Glad Was the Message

Glad was the mes­sage

and joy­ous the strain

Brought to the shep­herds on Beth­le­hem’s plain;

Chanted by an­gels who came from above

Bearing glad tid­ings of mer­cy and love;

Bringing good news to the na­tions of earth

News of a Sav­ior

whose glo­ri­ous birth

Gave to this sad world a mes­sage of peace

Bidding its woe and its war­fare to cease.

Lo! in the man­ger the Sav­ior is laid;

Earth has no re­fuge

no place for His head;

Sojourner

strang­er

and wan­derer here

Dark was His lot

and His pil­grim­age drear;

But in His mer­cy and kind­ness He came

Seeking to win us from sor­row and shame;

Bidding the trou­bled to come and be blessed;

Calling the way-worn and wea­ry to rest.

Oh

may we pon­der and keep in our mind

God’s won­drous mer­cy in sav­ing man­kind;

Sending His Son who

in seek­ing the lost

Lay in the man­ger and hung on the cross;

Following Him

by His help and His grace

We shall be with Him and gaze on His face;

Then with the ran­somed and glo­ri­fied throng

We shall adore Him with harp and with song.