O God of Time and Turning Earth

About the Hymn

Perhaps it’s just that we’re growing older. When the New Year arrives and the calendar page turns, we experience more nostalgia than excitement, more poignancy than joy. New Year’s Day is less a new beginning than a continuation—a continuation of life under the cross and before the crown.

The earth keeps turning. The ancient bells keep chiming.

“The Preacher” of Ecclesiastes, wise King Solomon, knew this well. He famously said in chapter 3, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die . . .”

This hymn contains a shortened portion of that Scripture, but focuses more on the lesser known verse 11 that follows: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (3:11).

We do not know what tomorrow brings, and we cannot possibly imagine or understand God’s plans. But we know that our God is in charge, and God makes everything beautiful in time. The cross will indeed become the crown.

We know this is true because we read this Old Testament Scripture in the light of the New, which tells us that our timeless God entered time. Jesus Christ, a “high and holy Visitor,” submitted to the strictures of time, including death, and then burst those bands when he rose from the dead.

The ancient bells that toll for us (as John Donne reminds us) also ring in resurrection. Now we too will enter timelessness, an eternity with our God. What could be more beautiful?

The hymn should be performed at a calmly lilting♩= ca. 72.