Remember who you were

Remember who you were before Christ came

to set you in his new eternal frame; 

and how you live in Jesus without blame:

Alleluia!

 

Remember how you lived before that day, 

with only futile deeds to make your way; 

then Jesus made for you a whole new day!

Alleluia!

 

Remember how you lived in enmity

with those who saw our God, but differently;

now reconciled for all eternity!

Alleluia!

 

Now we are reconciled in God's good plan,

God's doing since before the world began; 

now let this unity the whole world span.

Amen!

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2024, loosely after Ephesians 2:11-22.

MUSIC: Tune ENGELBERG, Charles Villiers Stanford, 1904; alt.

 

 

Ephesians can present some challenges for hymn adaption; some passages can get a little dense (as is certainly true in Paul's epistles), but without the Pauline vividness or excitedness. Still, there are threads that can be pulled or traced through the passage and brought out for hymnic emphasis.