O Day of Rest and Gladness

O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright;
On thee the high and lowly,
Through ages joined in tune,
Sing Holy, Holy, Holy,
To the great God Triune,

On thee, at the creation,
The light first had its birth;
On thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee our Lord, victorious,
The Spirit sent from heav'n;
And thus on thee, most glorious,
A triple light was giv'n.

Thou art a port protected
From storms that round us rise;
A garden intersected
With streams of Paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In life's dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah's mountain,
We view the promised land.

Today on weary nations
The heav'nly manna falls;
To holy convocations
The silver trumpet calls,
Where gospel light is glowing
With pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing
With soul-refreshing streams.

New graces ever gaining
From this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining
To spirits of the blest.
To Holy Ghost be praises,
To Father and to Son;
The church her voice upraises
To thee, blest Three in One.

~Christopher Wordsworth

We have come to another Saturday evening, dear friends, and you know what that means. We are on the brink of another Lord's Day. Do you look forward to this day of rest and gladness? I have no doubt in my mind that our God would have this day to be a day of joy and a day of rest for us. We have so much to rejoice in. What can be better than to be able to have a day set aside that we can worship our Lord with His people and keep the day holy unto Him? This sweet hymn is a reminder to us. I meditated on it a bit tonight, especially the second stanza. It's not often that we think about the fact that light was "born" on the first day of creation. That, along with the resurrection and Pentecost, is an exciting thought--a triple light given as the song says.

What a blessing this day is to us, fellow saints. I am so thankful for it. The Israelites' Sabbath day was on the seventh day of the week. But for the church, it's right and fitting that our Sabbath is on Sunday. God was so gracious to give us this blessed day.

Most of you know that I like sports, even though I'm not as fanatical about it as I once was. Many of you know, also, that I am quite a fan of the New York Giants. And you probably know that tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and "all the world" will be watching the Giants and the Patriots on this biggest football game of the year. "Not I," says the lady whose family doesn't do TV on the Lord's Day. And it's alright. During the week, if I look at the video we'll be taping I'll enjoy it so much better--win or lose. And what does it matter anyway, right? Tomorrow, you and I will be gaining "new graces" from our Sunday, no matter which city gets to have the big parade next week. For you and me, it will be a time of refreshment at a "cooling fountain in life's dry, dreary sand."

Have a blessed and Christ-filled day of gladness!