“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(Romans 5:8 ESV)
“Here Is Love Vast As the Ocean”
We want to introduce you to a love poem that is a tribute to the love of God demonstrated to us in Jesus. It’s not a romantic ballad, but a poem to celebrate a love that is greater and more permanent than any other.
This poem is a hymn written by the famous Welsh poet William Rees. It became enormously popular during the Welsh revival in 1904-1905. It has been called the “great Welsh love song.” Rees published the poem under the title “Cariad Crist” (“Love of Christ”). That original Welsh publication included the two stanzas below and did not indicate any musical setting.
The hymn was later translated into English by William Edwards and included in English hymnals under the title “Here Is Love Vast as the Ocean.”
The Greatest Expression of Love
The best poetry makes abstract ideas such as love or hope concrete by drawing a word picture. We understand love when we see it and experience it. Poetry tries to isolate and magnify abstract experiences by calling upon our memory and our imagination.
In this poem, Rees says, “Come and see! Here is love.” And then he focuses his lens on the cross where Jesus died. He calls us to pause, to look closely, and to know the vast love of God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Rees describes God’s love as vast, or we could say overwhelming. Yet, God’s love is also tender and gentle. Rees leaves us with a final image of God bending to kiss a guilty world in love. This is what happened at the cross. By Jesus death, God stoops tenderly to his sorrowful, repentant children and kisses away our tears and shame.
Here is love! Pause and remember that the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was the greatest expression of love humans can ever experience. If you feel unloved or dissatisfied with human relationships, look at the cross. Stop and consider it. Love is an innocent man dying to save you (John 15:13). It is the God of all creation bending to kiss you, even in your guilt.
If this love is a familiar story, stop to listen again. Stop to remember. If this love is new to you, listen carefully to this poem and see what love can be.
“Cariad Crist” (Love of Christ or Here Is Love, Vast As the Ocean)
Here is love, vast as the ocean,
loving-kindness as the flood,
when the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
shed for us his precious blood.
Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?
He can never be forgotten
throughout heav’n’s eternal days.On the mount of crucifixion
fountains opened deep and wide;
through the floodgates of God’s mercy
flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
poured incessant from above,
and heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
kissed a guilty world in love. (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5)(William Rees, 1802-1883. Translated from Welsh by William Edwards, 1848-1929)
Prayer: Father, you made your love for us perfectly clear on the cross. Even when we were still blind to your goodness and our hearts were hardened against your mercy, you sent your beloved Son to die in our place. Open our eyes to your love and soften our hearts to receive it. We are guilty of abandoning you and looking for love in lesser things, but you respond in mercy to anyone who returns. Thank you for your love which is vast as an ocean and gentle as a Father stooping to kiss his wayward child. Amen.
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Sources
“great Welsh love song.”: www.hymnologyarchive.com/here-is-love-vast-as-the-ocean