Nov 12, 2012

Advent Song: Welcome, Jesus


Here’s a contemporary hymn for Advent from Dan Damon.  The song is set to a tune called SWEETWATER (see it here).  Or—if your congregation would prefer to use a tune they already know, you might sing it to one of the following traditional tunes (or any other tune in 8.7.8.7. meter):

PEACE (Peace is flowing like a river) 
CROSS OFJESUS (Cross of Jesus, cross of sorrow) 
GILLARD (The Servant Song) 

If your congregation would prefer a more contemporary musical setting, you might consider using Brian Doerksen’s The River tune instead. If you decide to try that, you might make the last stanza the refrain. 

Welcome, Jesus, You Are Welcome

Welcome, Jesus, you are welcome
in this world made hard by fear;
loving reach us, living teach us,
Jesus, you are welcome here.

Welcome, Jesus, you are welcome
in the ghettos we have made;
give the tattered, bruised, and battered
winter shelter, summer shade.

Welcome, Jesus, you are welcome
with the wealthy and the poor;
give the broken love unspoken,
open wide each prison door.

Welcome, Jesus, you are welcome.
Let your loving light appear.
In our seeing, in our being,
Jesus, you are welcome here.

~ written by Daniel Charles Damon, in Fields of Mercy. Words copyright © 2005 Hope Publishing Company. If you use this hymn in worship, be sure to report it on your CCLI license.  Text reprinted here by permission.

For many other new song texts for Advent, visit Hope Publishing Company’s Online Hymnody website.