February 23, 2018
Beautiful Savior
Beautiful Savior, king of creation, Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I’d love thee; truly I’d serve thee, light of my soul, my joy, my crown.
Fair are the meadows; fair are the woodlands, robed in flow’rs of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer; Jesus is purer; he makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine; fair is the moonlight; bright the sparkling stars on high.
Jesus shines brighter; Jesus shines purer than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations; Son of God and Son of Man;
Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forever more be thine.
Text: Gesangbuch, Munster, 1677; tr. Joseph A. Seiss, 1823-1904
I wrote a meditation about this hymn 10 years ago. The hymn still stirs my soul with both the music and the wonderful words, which were translated from the original German long ago. Every time I hear it, I am transplanted to another place—as a child attending Sunday school in a small rural church in the 1960s and 1970s. I see the church standing tall on a hill, surrounded by pastures and fields of crops, an oasis for the generations of my mother’s family who founded that congregation.
I moved on from that foundation to college and then to work, which eventually brought me to Wichita. Though I have been a member of more than one Lutheran church, my core beliefs have changed little since the days in that little church on the hill. Travels have taken me to a few foreign countries and a number of states including our farthest reaches of Hawaii and Alaska. Wherever I am, I continue to see God so clearly in the beauty of creation—gorgeous landscapes, unusual animals—and all God’s people.
Jesus is all this wonderful beauty and more—Jesus is the king of creation. During this Lenten season, let us stop and observe Jesus (God) within creation. We can see God in the landscapes, in the sunshine and moonlight, in all of the wonderful things of creation. Most importantly, let us see God in all God’s children and live our lives for one another.
My Lenten prayer: Beautiful Savior, help me to see you in all of creation, most of all in my brothers and sisters that you have made. Guide me to serve them and work for justice and peace.
Marsha Meili
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