Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ,
Nor creed, nor form, nor word,
Nor holy church, nor human love,
Compare with Thee, my Lord.

Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ,
Thy love has conquered me;
Beneath Thy cross I die to self,
And live alone to Thee.

Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ,
My inmost being fill;
So shall I think as Thou dost think,
And will as Thou dost will.

Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ,
Thy life transfigure mine;
And through this veil of mortal flesh,
Lord, let Thy splendors shine.

Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ,
My soul exults in Thee;
To be Thy slave, to do Thy will,
Is my felicity.

The call goes out from highest Heaven,
From that great Voice whose vast decree
Calls out of nothing all creation,
And brings to birth eternity.
“Go down, My Son, go down from Heaven,
Bring My belovèd home to Me.
Go find her, lost, abandoned, ruined,
Storm-tossed in sin’s relentless sea.”

Now speaks the Prince of highest Heaven,
Whose light no seraph can endure—
Who owns the glories of the Godhead
By right and title all-secure.
“Yes, I will go, go down from Heaven,
To find our lost, our wand’ring bride,
I’ll bring her home, whate’er it cost Me—
I’ll bring her home, though I must die.”

Now see Him plunge from highest Heaven,
Through light-years dark, to virgin’s womb,
Enfleshed in dust and human weakness:
A body destined for a tomb.
A long, long way from highest Heaven,
He walks the ground from which He made
The Man whose sons He has come seeking,
The captives Satan has betrayed.

With tears He cries to highest Heaven,
”Lord, let this cup now pass from Me!”
His blood pours down His sweating forehead;
At horror’s brink, oh, what He sees!
But He submits to highest Heaven,
“Not Mine, but Thy own will be done.”
He rises, strengthened by an angel:
Ahead there’s battle to be won.

The mighty wrath of highest Heaven
Falls down upon bright Heaven’s Son.
A rage omnipotent and righteous
Burns down upon the chosen One.
The Enemy of highest Heaven
With snarling teeth and slashing claw,
With howls of savage accusation,
Calls down the curses of the Law!

Before the bar of highest Heaven,
The Son of God convicted stands;
My guilty conscience burns within Him
Because my crimes are on His hands.
The sentence falls from highest Heaven,
Unleashing Hell upon His own,
The Second Death consumes the Sacrifice.
So perfect mercy can be shown.

Again the Voice of highest Heaven
Speaks life into a three-days’ grave,
And there triumphant, death defeating,1
The God-man comes, mighty to save!
He will return from highest Heaven,
Ten million angels in His train:
He’ll claim the blood-bought bride He ransomed,
To love while highest Heav’n remains.

1Originally, And there, triumphant over sin and death

Let your mindset be the same
As that of Jesus Christ;
Though in very nature God,
He did not cling to His rights.

Refrain

He became a man,
In humility,
Was obedient unto death,
And Lord of all will be.

He made nothing of himself,
Took on a servant’s form;
Found in likeness as a man,
On the cross He died forlorn.

Refrain

Therefore God exalted Christ
Up to the highest place,
Gave the Name above all names;
All His shame, He did erase.

Refrain

One day at the Name of Christ
All men will bow their knee.
Those in Heaven, on the earth,
And beneath, their Lord will see.

Refrain

Every tongue will then confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord.
He will be exalted e’er,
To the glory of our God.

Refrain

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

Now praise we Christ, the Holy One,
The blessed virgin Mary’s Son,
Far as the glorious sun doth shine,
E’en to the world’s remote confine.

He Who Himself all things did make
A servant’s form vouchsafed to take
That He as man mankind might win
And save His creatures from their sin.

The grace and power of God the Lord
Upon the mother was outpoured;
A virgin pure and undefiled
In wondrous wise conceived a Child.

The noble mother bore a Son—
For so did Gabriel’s promise run—
Whom John confessed and leaped with joy
Ere yet the mother knew her Boy.

Upon a manger filled with hay
In poverty content He lay;
With milk was fed the Lord of all,
Who feeds the ravens when they call.

The heavenly choirs rejoice and raise
Their voice to God in songs of praise.
To humble shepherds is proclaimed
The Shepherd Who the world hath framed.

All honor unto Christ be paid,
Pure Offspring of the favored maid,
With Father and with Holy Ghost,
Till time in endless time be lost.

O mind of God, broad as the sky,
The earth, the air, the sea,
Give us Thy broadening Spirit’s grace,
In sweet simplicity.

O heart of God, deep as the needs
Of all humanity,
Give unto us the kindlier soul,
The larger sympathy.

O will of God, high as all Heav’n,
With power superb and free,
Give us the will to do and dare,
In fullest liberty.

O large and free and glorious God,
With ways exceeding kind,
Give unto us Thy breadth of love,
In loving all mankind.

Ye who the Name of Jesus bear,
His sacred steps pursue;
And let that mind which was in Him
Be also found in you.

Though in the form of God He was,
His only Son declared,
Nor to be equally adored
As robbery did regard;

His greatness He for us abased,
For us His glory veiled;
In human likeness dwelt on earth,
His majesty concealed:

Nor only as a man appears,
But stoops a servant low;
Submits to death, nay, bears the cross,
In all its shame and woe.

Hence God this generous love to men
With honors just hath crowned,
And raised the Name of Jesus far
Above all names renowned:

That at this Name, with sacred awe,
Each humble knee should bow
Of hosts immortal in the skies,
And nations spread below:

That all the prostrate powers of hell
Might tremble at His Word,
And every tribe, and every tongue,
Confess that He is Lord.