1 Christ is the world's true light,
its Captain of salvation,
the Daystar clear and bright
of every land and nation;
new life, new hope awakes,
for all who own his sway:
freedom her bondage breaks,
and night is turned to day.
2 In Christ all races meet,
their ancient feuds forgetting,
the whole round world complete,
from sunrise to its setting:
when Christ is throned as Lord,
all shall forsake their fear,
to plough-share beat the sword,
to pruning hook the spear.
3 One Lord, in one great name
unite us all who own thee;
cast out our pride and shame
that hinder to enthrone thee;
the world has waited long,
has travailed long in pain;
to heal its ancient wrong,
come, Prince of Peace, and reign.
George W. Briggs
The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition
<idle musing>
Meditate on the words to this hymn. It definitely speaks to the need of our time! If only Christians would take seriously the call of Christ to be peace-makers, not peace-breakers! (Bearing in mind Glenn Stasson's call to just peace-making.)
That being said, this is not a terribly popular hymn, only occurring about 50 times. Take a minute to read the biography of the writer. He seems to have been an interesting person. For example, "he is the author of one of the prayers used at the time of the famous meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt on H.M.S. Prince of Wales in 1941 when the Atlantic Charter was framed." Another time when (just) peace-making was desperately needed.
</idle musing>
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