, look up,

ready to greet the King:

he is our joy and hope,

ruler of everything.

Saviour, we wait for you:

Lord, quickly come:

make all things new

in your eternal home.

~~~

Tune: CHILEAN FOLK-SONG

Metre: 6.6.6.6.6.4.4.6 Key: Dm

Keyboard Demo:

Lyric Video:

Sources: Luke 12:40, Romans 13:12-14, Philippians 2:12-16, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 3:11-12
Themes: Advent, awake, lamp, light, return of Christ, Saviour, serving, uniting

Here is a hymn which has had more versions than usual. Its source was an inspiring talk to the women's own fellowship at Goldings Church in December 1998 from a nearby vicar who emphasised the encouragements, warnings, focus of activity and final expectations found in the New Testament as the church awaits Jesus' return - the traditional heart of Advent, a period of anticipation, reflection and preparation celebrated before Christmas . These four aspects came to comprise the four verses, set at that time to LITTLE CORNARD. They started with:

1 "Christians, arise from sleep,"

2 "Dwellers in darkest night"

3 "Church of the Lord, take heart"

4 "Children of day, look up"

The lyric, though special to me after I had revised it further, had not been accepted for publication. I also had to look for a tune not in copyright, and so I adjusted the words to fit the music of a Chilean lullaby, as here. Meanwhile another version of the same basic hymn, "We praise the Holy One", is now on the Jubilate website.

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