“Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee.”

“Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee.”

Hymn: “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”

Text: Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Tune: BEECHER, HYFRYDOL

The Texas town we live in is filled with beautiful… sometimes gorgeous Victorian homes. The tree-lined streets of the downtown area seem frozen in time – and I love it, of course. That’s why Waxahachie is so often used for movies and television shows that need a preserved backdrop from years ago.

We also have several restoration companies. Their promise/aim/intention is to bring these homes back to their original southern glory. In most cases, they do a fine job.

But “perfectly restored”?

When Notre Dame Cathedral burned on April 15, 2019, it pained me deeply; the art-lover in me was devastated. Immediately, there was talk of restoration – of bringing it back to its original condition, the one we visited a few years earlier. That can’t really happen, you understand. It cannot be perfectly restored.

Given the way great poetry is constructed, this Hymn Line MIGHT read like this: “Let us see thy great salvation. (Let us be) perfectly restored in thee.” For me at least, that helps me get what this great Wesleyan hymn is saying: “Show us what your salvation looks like; then perfectly restore us to our original, sinless beauty.”

Bottom Line: My perfect restoration is possible through God’s great salvation.

[Sounds like something for the T-Shirt market!]

Choir at Temple Square sings this beautifully to HYFRYDOL tune:

https://youtu.be/JNpw-9pifXs