Angels’ wings in bold relief,
And for columns, cold and broken,
Words of hope by Jesus spoken.
His Easter hymns fail as a whole to reach the height of his songs for other church festivals. In this respect, they resemble the hymnody of the whole church, which contains remarkably few really great hymns on the greatest events in its history. It is as though the theme were too great to be expressed in the language of man.
Grundtvig wrote a number of magnificent hymns on the themes of our Lord’s ascension and His return to judge the quick and the dead. Of the latter, the hymn given below is perhaps the most favored of those now available in English.
Lift up thy head, O Christendom!
Behold above the blessed home
For which thy heart is yearning.
There dwells the Lord, thy soul’s delight,
Who soon with power and glory bright