Prepare the Royal Highway
Prepare the Royal Highway
1 Prepare the royal highway;
the King of kings is near!
Let ev'ry hill and valley
a level road appear!
Then greet the King of glory,
foretold in sacred story:
Refrain
Hosanna to the Lord,
for he fulfills God's word!
2 God's people, see him coming:
your own eternal king!
Palm branches strew before him!
Spread garments! Shout and sing!
God's promise will not fail you!
No more shall doubt assail you! Refrain
3 Then fling the gates wide open
to greet your promised king!
Your king, yet ev'ry nation
its tribute too may bring.
All lands will bow before him;
their voices join your singing: Refrain
4 His is no earthly kingdom;
it comes from heav'n above.
His rule is peace and freedom
and justice, truth, and love.
So let your praise be sounding
for kindness so abounding: Refrain
Text: Frans Mikael Franzén, 1772-1847; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship
Text © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reprinted with permission. One License #A-722596
Okay, I admit it. I do a lot of online searches. And why not? Pretty much anything I want to know is at my fingertips. Yes, I’m careful about my searches. Some words and phrases are better left unsearched, some sources are not reliable, and the internet is full of time-wasting “rabbit holes.” But, what the heck, I do it anyway.
So, it stands to reason that I’d do a search when preparing thoughts about the hymn Prepare the Royal Highway. The hymn has always made me think of road construction, so I searched “comparing road construction to faith” and found this headline.
Relief on the horizon for Faith Road traffic snarls.
What a delightful headline! I actually breathed a sigh of relief. It’s just so “Advent.” Relief is on the horizon. Jesus is coming. We’re patiently preparing our hearts and minds for it. And traffic snarls? I most definitely encounter those on my faith road.
The Royal Highway we sing about in the hymn? It’s not some fancy road we have to prepare; it’s our own traffic-snarled faith road. We sing in the hymn, “God’s promise will not fail you! No more shall doubt assail you!” Take heart and know that the “relief” that’s on the horizon is also right here beside us.
“Hosanna to the Lord, for he fulfills God’s Word!”