Words: , 2006:

“This Blessed Night” is the fifth set of lyr­ics writ­ten in my cur­rent pro­ject of pro­vid­ing con­temp­o­rary words to make use of some of the beau­ti­ful old hymn tunes that are most oft­en used with words that are not rea­di­ly un­der­stood and ap­plied to the peo­ple of the 21st Cen­tu­ry. I am deep­ly in­debt­ed to The Cy­ber Hymn­al for the MI­DI files that allow me to browse free­ly through so ma­ny of the old tunes.

These lyr­ics were in­tend­ed as a pray­er for use by any lo­cal con­gre­ga­tion on Christmas Eve as we en­ter into the spir­it of love and “Peace on Earth, good will to men,” that is at the cen­tre of all cel­e­bra­tion of the birth of our Sav­iour. The rough draft came quick­ly one night as I list­ened to Will­iam Gar­din­er’s GER­MA­NY.

The au­thor has re­leased these lyr­ics in­to the pub­lic do­main.

Music: Germany, Sac­red Mel­o­dies, by , 1815.

This blessed night we seek Your throne
In awe and wonder at that birth:
The Child of Bethlehem who brought
God’s grace and love back down to earth.

Joseph and Mary, chosen ones,
As parents to Your only Son,
In faith they trudg’d those weary miles
In order that Your will be done.

Then shepherds, high in fields above
The manger in a lowly shed,
Heard angel messengers sing out
Their “Peace on Earth, good will to men.”

Wrapped round in cloths they found the Babe
Lying at rest upon the hay.
It was for us this Child was born
And brought to us God’s bright new day.

Eternal hope for all mankind!
The price of sin You chose to pay!
O Babe of Heaven, we sing Your praise
And at Your feet our hearts we lay!

O grant us now, dear Lord, we pray,
That we might serve You as we ought.
Teach us to yield our wills to Yours
And live in peace as we’ve been taught.