A hymn inspired by 1 John 3:11-18
“Hamburg” (8.8.8.8)
From the beginning thou hast heard
that we should love one another.
Love, more than speech or fruitless word,
dresses the wounds we all suffer.
Have we not passed from death to life,
living in sibling love reborn?
Why then this toil, this ceaseless strife,
by which our sibling bonds are torn?
Know love by this, that He laid down
His life for us, that we might learn
the sting of thorns that made His crown—
the cost of grace for which we yearn.
Who art thou then, to grasp and keep
all the world’s goods thou hast to share?
Know that in Sheol’s darkest deep
no gold or silver greets thee there.