Scripture Verse

Unto you is born…in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Introduction

Words: D. A. (San­dy) Co­ver­ett, 2006 (pub­lic do­main).

Music: Ger­ma­ny Sac­red Me­lo­dies, by Will­iam Gar­di­ner, 1815 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
D. A. Coverett (1935–)

Origin of the Hymn

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.

Sandy Coverett

Lyrics

illustration
Geburt Christi
Max Bentele (1825–1893)

This bless­èd 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 trudged 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.