CPWI Hymnal ‎#776

776. Lo, in the wilderness a voice

1 Lo, in the wilderness a voice
'make straight the way' is crying:
when men are turning from the light,
and hope and love seem dying,
the prophet comes to make us clean:
'there standeth one you have not seen,
Whose voice you are denying.'

2 God give us grace to hearken now
to those who come to warn us,
give sight and strength, that we may kill
the vices that have torn us,
lest love professed should disappear
in creeds of hate, contempt, and fear,
that crush and overturn us.

3 When from the vineyard cruel men
cast out the heavenly powers
and Christendom denies its Lord,
the world in ruin cowers.
Now come, O God, in thy great might!
Unchanged, unchanging is thy right,
unswayed thy justice towers.

Text Information

• First Line: Lo, in the wilderness a voice
• Author: Percy Dearmer, 1867-1936
• Meter: 8.7.8.7.8.8.7
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 2010
• Scripture:
  Mark 1:3
• Topic: Saints' and Other Holy Days: St. John the Baptist
• Notes: A higher setting of MIT FREUDEN ZART is found at 386

Tune Information

• Name: MIT FREUDEN ZART
• Meter: 8.7.8.7.8.8.7
• Key: D Major
• Source: Bohemian Brehtren's Kirkengesänge, Berlin 1566, later form; Harmonizations: Editors of Hymns for Church and School, 1964
• Copyright: Harmonization © Editors of Hymns for Church and School, 1964