Commemoration of Isaac Watts, hymnwriter, 1748 — Genesis 6:1-10

“So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.” (Genesis 6:6, NLT)

Entering into the season of Advent rightly begins with the knowledge that the world is not as it should be. God desires light, life, peace, and joy for the whole creation, but the presence of sin and death and the power of Satan mars our existence and obscures the blessedness that God prepared for us from the beginning. As we ponder our brokenness, we also give thanks for the great gift that comes to us in Christ Jesus, whose advent is this world’s hope and salvation. Isaac Watts bore witness to this reality in his famous Advent/Christmas hymn “Joy to the World,” particularly in the following verse:

No more let sin and sorrow grow
nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.

In this season, we give thanks for hymn writers like Isaac Watts, who communicate the deep truths of Scripture in unforgettable ways that echo throughout the centuries.

God of truth and grace, your promise of restoration and renewal sustains us when we feel faint. Help us to sing with all your saints in light the wonders of your love made known to us in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

– Pastor Andrew Chavanak, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), Falls City