Morning Star, O Cheering Sight


The singing of “Morning Star, O Cheering Sight” is a longstanding, heartwarming Christmas Eve tradition in many Moravian congregations. A young person from the congregation is invited to lead the singing, which features a call and response. As the song comes to a close, worshipers hold up their lighted beeswax candles, filling darkened sanctuaries with a warm and festive glow. The final line invites the coming Christ to “fill our hearts with light divine.”

 

Morning Star, O cheering sight!*
Ere thou cam’st, how dark earth’s night!
Morning Star, O cheering sight!
Ere thou cam’st, how dark earth’s night!
Jesus mine, in me shine;
in me shine, Jesus mine;
fill my heart with light divine.

Morning Star, thy glory bright
far excels the sun’s clear light.
Morning Star, thy glory bright
far excels the sun’s clear light.
Jesus be, constantly,
constantly, Jesus be
more than thousand suns to me.

Thy glad beams, thou Morning Star,
cheer the nations near and far.
Thy glad beams, thou Morning Star,
cheer the nations near and far.
Thee we own, Lord alone,
Lord alone, thee we own,
our dear Savior, God’s dear Son.

Morning Star, my soul’s true light,
tarry not, dispel my night.
Morning Star, my soul’s true light,
tarry not, dispel my night.
Jesus mine, in me shine;
in me shine, Jesus mine;
fill my heart with light divine.

* Sung antiphonally with solo and congregation

Text: Johann Scheffler (1657). Tr. Bennet Harvey, Jr. (1885)
Tune: Francis Florentine Hagen (1836)
Reprinted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship with the permission of the Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America.