Saviour of the World

This is my new favorite Christmas hymn:

I cannot tell why He whom angels worship

Should set His love upon the sons of men

Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers

To bring them back, they know not how or when.

But this I know: That He was born of Mary,

When Bethlehem's manger was His only home,

And that He lived at Nazareth and laboured,

And so the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is come.

I cannot tell how silently He suffered,

As with His peace He graced this place of tears,

Or how upon the cross His heart was broken,

The crown of pain to three and thirty years.

But this I know: He heals the broken-hearted

And stays our sin and calms our lurking fear

And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,

For yet the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is here.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship

When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,

Or who can say how great the jubilation

When all the hearts of men with love are filled.

But this I know: The skies will thrill with gladness

And myriad, myriad human voices sing

And earth to heaven and heaven to earth will answer:

At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is King!

Text: W.Y. Fullerton

Music: Londonderry Air

Listen to most of the second stanza  from Stephen Eager's CD: Breath of Life, an album inspired by the Lewis Revival of 1949.