ELW 309 - The Only Son from Heaven // ʜᴇʀʀ ᴄʜʀɪꜱᴛ, ᴅᴇʀ ᴇɪɴɪɢ ɢᴏᴛᴛꜱ ꜱᴏʜɴ
ZACHARY'S NOTES:
Stanza 1 // We are gathered by the Holy Spirit to hear from God. Our “hearts [or souls] are stirred” and faith is made when the promises of God are given, and we are “drawn to heaven” - that is, sinners below are numbered with the saints above.
Stanza 2 // Just as those in Scripture sat “in darkness” until Christ, so we “lie in deepest darkness” until God’s Spirit breaks in to deliver the unclouded light of the Gospel. We know this light is Christ himself, and so the hymn addresses Jesus directly. When the hymn credits all “good thoughts” and “good living” as a gift from God, it simply means truly “good” works are only possible from a Christian - one who lives constantly in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Stanza 3 // When Christ arrives and the light dawns, it is because he is the radiance of God, the Father. Echoes of the Nicene Creed - “light of light” - “proceeding from God” - give way to a prayer. To ask that Christ would help and be pleased with our “hearing, speaking, heeding” is to acknowledge what God promises - nothing would please God more than to give us eternal life in His Son.
Stanza 4 // Out of all our prayers - stir our hearts, draw us to heaven, break the darkness, send your blessed light - we recognize the thing “most needed” is the consolation of the Gospel. That which Christ preached in the synagogue is still the message for which the Church exists today, whether anticipating Christ’s return on earth or rejoicing in heaven around the throne.
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