Songs for the Watchnight

Tonight, several of us attended our annual Watchnight Service. Testifying to God’s provision and grace in 2018, we committed the new year to His safe keeping.

We sang Come ye that Love the Lord, reminding ourselves of our Zionic destination, as well as What a Fellowship, the chorus of which quotes the book of Deuteronomy assuring Israel that underneath her are God’s everlasting arms, even in times of peril. The final verse is:

 

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,

Leaning on the everlasting arms;

I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

 

During the singing of Townend’s Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God, we committed our little church to Christ, praying for a deeper relationship with the Bridegroom:

 

Show Your power once again on earth,

Cause Your church to hunger for your ways.

Let the fragrance of our prayers arise;

Lead us on the road of sacrifice,

That in unity the face of Christ

May be clear for all the world to see.

 

To close, we sang a more Christ-centred version of the rather sentimental Auld Lang Syne, the words of which are powerful, yet keeping the spirit of Burns’ original:

 

1.Should nothing of our efforts stand

No legacy survive

Unless the Lord does raise the house

In vain its builders strive

 

2.To you who boast tomorrow’s gain

Tell me what is your life?

A mist that vanishes at dawn,

All glory be to Christ!

 

All glory be to Christ our king!

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing,

All glory be to Christ!

 

3.His will be done,

His kingdom come

On earth as is above;

Who is Himself our daily bread,

Praise Him the Lord of love.

 

4.Let living water satisfy,

The thirsty without price;

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

All glory be to Christ!

 

All glory be to Christ our king!

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing,

All glory be to Christ!

 

5.When on the day the great I Am,

The Faithful and the True;

The Lamb who was for sinners slain,

Is making all things new.

 

6.Behold our God shall live with us,

And be our steadfast light;

And we shall ere his people be,

All glory be to Christ!

 

All glory be to Christ our king!

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing,

All glory be to Christ!

(Dustin Kensrue and Kings Kaleidoscope)

I don’t know what 2019 holds. Two weeks after last year’s Watchnight, a close male relative told me he had terminal cancer and within three months was taken. This new year may hold similarly horrible times and events. Yet it will also be a year in which God channels His grace and strength to us, chiselling away our Adamic inheritance, conforming us to the likeness of His Son. Whether we look back on 2019 with regret or joy, may Christ get all the glory, for His arms are always underneath us as we journey to Him at Zion.