Can we by searching find out God
or formulate his ways?
Can numbers measure what he is
or words contain his praise?
Although his being is too bright
for human eyes to scan,
his meaning lights our shadowed world
through Christ, the Son of Man.
Our boastfulness is turned to shame,
our profit counts as loss,
when earthly values stand beside
the manger and the cross.
We may there recognize his light,
may kindle in its rays,
find there the source of penitence,
the starting-point of praise.
There God breaks in upon our search,
makes birth and death his own;
he speaks to us in human terms
to make his glory known.