Children Of The Heavenly Father

Children of the heav’nly Father

Safely in His bosom gather;

Nestling bird nor star in heaven

Such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish,

In His holy courts they flourish;

From all evil things He spares them,

In His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever

From the Lord His children sever;

Unto them His grace He showeth,

And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers,

Your protector never slumbers;

At the will of your Defender

Ev’ry foe-man must surrender.

Though He giveth or He taketh,

God His children ne’er forsaketh;

His the loving purpose solely

To preserve them pure and holy.

More secure is no one ever

Than the loved ones of the Savior;

Not yon star on high abiding

Nor the bird in home-nest hiding.

CAROLINA SANDELL BERG (1832–1903)

Translated by Ernst W. Olson (1870–1958)

Text copyright © Board of Publication, Lutheran Church of America. Reprinted by permission of Augsburg Fortress.

DURING THE LAST HALF of the nineteenth century, Carolina (Lina) Sandell Berg was Sweden’s greatest hymnwriter. She was born on October 3, 1832, in Fröderyd, Sweden, the daughter of the parish pastor. As a young child, she became bedridden with a mysterious paralysis. Her doctors could do nothing for her and believed her case to be hopeless.

One Sunday morning when Lina was twelve, her parents went to church and left her at home so she could rest. She spent that time alone in prayer. When her parents came home, they were astonished to find her dressed and walking around the house! From that time on, she began to write hymns and poems, and at sixteen she published her first collection. While bedridden, Berg discovered God’s comfort; in her miraculous healing, she learned of God’s loving power. These experiences did much to shape her childlike trust in God, a prominent feature in many of her hymns.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

1 John 3:1