1 O joyful message, sent from heaven
To Israel in days of old!
O gracious promise, freely given,
And by inspired seers foretold,
Who prophesied in dismal night:
At eventide it shall be light.
2 Then Shiloh came, the long-expected,
And night was changed to fairest day.
He came to cheer a world dejected
Tho' in a lowly crib He lay,
While o'er Him shone the beaming star
That led the wise men from afar.
3 Down thro' the years the Gospel story
Has shed its brightness far and near,
And Gentile lands behold the glory
Of Christ, the Morning Star so clear.
Salvation's beams dispel the night,
And so at even it is light.
4 O precious hope! With jubilations
We hail Jerusalem on high,
The city fair that hath foundations,
The land of bliss beyond the sky;
There dwell the saints in glory bright,
And evermore it shall be light.
Source: American Lutheran Hymnal #338
Anna Hoppe was born on May 7, 1889 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She left school after the eighth grade and worked as a stenographer. She began writing patriotic verses when she was very young and by the age of 25 she was writing spiritual poetry. After some of her poems appeared in the Northwestern Lutheran, a periodical of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, they came to the attention of Dr. Adolf Hult of Augustana Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois. He influenced her to write her Songs for the Church Year (1928). Several hymnals include her work, which was usually set to traditional chorale melodies, although she also made a number of translations. She died on August 2, 1941 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
NN, from Cyber Hymnal
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