Richard Glover is an Australian broadcaster and writer. Best Wishes is his new book which contains 365 wishes that Glover thinks would make for a better world if they came true.
Among the 365 there are a lot that resonate with me.
Which may be an aging man sort of thing. Or not.
Those that I might qualify are expressed in a way that invites thought, and also challenges about how to express alternative viewpoints engagingly and without rancour.
Matt Merker, Laura Story, and Jordan Kauflin have adapted lyrics from “Come Ye Disconsolate” by Thomas Moore and Thomas Hastings.
It goes okay.
I’m a bit devastated that the lines
“Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.”
have not made the cut in the new song.
Indeed, the lyric motif of the final line of each verse referring to “earth has no sorrows” has not been retained.
Maybe the modern writers wanted to emphasise coming to Jesus rather than the hope of heaven being the present comfort of Christians.
They’re the same thing.
And, the longer life goes on, the experience of what awaits in heaven is more and more the experience of comfort that we long for.
The lyrics:
Come unto Jesus, all you who are weary;
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, broken and needy;
Come unto Jesus, mighty to heal.
Joy of the comfortless, Light for the straying,
Hope of the penitent, Peace in our strife;
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying:
“My yoke is easy, my burden is light.”
Come unto Jesus,
Come unto Jesus.
Lay down your burdens, He is enough;
Come unto Jesus, rest in His love.
Come taste the Bread of Life, broken for sinners;
Drink from the cup of His promise made sure.
Feast at His table as sons and as daughters;
Grace overflowing is yours evermore.
Come unto Jesus,
Come unto Jesus.
Lay down your burdens, He is enough;
Come unto Jesus, rest in His love.
Come now and follow Him, this life forsaking;
All that was gain, count as nothing but loss.
Trade all this world for His kingdom unfading;
Come unto Jesus, take up your cross;
Come unto Jesus, take up your cross;
Life everlasting He offers to us.
Come unto Jesus,
Come unto Jesus.
Lay down your burdens, He is enough;
Come unto Jesus,
Come unto Jesus.
Lay down your burdens, He is enough;
Come unto Jesus, rest in His love.