“Fairest Lord Jesus”: the German hymn of creation and the beauty of Christ

Meadows are fair, the woodlands are fairer, the sunshine is bright and the stars are beautiful. But Jesus, the hymn says, is fairer and purer than them all. “Fairest Lord Jesus” is one of the gentlest hymns in the Christian tradition, a song that looks at creation and finds in it a picture of its Creator. Its roots lie in seventeenth-century Germany, and its English version has been sung in churches around the world for more than a century and a half.

The German original and the legend

The hymn first appeared in a German Catholic hymnbook in the 1670s as “Schönster Herr Jesu”. Its author is unknown. A popular story claims that the hymn was sung by Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem, giving it the nickname “Crusaders’ Hymn”. Historians say there is no evidence for this. The hymn was translated into English in the nineteenth century, and the version most often sung today appeared in American hymnals in the 1850s.

The words and the tune

The verses compare Christ with the beauty of nature: “Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring.” The first verse addresses Jesus as “Ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son”, holding together his divinity and humanity. The hymn is sung to the tune St. Elizabeth, a melody from Silesian folk tradition arranged in the nineteenth century.

Unlike many hymns that focus on salvation or the Christian life, this one is purely a hymn of praise and admiration.

In worship and in Africa

It is often sung at the start of services, at weddings and in children’s choirs. The hymn reflects the Christian belief that the beauty of creation points to the beauty of God. The hymn appears in many African hymnals, and its images of sun and stars translate easily into any landscape. Composers have written many choral arrangements of the hymn.

The next time you notice something beautiful in creation, let it remind you of its Maker. Nobody knows who wrote “Fairest Lord Jesus”. Every congregation that sings it is doing what the writer did: looking at the world and finding Christ more beautiful still.