1 Glad was the message, and joyous the strain,
Brought to the shepherds on Bethlehem’s plain;
Chanted by angels who came from above
Bearing glad tidings of mercy and love;
Bringing good news to the nations of earth,
News of a Savior, whose glorious birth
Gave to this sad world a message of peace,
Bidding its woe and its warfare to cease.

2 Lo! in the manger the Savior is laid;
Earth has no refuge, no place for His head;
Sojourner, stranger, and wanderer here,
Dark was His lot, and His pilgrimage drear;
But in His mercy and kindness He came,
Seeking to win us from sorrow and shame;
Bidding the troubled to come and be blessed;
Calling the way-worn and weary to rest.

3 Oh, may we ponder and keep in our mind
God’s wondrous mercy in saving mankind;
Sending His Son who, in seeking the lost,
Lay in the manger and hung on the cross;
Following Him, by His help and His grace,
We shall be with Him and gaze on His face;
Then with the ransomed and glorified throng,
We shall adore Him with harp and with song.