"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” | Sixth Sunday of Easter

ZACHARY'S NOTES:

Stanza 1 // The “divine love” of Christ exceeds all love we can imagine - a love and joy that must “come down from heaven.” It is the crown of all God’s “faithful mercies” because it is the commandment Christ says will grow out of faith in our Lord! Christ’s love, which knows no boundaries, can enter even the “trembling hearts” of sinners, that we might be given salvation.

Stanza 2 // When Christ enters the human heart, we are given new hearts “set at liberty” by the freedom of God’s “loving Spirit.” This again is God’s love - not our own - by which our “love of sinning” is removed, as we inherit the promised rest Christ promises to give.

Stanza 3 // In what can sound like a prayer for Christ’s final return, this is perhaps best understood and sung as what our Lord does each week we gather in worship. Christ is present where He promises to be - He will not leave His temple! The latter half of this stanza is a picture of what it means to “abide in Christ’s love” - where God’s people praise Christ “without ceasing” and “serve thee” and thy neighbor in the glory of Christ’s “perfect love.”

Stanza 4 // In Christ’s “perfect love” we are made a “new creation” - “pure, spotless, and continually restored” in our Lord’s forgiveness! Heaven is to be “lost” or living daily in the “wonder, love and praise” of Almighty God - the same life to which our Lord invites us today as we abide in His love as His people!

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

ELW 367 - Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds - LASST UNS ERFREUEN

ELW 385 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! - GELOBT SEI GOTT

ELW 631 - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling - HYFRYDOL

ELW 637 - Holy God, Holy and Glorious - NELSON

ELW 836 - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee - HYMN TO JOY

ELW 863 - My God, How Wonderful Thou Art - DUNDEE

LBW 143 - Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds - LASST UNS ERFREUEN

LBW 144 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! - GELOBT SEI GOTT

LBW 315 - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling - HYFRYDOL

LBW 551 - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee - HYMN TO JOY

LBW 524 - My God, How Wonderful Thou Art - DUNDEE

LSB 465 - Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds - LASST UNS ERFREUEN

LSB 475 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! - GELOBT SEI GOTT

LSB 700 - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling - HYFRYDOL

LSB 803 - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee - HYMN TO JOY

RH 2 - My God, How Wonderful Thou Art - DUNDEE

RH 14 - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling - HYFRYDOL

RH 36 - Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee - HYMN TO JOY

RH 158 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! - GELOBT SEI GOTT

RH 159 - Now Let the Vault of Heaven Resound - LASST UNS ERFREUEN