Devotional Thoughts Based on the Glory to God Hymnal

Joel 2:13

rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing, …

This hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte (1834) and is set to the tune Lauda Anima. Beneath the hymn appears this brief commentary: “This adaptation of an older paraphrase of Psalm 103 (see no. 620) is informed by an awareness that much of the received language of religious traditions enshrines social values that obscure the goodness of God, which far transcends all our labels and categories and hierarchies.

The hymn’s allusion to Joel 2:13 is found in these words of the second stanza: “Praise God for the grass and favor shown our forebears in distress; God is still the same forever, slow to chide and swift to bless. Alleluia! Alleluia! Sing our Maker’s faithfulness.”

The hymn is a good example of inclusive language eliminating masculine references to God without changing the meaning. God’s love has been shown for us in having “ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven us. Truly we should praise our maker all our days. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen

Prayer

Thank you, Lord for being gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen