O Word of God Incarnate

I originally wrote about this hymn, O Word of God Incarnate, back in July 2016!  Wow!  I’ve been sharing a Sunday song for quite a while haven’t I?  🙂

Lyrics to O Word of God Incarnate

1 O Word of God incarnate,
O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging,
O Light of our dark sky:
we praise you for the radiance
that from the Scripture’s page,
a lantern to our footsteps,
shines on from age to age.

2 The church from you, dear Master,
received the gift divine;
and still that light is lifted
o’er all the earth to shine.
It is the chart and compass
that all life’s voyage through,
mid mists and rocks and quicksands,
still guides, O Christ, to you.

I found two versions for the third verse:
The Scripture is a banner
before God’s host unfurled;
It is a shining Beacon
above the darkling world.
It is the Chart and Compass
that over life’s surging tide,
Mid mists and rocks and quicksands
, to You, O Christ, will guide.

OR this one which we sing in our church
It floateth like a banner
  Before God’s host unfurled;
It shineth like a beacon
  Above the darkling world;
It is the chart and compass
  That, o’er life’s surging sea,
’Mid mists and rocks and quicksands
  Still guide, O Christ, to Thee.

4 O make your church, dear Savior,
a lamp of burnished gold
to bear before the nations
your true light as of old.
O teach your wandering pilgrims
by this our path to trace
till, clouds and darkness ended,
we see you face to face.

Author and History

Poor Man’s bishop, William Walsham How was born in 1823.  This son of   William Wybergh How, was educated at Shrewsbury School and Wadham College, Oxford (B.A. 1845).

How chose to serve in the poor of London, living in the slums and rejecting offers to serve in more prestigious churches.   Authoring several books such as the Commentary of the Four Gospels and Plain Words for Children.

Bishop How wrote 54 hymns altogether.   He said, “A good hymn should be like a good prayer—simple, real, earnest, and reverent.”  (source)

Thinking Deeper

Do you believe in the truth of scripture?  Do you see the truth of who Jesus is?  Jesus, God’s word, born into flesh!  Do you see how he minds his people, the church?  How do we respond to that?

Do we work to become the people he wants us to be?   Do we actually try to be the burnished lamp we sing about?  Do we really try to bring light to the world around us?

Some songs remind us, don’t they?  Remind us of the call placed on our lives, and how we are to be as a light to the world around us.