More than all the dazzling beauty

1 More than all the dazzling beauty
of a billion stars so bright,
far beyond the rugged grandeur
of some lofty mountain height,
more than heart and mind can fathom,
ear can hear, or eye can see,
is the glory God discloses
in the Man of Galilee.

2 All that sculpture can embody,
all that poetry can say,
all that drama can interpret,
all an artist can portray,
all that science can unravel
from the cosmos to the cell -
God reveals in Christ a splendour
such as these can scarcely tell.

3 Babe in squalor! Child in danger!
Man so seldom understood!
Man whose fervour and compassion
led to thorns and nails and wood:
such a life he spent among us,
such a depth of care he gave,
till that costly self-surrender
to the scourge, the cross, the grave.

4 There is beauty in his kindness
and the truth of all he said;
there is glory in his anguish
and his rising from the dead.
Lord, we marvel at the splendour
of the grace that makes us whole:
power beyond imagination
yielding all to love's control.

Martin E. Leckebusch (b.1962)
© Martin E. Leckebusch, admin. The Jubilate Group
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Tune suggestion: HOPE PARK (Ian Sharp)