ZACHARY'S NOTES: 

Stanza 1 // We are gathered together “by Christ’s love” - and in this love, we sing and are bound together. The love we know in Christ comes because two things are true: we are sinners in need of forgiveness, and God has shown us love “while we were still sinners!” Out of all the reasons we might think to gather together as Church, God’s love in Christ gives us purpose. In this, Jesus’ words of forgiveness and reconciliation begin to take shape.

Stanza 2 // “Grateful joy” and “holy fear” can sound like good theological talk, but these are the result of confession and forgiveness. We enter God’s presence in “holy fear” as sinners - unfit to stand before Almighty God. In “grateful joy” we hear God’s Word of forgiveness, and know God as He wants to be known - in Christ, our Savior.

Stanza 3 // The Church is made one body in Christ, because each member needs the forgiveness Christ brings. 

Stanzas 4 and 5 // These final stanzas sound like suggestions from our hymn-writer, much like Jesus’ words in this weekend’s Gospel reading:  “Let strife among us be unknown…let us forgive each other’s faults…” In St. Matthew’s Gospel [and in this hymn] Jesus does not make a simple request to apologize to another, but to reconcile and repair relationship, just as “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” We gather in our Lord’s name knowing the glory and  peace of Christ’s forgiveness is all we seek and need in life.

SUGGESTIONS:

• ELW 359 -  Where Charity and Love Prevail - ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ
• ELW 452 - Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death - ᴀᴢᴍᴏɴ
• ELW 603 - God, When Human Bonds Are Broken - ᴍᴇʀᴛᴏɴ
• ELW 615 - In All Our Grief - ꜰʀᴇᴅᴇʀɪᴄᴋᴛᴏᴡɴ
• ELW 653 - Where True Charity and Love Abide - ᴜʙɪ ᴄᴀʀɪᴛᴀꜱ
• ELW 864/865 - Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven - ʟᴀᴜᴅᴀ ᴀɴɪᴍᴀ