Typical Tune: AR HYD Y NOS
This hymn has a recurring phrase that ends many of the
lines: “Thanks be to God!” It’s a phrase many of us say every Sunday morning in
response to the statement, “This is the Word of the Lord.” As we sing this great hymn, it becomes our
repeated common proclamation.
“For the wonders that
astound us, for the truths that still confound us,
most of all that love
has found us, thanks be to God.”
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” I hear people say often. When
we get to the point that we are beyond being amazed, astonished, or even
flabbergasted, we have stepped outside that realm where God can still astound
us… where our reaction can still be awe – even child-like wonder. The great
mysteries of God still throw me a curve; I am rarely involved in serious Bible
study or theological conversation when I don’t have a flash of amazement. It’s that mystery
that keeps me coming back for more. I don’t even WANT to discover all the
answers; I want to keep digging and learning, and growing from what I find.
The truth we discover can confound or befuddle us. In fact,
it probably SHOULD stupefy us and cause us to stand astonished. Knowing the
truth and letting it set us free: what a goal for those of us who are
God-seekers.
As Fred Pratt Green concludes, we should be most astounded
and confounded by the fact that love has sought us out – that God has been
worshiper-seeking (John 4:23), and we have been found. It’s like a grand game
of hide-and-seek in which WE were hiding, love was seeking.
For all this, we say as if prompted by Sunday’s lector, “Thanks
be to God.”
Hear This Hymn Tune
Played at the Organ
Hear a Small Choir Sing
This Hymn
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