Lutheran Hymn Revival

I Like Baptism Hymns

2012-01-11T16:21:00.000-06:00

Rejoice, dear Christians, in the flood
That cleans us from transgression;
This water’s Word pours on the blood
That purchased our salvation.
If we had not received this bath,
We still would lie beneath God’s wrath,
Lost in our sinful nature;
But now we sing God’s grace for us:
Christ has fulfilled all righteousness -
We are His newborn creature!

So come, repentant, bring your sins,
This washing still does save you,
Again God’s promise new begins
With all that Jesus gave you:
His death to sin is here made yours,
His blood here still forgiveness pours,
His life new life has given;
Then grasp this gift of grace with faith
It stays with you through life and death,
Makes you an heir of heaven.

And wealth may leave and health may fail,
This bath will never leave you;
God's Word will at the last prevail,
Nor can your Lord deceive you.
So now you have a life to live,
That you by faith in Christ receive,
A life of love forever.
No pain or gloom, however great
Has strength enough to separate
Your soul from Christ your Savior.

Sin and Righteousness

2011-12-30T12:24:00.001-06:00

What righteousness does God demand,
That is not good and precious?
How can the guilty hope to stand
While mired in vices vicious?
For with a heart that flees from God
Man always takes the wider road,
Led on by sin's seduction
To death and to destruction.

As dogs return to their own filth,
A fool returns to folly,
But never could his works or wealth
Give help to make him holy.
For by his pow'rs alone he must
Be bound to sin and then to dust,
And find for his transgression
God's righteous condemnation.

Nor let the fool think that his guilt
Is but a fleeting feeling,
All flesh is grass and soon must wilt
When God speaks wrath, revealing
The secrets of our hearts inside,
The sins we thought that we could hide -
Then shall the unbelieving,
Exchange their joy for grieving.

Lord God, I scarcely lift my eyes,
For shame has filled my spirit,
For sins I know that You despise
I grieved Your Holy Spirit,
I cast Him out and let him in
Who is the author of my sin,
The devil who deceives me
And then in judgment leaves me.

Will you forgive the sin that taints
My soul with fear and sorrow?
Will You revive the soul that faints,
Despairing of tomorrow?
Have you the pow'r that I do not
To wash and cleanse each sinful blot
For which I beg remission
In tears and in contrition?

There is a righteousness for you
That you could not discover,
Revealed apart from what you do,
Apart from what you suffer.
It is the righteousness of God,
Who took on flesh and shed his blood,
To save his lost creation
From sin and from damnation.

Yes, Lord, I've known it once before,
And gladly did believe it,
But now again I've closed the door -
How can I still receive it?
I've crucified my Lord again,
How can a sacrifice remain
For me, who gave up heaven
So freely to me given?

The sin you've done is deep and sore,
I know the guilt you suffer;
But I have grace and mercy more
Than sins that you could offer.
What sin is there in you to see
That did not pierce and torment me?
What guilt is on your conscience
I did not bear with patience?

But Lord, too often I have strayed,
And now I see inside me
No faith to grasp what you have said -
All comfort is denied me.
And my experience will tell
That I am destined still for hell,
My faith is surely taken,
And I must be forsaken.

What, will you anger God some more,
Or tell Him He is lying?
Will you despise the pain I bore,
The peace I won by dying?
Or don't you think I know your grief?
So give Me now your unbelief,
And take My Holy Spirit,
Who clothes you with My merit.

Is this pure robe for me to wear,
Who am impure by nature?
Yes, it is yours with Me to share,
You are a new-born creature.
But what of all my sin and shame?
It is no more, you bear My name,
And with God's sons can gather
To call My God your Father.

What love is this that gives me tears
To weep with joy and gladness?
It is the love that stills your fears
And comforts you in sadness.
This mercy that no end can see
Still sets the burdened conscience free,
Declaring you forgiven,
A child and heir of heaven.

Creation's Hope

2011-12-24T11:49:00.000-06:00

Nicolas Poussin, Battle of Gideon Against the Midianites

On this creation of futility

Shines down the Light of Light – to us is born

A Child who shares our full humanity,

God’s Son for those who in the darkness mourn.

The yoke of death, the Law’s accusing rod,

That burdened life to nothing more than dust,

That kept us guilty in the sight of God,

Is broken by this Savior born for us;

For angels sing what men could not conceive,

And glory shines into unknowing night,

The angels shout the Gospel, we believe,

And Midian and Satan take to flight,

As flesh and blood no more in darkness grope,

For in our flesh now shines creation’s Hope.

For Anne Elizabeth, born 16 December 2011

2011-12-17T16:38:00.001-06:00

I can't think of a better tune than "Now Thank We All our God," a Crueger tune of the highest class. I love you, John, and I'm so happy God has kept Monica safe and will bring your daughter safely to the font tomorrow.

Lord Jesus, praise to You,

Who bless the little children!

You in a holy bath

Give sinners precious pardon;

The promise we have heard

Puts unbelief to flight,

And at your holy Word

Our darkness turns to light.

Lord Jesus, praise to You,

True God of God begotten;

Your flesh and blood declare

That we are not forgotten.

From Mary's womb You came

To sanctify our birth,

And taking all our shame

Bring peace to all the earth.

Lord Jesus, praise to You!

Your Word remains unbroken;

All foes must flee in fear

When once Your name is spoken.

From infant songs of praise

You show your pow'r to save,

And with it you will raise

The faithful from the grave.

Lord Jesus, praise to You,

Let young and old now gather,

And sing their psalms with joy

To You and God the Father,

Whom with the Spirit we

Will worship now, and soon

With our own eyes shall see

Our God the Three in One.

On Jordan's Bank

2011-12-10T21:57:00.000-06:00

I would like any comments on the use of "And let us each/all our hearts prepare / For Christ to come and enter there" from "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry."

I compare it with the well-edited LSB version of the last verse of "Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates (cf. also the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, which too has satisfactorily edited it), which is closer to the German sense:

Redeemer, come and open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
O enter with Thy grace divine;
Thy face of mercy on me shine.

compared to

Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal...

I also bring attention to Gerhardt, who wrote:

You need not toil or languish
Or ponder day and night,
How in the mist of anguish
You draw him by your might.
He comes, He comes all-willing,
Moved by his love alone,
Your woes and troubles stilling,
For all to Him are known.

Is there a major difference here? How have you Lutherans taken the line in "On Jordan's Bank?"

For Clara Mary Evangelina

2011-12-08T22:15:00.002-06:00

For Jon and Emily, but most especially for our new sister in Christ, the holy and righteous Clara, washed in the water with the Word.

Maybe it's a little long. It was 9 verses, but I took one out. I'll save it for later. Stephen or Robin, I wrote this tune with "Nun Komm" in mind. If you can imitate that tune in American style, you will have my deep gratitude.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Name of which the baptized boast,
God of pow'r and righteousness,
Giver of eternal grace,

Thanks forever we will give
For Your name by which we live;
Songs of joy unending be
To the Holy Trinity!

To the Father now I come,
Clinging to His only Son,
Who, made flesh for us, once died,
And the pow'r of sin destroyed.

How could my poor praise suffice
To adore this sacrifice,
That in baptism's word divine
Was by faith in Christ made mine?

Nor the prudent nor the wise
Can obtain this water's prize,
But the babes and children small
Answer Jesus' gracious call.

Look, my heart, outside of me -
Hear by faith and you will see
In this water is a bath
That drown's sin and Satan's wrath.

Nor can now the gates of hell
From my heart this truth dispel,
That I am a child of God,
Washed in Jesus' precious blood.

Dying, rising, in this flood,
We will walk the narrow road,
Till the Spirit takes us home
Pure before the Father's throne.

Amen.

Advent 1 Hymn: In Memory of John Gerhard

2011-11-26T14:49:00.000-06:00

Giotto Triumphal Entry

I wrote this hymn after reading John Gerhard's sermon on Matthew 21:1-9. Well, actually I also read one of my dad's sermons on Advent 1, but I could dedicate every hymn to him then...

I hoped to mingle the coming of Christ into Jerusalem (inseparable from the purpose of his first coming into the flesh) with his coming to Zion today.

The tune is "Wie Soll Ich Dich Empfangen," or whatever Rev's. Fish Jr. or Van der Hoek come up with, should they be so inclined in this busy Advent season.

1.What King now comes to save you,

O Zion, Church of God?

He is the Lord who gave you

And wears your flesh and blood.

No power and no glory

Comes Jesus to display,

But Zechariah’s story

Is seen fulfilled today:

Rejoice, O Zion’s daughter,

Behold, your King has come:

The Lamb ordained for slaughter,

The humble, righteous One;

And having free salvation,

He speaks eternal peace,

And ruling every nation,

His reign will never cease.

His crown and strength are hidden

In sorrows that he feels;

The throne to which he’s bidden

A cross of pain reveals.

All innocent and holy,

He bears our guilt within

And thus he calls the lowly

To find release from sin.

Has darkness come upon you?

Are you in sin’s control?

This Light from Light has won you

Forgiveness for your soul;

Nor find Him in your effort,

Nor seek Him in your will,

His Gospel is your comfort

That bids your sins be still.

He wields His Spirit’s scepter

With grace and mercy pure,

His Word dispels the Tempter,

And by it we endure,

And wait in expectation

For Christ to come again

And bring us full salvation

From sin and death and pain.

Let Zion sing Hosanna

And lift her heart to Him,

Whose body is her Manna,

Whose blood absolves her sin;

On earth she here rejoices

To find her Lord and King,

To whom, with heavn’ly voices,

Her praises ever ring.

A Meditation on the Ten Virgins

2011-11-19T17:25:00.001-06:00

In the parable of the Ten Virgins, the oil in the lamps is the Holy Spirit, who refuses to enter our hearts apart from the Gospel, since he is the Comforter because he takes what belongs to the Father and the Son and declares it to us, that is, he takes Christ's sacrifice for our sins and the forgiveness he won when he offered himself to the Father on our behalf, and he speaks it into our hearts and creates a faith that could never come by our own reason or strength, a faith that is born only from the Gospel, where alone we find the power of God for our salvation.

But there are those five foolish virgins who look just like the five wise virgins. They stand with them, but they have no oil. They don't hear the Word of God and keep it, and so they lose the Holy Spirit and the faith he gives. They rely on their outward purity of being virgins, and looking like the others. But the holy Spirit judges the plans of their hearts. Read once or again the great Lutheran consensus on this:

For concerning the presence, operation, and gifts of the Holy Ghost we should not and cannot always judge ex sensu [from feeling], as to how and when they are experienced in the heart; but because they are often covered and occur in great weakness, we should be certain from, and according to, the promise, that the Word of God preached and heard is truly an office and work of the Holy Ghost, by which He is certainly efficacious and works in our hearts, 2 Cor. 2:14ff; 3:5ff.
But if a man will not hear preaching nor read God's Word, but despises the Word and congregation of God, and thus dies and perishes in his sins, he neither can comfort himself with God's eternal election nor obtain His mercy; for Christ, in whom we are chosen, offers to all men His grace in the Word and holy Sacraments, and wishes earnestly that it be heard, and has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name and are occupied with His holy Word, He will be in their midst.
But when such a person despises the instrument of the Holy Ghost, and will not hear, no injustice is done to him if the Holy Ghost does not enlighten him, but allows him to remain in the darkness of his unbelief and to perish; for regarding this matter it is written: How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; and ye would not! Matt. 23:37. SD II. 56-58

How do you keep the oil? How do you keep the Holy Spirit? How do you remain steadfast in the truth faith unto life everlasting? How do you persevere and remain in Christ, apart from whom no one lives, in whom every believer conquers death and stands upright on the Day of Judgment? We flee to the Word which we know cannot return our Lord void. We don't wrestle inside of ourselves to create faith - it was our treacherous heart that led us away from faith in the first place and every time we've fallen. No, if we would be certain that we have faith, then let us receive the oil of the Holy Spirit and turn the ears we have to hear toward his almighty power, which is nothing other than the good news:

Therefore God, out of His immense goodness and mercy, has His divine eternal Law and His wonderful plan concerning our redemption, namely, the holy, alone-saving Gospel of His eternal Son, our only Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, publicly preached; and by this preaching collects an eternal Church for Himself from the human race, and works in the hearts of men true repentance and knowledge of sins, and true faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And by this means, and in no other way, namely, through His holy Word, when men hear it preached or read it, and the holy Sacraments when they are used according to His Word, God desires to call men to eternal salvation, draw them to Himself, and convert, regenerate, and sanctify them.
1 Cor. 1:21: For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Acts 10:5. 6: Peter shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Rom. 10:17: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. John 17:17. 20: Sanctify them by Thy truth; Thy Word is truth, etc. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their Word. Therefore the eternal Father calls down from heaven concerning His dear Son and concerning all who preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name: Hear ye Him, Matt. 17:5.
Now, all who wish to be saved ought to hear this preaching of God's Word. For the preaching and hearing of God's Word are instruments of the Holy Ghost, by, with, and through which He desires to work efficaciously, and to convert men to God, and to work in them both to will and to do. SD II. 51-51

Could I be a Christian if I weren't a Lutheran? Only through the Gospel when I forget all the false teachings that tell me to look away from the Holy Spirit's word and toward my own efforts to believe or gain the certainty of my election and salvation.

It is only when someone forgets the monsters of uncertainty that are the papist, arminian, reformed, and charismatic teachings on free will, faith, the atonement, and the Holy Spirit - it is only when one actually listens to the Holy Spirit in the Gospel that he is a Christian, since faith cannot exist while one is relying on any certainty or assurance that originates in anything but the promise of the Gospel.

Anything else can be nothing but the righteousness of the Law and the assurance of the flesh. For Moses teaches about the righteousness of the Law that if a person does the commandments shall live by them. But if a person asks in his heart, "Who will ascend in to Heaven" he tries to bring Christ from off his throne where He is ruling in the midst of his people with his Word. To seek for the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of God apart from the external Word is akin to trying to raise Christ up from the dead, i.e. do something you cannot do. (Cf. Romans 10:5-8)

But what does the Scripture say? The word is near you, in your heart and on your mouth. It is in the Word alone that the heart can find the assurance that he will ascend into heaven and not descend into hell. Any supposed conviction of the Spirit apart from the promise of the Gospel is works-righteousness, a being chained again to the Law and to the endless speculation of the same flesh that sought for wisdom apart from God's Word, "Of every tree in the garden you may eat, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat of that, dying you will die."

Can we suppose then that something different will happen to us if we search for assurance of God's grace and our relationship with him apart from his word and sacraments? Is there something more pleasant to the eyes of our reason and flesh that promises more immediate knowledge of good and evil, of heaven and hell, of assurance and doubt? Is there a feeling that is more secure than the foundation of the apostles and prophets? Is there a rock more steadfast than the words of Christ which will remain when heaven and earth pass away?

So now we go to Church and we hear the Word of God and partake of the sacraments whose power is alone in that same Word to which the elements are joined. Let us not despise their power because they look so weak. Let us not take our children to churches that offer something more appealing than the grace that was poured out on the lips of Him who was annointed with the oil of gladness more than any other prophet or teacher. Let others hearken back to Sinai - even there they will find Moses telling them what Paul tells us, that the Word is near us now and declares that today is the day of salvation, that now is the accepted time, so that we don't receive the grace of God in vain, for that is what happens when we hear the Gospel and act as if it is anything less than the power of God for salvation to every poor sinner who believes it.

And it is for this reason that I can never leave the Lutheran Church, no matter how many scandals rock her, or how shameful she appears to the world. She is the true visible Church of God on earth. Apart from her all other lights are dim, and I see with the lighthouse of God's pure word the many reefs and sandbars of the sects where I could surely shipwreck my God-given faith.

And I have to end this contemplation to finish a sermon that says this more simply, but I leave with a hymn that this meditation has led me to.

It is Your Word, O God,

That keeps your child believing,

A light upon life's road,

Sure comfort to the grieving.

Apart from what You speak

In what the Scriptures teach

There is no truth to seek,

There is no life to reach.

I cannot grasp You, Lord,

Beyond the highest heaven,

I find You in Your Word,

Where sinners are forgiven,

Where all that Christ has done

For sinners in their place

Is made my very own

Through precious means of grace.

For if my faith's in doubt,

What profit would it do me

To try and figure out

How I can bring You to me?

Your Spirit's voice is clear,

And pierces through my sin,

And brings Your promise near

And works new faith within.

Faith looks to Christ alone,

Who solemnly has promised

His grace to everyone,

Nor is our Lord dishonest,

But knocks upon our door,

And sows his gen'rous seed,

And speaks to all the poor

And helps us in our need.

So when our lamps are dim,

And worldly thorns constrict us,

Then let us turn to Him,

Whose Spirit won't reject us,

But calls us with a voice

That has the strength to save,

For angel hosts rejoice

When we the Word believe.

And on the Judgment Day,

That final voice shall rouse us,

And Christ will cast away

The mortal tents that house us;

And then our ears will hear

What never man has heard,

And Heaven will appear

For those who kept His Word.

My Heart Is Full of Joy: for Elizabeth Grace

2011-11-16T17:04:00.006-06:00

I would like to dedicate this hymn to my newest niece, Elizabeth Grace, born to Paul and Bethany. Thank God for such a wonderful gift. I pray that she comes safely to the washing of rebirth.

I would like a tune for this and am asking Stephen Van Der Hoek to try his hand at it. I wrote it while listening to Bach's Wachet Auf cantata. It is loosely based on Psalm 45.

Heavenly Jerusalem Descending

My heart is full of joy and so I sing

To Christ the holy Lord and gracious King,

Whose lips speak free forgiveness to the poor,

And lifts them up to honor evermore.

He comes at last in judgment her to claim,

For whom he took on flesh and suffered shame,

For whom he gave his life and poured his blood,

Whom now He leads before the throne of God.

Who is this virgin fair and beautiful,

Whose robes are brighter than the whitest wool,

From whom the Bridegroom can’t remove his gaze,

Who sings in joyful tones her Savior’s praise?

This is the princess, chosen by his grace,

Who once was lost in sin and in disgrace,

Until Christ washed her with His Spirit’s bath,

And clothed her with the robes she wore by faith.

With gladness and rejoicing see her come

To make in Heaven her eternal home,

One flesh with Him who formed her from His side,

To live forever as His holy Bride.

No longer does she long her Lord to see,

For she beholds Him in His majesty,

And faith and hope she gladly lets depart,

For love eternal whelms within her heart.

We sing and wait in faith and hope and love;
So lift, O Lord, our hearts to things above,
Where we will know You as we now are known,
And worship You as King upon Your throne.

Wedding Hymn

2011-11-10T16:27:00.003-06:00

I wrote this hymn for Becky's and my wedding. It has since then been sung on a half-dozen other occasions. The tune is "Du Friedefuerst," which you can find here.

Lord, thou hast called both man and wife

To live as one on earth,

To serve each other in this life

And thereby give us birth;

The two become in flesh but one,

Man to the woman clinging.

May husband, as our Savior laid

His life down for His bride,

And took the load that on her weighed

On Him when once He died,

Give to his wife his strength and life

And see her pure and spotless.

May wife as, we the church, receive

The gifts our Lord has giv’n

That we no more for sin need grieve,

But look to joy in heav’n,

Seek from her man a tender hand

For guidance in affliction.

Lord God, our Maker, hear us now,

As we on Thee rely;

This pair with every gift endow

Who for Thy grace now cry!

For Thou hast giv’n the gift of heav’n

In Jesus Christ, our Savior!

Through one man, Adam, we were dead

And walked in darkest night.

By one man, Jesus, we are led

Into Thy righteous light.

Thy Son made flesh, makes pure and fresh

What died and was decaying.

Lord Jesus, who hast cleansed Thy Bride,

And washed her in Thy blood,

Grant that this man and wife confide

In Thee for every good.

Lord, grant this pair Thy love to share

Till death shall part them. Amen.

The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us

2011-11-09T16:45:00.003-06:00

The Ten Virgins

As much as I love Johnny Cash's When the Man Comes Around, I couldn't bring myself to sing it in church. A few years back, having been enamored for a long time with the beauty of John Walther's Der Braeutgam Wird Bald Rufen, I decided to attempt a translation that would capture the richness of its theology more vividly. I leave it to Matthew Carver and you the reader to see whether I have at all succeeded.

It hurts me when we only sing four generic stanzas of this hymn from LSB. It is a hymn with a tune very beloved to those who sing it, a musical setting worthy to lift up the precious jewels of the doctrine in the hymn.

This hymn may be sung on the the Last Sunday of the Church year. Please let me know what you think.

Tune: Ach Gott vom Himmelreiche

1) The Bridegroom soon will call us,

"You wedding guests, come in!"

May slumber not befall us

Nor let us sleep in sin.

Now in our hearts we carry

The lamps and oil and light,

And patiently we tarry

To stand before His sight.

2) Then gone shall be all sadness,

When we see Christ, our God,

Who opened Heaven's gladness

Through suffering and His blood.

The patriarchs will meet us,

The prophets' hold band,

Apostles, martyrs greet us

In that celestial land.

3) They will not blush to own us

As brothers, sisters dear;

Love ever will be shown us

When we with them appear.

We all will come before Him

To share His every good,

As very God adore Him,

Who shares our flesh and blood.

4) Our God will then receive us,

And give us each to own

What earth could never give us -

The victor's golden crown,

And then He will embrace us

With love all Fatherly,

On soul and body grace us

With beauty full and free.

5. In yonder home shall never

Be silent music's voice;

With hearts and lips forever

We shall in God rejoice.

The angels will be singing

All saints will join them too,

Eternal praises bringing,

As it is right to do!

6) To Paradise He'll lead us,

The wedding feast to make,

Rejoicing He will feed us

For His own glory's sake.

Then bliss beyond our knowing

Shall spring from love found true,

From God's own fountain flowing

His mercies ever new.

7. So God shall from all evil

Forever make us free,

From sin and from the devil,

From all adversity,

From sickness, pain and crying,

From gloom, regret and fears,

From sorrow and from sighing,

And wipe away our tears.

8) All glory to the Father,

Whose holy name we bear,

And to His Son, our Brother,

Whose day is drawing near,

When by His Holy Spirit,

(To whom all glory be),

He'll raise us to inherit

His Heaven full and free. Amen.

Annunciation Hymn: For the Virgin Mary to Christ

2011-11-07T16:46:00.002-06:00

Nicolas Froment - 1476

All generations shall call her blessed - so in this generation too. This hymn is for the festival of the Annunciation of our Lord.

We should, especially in this age of Maryolatry, bless Mary as the Scriptures teach, so that she might not be dishonored either by ignorance of the favor God showed her, or by a false veneration of her as someone who has grace to bestow upon us.

This hymn draws especially from Luke 1, both from Elizabeth's and Mary's words. I have been sharpened in my understanding through an argument on FB. Let's not stop discussing theology! Even if the whole argument is just about two words - it's no mere logomachy when the words are vital to our faith!

I dedicate this hymn to Pr. William Weedon, qui fateri debet confessionem meam non contortam esse, licet unum non-lutheranum paean non cantare possum.

Suggested tune: Adoro Te.

For Mary, blessed Virgin, do we sing

To Christ, who is her Savior and her King,

Who, born of God and with the Father one,

Came down and made her womb his holy throne.

All generations now confess her blest,

As she by God the Spirit once confessed,

For God made her the vessel of His grace

From whom our Lord first showed His human face.

When Gabriel spoke then Mary’s heart believed,

And by the Holy Spirit she conceived,

And God, who nurtures all and all things made,

Was nurtured and made man within a maid.

As fire burned in the bush unharmed by flame,

And by this mystery God showed his name,

So Mary stays a virgin through the birth

Of Jesus, named the Savior of the earth.

What favor did our God in heaven show

To all who live in sin and death below

When God showed favor to the Virgin blest,

And from her flesh our flesh and blood possessed?

The mighty are cast down from off their seat,

The rich are ruined and the proud retreat,

The hungry eat the flesh and drink the blood

That flows to lift the lowly up to God.

How blest is she whose faith was in the Word

That made her be the mother of our Lord!

God, grant us so to trust in what You say,

And with Your mother marvel at this day!

Grant us, dear Father, such humility

As we within the blessed Virgin see,

That we with her may praise her holy Son,

With You and with the Holy Spirit One.

For Orthodox Lutheran Pastors

2011-10-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

This hymn is written for all orthodox Lutheran Pastors, especially those who have been wrongfully removed by their congregations from the office into which Christ placed them. God hears your prayers; may God have mercy on those congregations and those in authority who have incurred God's wrath.

The tune is "Ach bleib bei uns"

Paul preaching to the Jews in Damascus - 12th C. Mosaic

Lord God preserve your ministry

Against all sin and heresy,

Send down Your Spirit from above

To guard Your pastors with Your love.

Of all the men who dare to teach,

How few there are who purely preach -

But see how poor and weak they are

Who wield Your Word and wage Your war!

But You have promised them your grace

Who call on you in every place;

And You have called them here below

To heed Your call and plant and sow.

Give them your law to plow the clay,

And break all self-deceit away,

Then let the broken hearts receive

The seed that makes the heart believe.

And let Your pastors patient wait,

Nor think that You are coming late,

But water with Your Spirit's Word,

Until the ends of earth have heard.

For in due season they shall reap,

If now they watch and do not sleep,

And keep your doctrine as their torch

To guard the treasures of your Church.

For woe to him, when Christ shall come,

Who lets the thief break in our home

And rob the treasures of His Bride,

And cast His Word of truth aside!

But blest is he who toils in tears

Until the Pastor reappears,

To gather to Himself His sheep

And dry the eyes of those who weep.

"Well done, you good and faithful slave!

You ran the race your Savior gave;

A crown of righteousness is yours,

And open stand your mansion's doors.

10.

Then will the prophets sing with you,

Apostles with the martyrs too,

With all the saints and heavenly host,

"Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

An Advent Hymn

2011-10-26T21:19:00.002-05:00

I'm really looking forward to Advent. This isn't the greatest hymn, but it's at least a meditation.

This hymn is for Michael Monterastelli, a good friend, and supporter in my weak endeavors to revive Lutheran hymnody.

The tune is Puer Nobis

The Virgin Mary with Christ in her womb.

Awake, you Christians, rise and sing,

To Christ your Advent anthems bring,

For this is He who comes to save,

And wins us vict’ry o’er the grave.

The bondage that the devil wields

Before the pow’r of Jesus yields,

For this is God made man for us

To free us with his righteousness.

We fell in Adam’s sinful fall -

Our disobedience killed us all,

But Christ’s obedience in our place

Gives life to all our fallen race.

He came to meet the Laws demands

And free us from the devil’s hands;

He came to suffer for our sin

And feel its punishment within;

The death he died to sin is done,

So freedom from our sins is won,

Baptized we have this gift as ours,

Forgiveness and the Spirit’s pow’rs.

The life we live we live to God,

Who keeps us on the narrow road,

Where now we wait and will remain

For Him who soon will come again.

Do not be from this comfort moved,

But love, as He, your Savior, loved,

Cling tightly to his means of grace

Until you see Him face to face.

Then we with all the saints will sing

Our Alleluias to our King,

Whom with the Father we adore

And Holy Spirit evermore.

For David Rolf: On Sanctification

2011-10-22T21:11:00.003-05:00

The Apostle Paul

This hymn is for my brother David, who taught me the hymn, "In Hope My Soul, Redeemed to Bliss unending."

The tune has haunted me for quite some time now, in its Nordic beauty, and I've been thinking what kind of a hymn would fit it. I've been preparing a Bible Class on Romans 7, and in order to organize my thoughts, I turned them to poetry, and they found this tune in my heart. The meter is difficult, with all the trochees (lines that end on a non-stress syllable), but I enjoyed the challenge.

Our justification leads us naturally to our sanctification. We receive God's love in justification, and we practice it in sanctification, as we present ourselves to God as alive from the dead. This holiness in us will always be imperfect and our struggle for it always leads us back to our justification, i.e. to Christ and his work for us, with the hope of the resurrection always in faith's eyes.

Absolved and freed from sin and works of evil,

I trust in Christ who crushed my foe, the devil;

The sins that bound me,

The death around me

Must die before my Lord who sought and found me.

The life that I in this poor flesh am living

I live by faith in Christ who is forgiving

Each sinful passion

With his redemption

Where by his blood he blot out my transgression.

Now freely can I love and serve my neighbor -

God works in me to use my mind and labor;

Though my behavior

Will often waver

I bring my sins again to Christ my Savior.

And so, baptized, I die and rise contented;

To God's good will by grace I have consented;

In hope I ponder

Those mansions yonder,

My home when I this earth no more must wander.

Lost Hymn of the Month: "Lord, As Thou Wilt"

2011-10-21T22:06:00.000-05:00

Job with his wife and friends

This hymn was rightly placed under the section of "New Obedience" in The Lutheran Hymnal. The faith that justifies does not justify because of the patience and joy that it works in our afflictions, but solely on account of the work of Christ, who has reconciled the Father to us apart from our assenting to his will.

But faith most certainly does work patience and joy in the midst of suffering. The exercise of faith which is prayer contains that constant and daily plea that every baptized Christian prays, "Thy will be done." "God's will is done when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God's name or let his kingdom come, and when he strengthens and keeps us firm in his word and faith until we die. This is his good and gracious will."

This is from Luther's Small Catechism. This is why we need to sing Lutheran hymns. The loss of this hymn is tragic not because a few stodgy dead-orthodox Lutherans miss singing it, nor even because its tune is more beautiful than anything written in the last century. The loss of this hymn is to be lamented because it so clearly teaches and admonishes Christians how to pray, "Thy will be done."

One can see the fear and trembling with which Bienemann, the author, wrote this hymn. When he says, "No other wish I cherish," the German actually says, "My desire is all for You." This is what the Psalmist sings throughout Psalm 119 and elsewhere. God works in us a desire for his will that comes from our experiencing his grace and mercy.

Did I just say "experience?" You're darn right I did! Faith is purely passive in its reception, but this does not mean it is idle or lethargic. A sinner who has learned that it is God's will to save him and believes it begins also to believe that there is nothing left to chance, and that no matter what happens in this life and world that seems to cry against God's will being good and gracious, yet all things work together for good for them that love God.

And look at what he prays for. He prays for discipline, since that is what is needed for purity in this life. He asks for faithfulness, since that is what truth must lead to. He asks for honor, not vainglory, but respect towards his neighbor. He asks that he be given a love for God's holy word, since the flesh hates it and fights against the Spirit dwelling in us through faith. He is terrified of false doctrine, since that is the root of all mis- and unbelief. He asks not for riches or glory or the best health and the happiest life, but for what serves his everlasting bliss.

And finally he then addresses that final test, the death that all unbelievers fear and before which our own flesh quakes and from which it flees. But God's will is to keep us in his Word and faith until we die, since if he has done that, then we have everything, and we have lost nothing.

Let's sing this again. Any suggestions for updating the language would be appreciated.

I am drawing this from lutheran-hymnal.com

"Lord, as Thou Wilt, Deal Thou With Me"
by Kaspar Bienemann, 1540-1591
Translated by Emanuel Cronenwett, 1841-1931

1. Lord, as Thou wilt, deal Thou with me;
No other wish I cherish.
In life and death I cling to Thee;
Oh, do not let me perish!
Let not Thy grace from me depart
And grant an ever patient heart
To bear what Thou dost send me.

2. Grant honor, truth, and purity,
And love Thy Word to ponder;
From all false doctrine keep me free.
Bestow, both here and yonder,
What serves my everlasting bliss;
Preserve me from unrighteousness
Throughout my earthly journey.

3. When, at Thy summons, I must leave
This vale of sin and sadness,
Give me Thy grace, Lord, not to grieve,
But to depart with gladness.
To Thee my spirit I commend;
O Lord, grant me a blessed end
Through Jesus Christ, my Savior.

Hymn #406
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 40:8
Author: Kaspar Bienemann, 1574
Translated by: Emanuel Cronenwett, 1880, alt.
Titled: "Herr, wie du willst, so schick's mit mir"
Tune: "Herr wie du willst"
1st Published in: Deutsch Kirchenamt
Town: Strassburg, 1525

In Times of Trial: For Jonathan

2011-10-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

This hymn is for Jonathan. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.

When in the hour of trial The devil pushes hard,
And hope meets with denial, And sin seeks its reward,
Then turn, you poor in spirit To Jesus' word of grace;
Alone you cannot bear it; but soon would meet disgrace.

Blind reason cannot measure The Spirit's word of power,
But passes by this treasure In search of something more,
But what can I discover With my weak will and mind,
What has my strength to offer That I won't leave behind?

So sing, you poor and lonely, Who feel your weight of sin,
And from the Scriptures only Your song to God begin,
For earth and sky will perish, Men's hopes and dreams can't stay;
The Gospel that you cherish Will never pass away.

And here my heart is resting, While still my sin I feel,
I wait throughout the testing For Jesus to reveal
The light that frees my conscience From darkness and despair,
That fixes my reliance Upon the words I hear:

"Your sin has all been punished In Me who bore your guilt;
Your labor has been finished Because My blood was spilt
To free you from the burden Of serving Satan's will,
To freely give you pardon, God's pleasure to fulfill."

And if my God has spoken Who can accuse me now?
The Scripture can't be broken, Nor will my Lord allow
The devil's doubts to hurt me, Or make me fail the test,
For He cannot desert me While in His wounds I rest.

In every hour of trial Christ's promise still is near;
Our hope meets no denial No matter what we fear;
Baptized we have assurance Outside of what we do
That Christ will give endurance Because His Word is true.

For William

2011-10-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

Dear God we give you thanks and praise,

That you have kept us in your ways,

Not by our works or righteousness,

But only by your power and grace.

You heard our poor and humble cry

And did not leave your own to die,

But saved from sin and death and grave,

And gave him all the life You have.

Let others search for life on earth,

We find it in our second birth,

That makes us heirs of heav’n and You,

That keeps your mercies always new.

Give faith to those in pain and fear,

Whose loved ones are no longer here;

Turn now their hearts to trust Your Word,

That they are with Your Son, our Lord.

So with this hope our way is sure,

Through death your promise will endure,

And we can walk this vale of tears

Until the Son of Man appears.

Then with the trumpet of our joy

Our Lord will come and death destroy,

And bring us all, His spotless Bride,

To stand in glory at His side.

All glory be to Father, Son

And Holy Spirit, Three in One,

To whom his saints their voices raise

Their song of pure, eternal praise.

Trinity 17: For Becky

2011-10-10T12:14:00.001-05:00

Tune: Gott Lob, Es Geht Nunmehr zum End'

God grant us to walk worthily
In kindness and humility,
To take on earth the lowest seat
And serve with patience at His feet.

2.
What has this world of pomp and pride?
She casts God's word of truth aside.
She always seeks the highest place,
But soon will fall into disgrace.

3.
Christ, as You left Your praise above
To serve us here in humble love,
So let us cast our pride away
And glory in Your cross today.

4.
If now Your blood for sinners pleads,
And satisfies the hungry's needs,
Then You will also honor them
Who carry one another's shame.

5.
Your gentle voice can but invite
An easy yolk, a burden light,
For You who give the weary rest
Bring comfort also to th' oppressed.

6.
Our works cannot bring unity,
Your Word alone joins us to be
One body by one Spirit's bath,
That saves us all from sin and wrath.

7.
One Lord has called us into light
And makes us righteous in His sight;
One faith knows God who rules all things,
One Church in earth and heaven sings:

8.
Glory to God, the Father, Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
To You, O blessed Trinity,
Be praise now and eternally.

Sudden Death

2011-10-05T13:55:00.001-05:00

God took my cousin Max away today. He died in a car accident. This hymn is for my Aunt Karren and my cousins, Priscilla, Alexandra and Katherine.

The tune is this.

When sudden death takes those we love,

We cry in faith to God above,

Whose mercy knows our deepest pains,

Whose love through every loss remains.

Our days are short, we know, O God!

How feeble is our flesh and blood,

That in one hour has life and breath,

And in another meets its death.

Almighty God, don’t leave us there,

Where those without your hope despair,

But let us see in life and death

Our surest ground of hope and faith.

For once when You in love ordained

Your only Son of life was drained,

As sin, the cause of death, killed Him

Who has our flesh, but knew no sin.

And there our heart will rest in tears

Until Your comfort calms our fears

And drowns away our unbelief

And gives our wounded hearts relief.

For You are He who wounds and heals,

This truth Your holy Word reveals;

So You who kill and make alive,

Will all your little ones revive.

Eternal God, You turn to dust

Our bodies - still in You we trust,

Our flesh shall rest until that day

When You will raise us from decay.

And so we still Your praise prolong,

Though tears now mingle with our song,

For You at last will dry them there

Where all Your children will appear.

All Glory be to God alone,

To Son and Spirit, with Him One,

Whom all the Heav’nly hosts adore

With every Christian evermore.

Amen.

Koeberle on Baptism, and some thoughts.

2011-10-01T16:19:00.002-05:00

"It is our justification on the basis of the death of Christ and not the renewal that is begun in the Sacrament, that gives the act of Baptism its character of irrevocable validity. For this reason Jesus bade us find cause for rejoicing not because the spirits were subject to us, but because our names were written in heaven. (St. Luke 10:20)" ~From The Quest for Holiness, trans. John C. Mattes (Augsburg: Minneapolis, 1938), p. 63

Now one may ask what this has to do with Lutheran hymnody. It has everything to do with it, because Lutheran hymnody has the Word of Christ dwelling in it richly as we teach and admonish one another with spiritual psalms.

Consider this:

Be of good cheer, for God's own Son
Forgives all sins which thou hast done;
And justified by Jesus' blood,
Thy Baptism grants the highest good.

Here we have our rebirth associated with what we teach in our catechism baptism works: forgiveness of sins.

Or what about Speratus:

Let me not doubt, but trust in Thee,
Thy Word cannot be broken;
Thy call rings out, "Come unto Me!"
No falsehood hast Thou spoken.
Baptized into Thy precious name,
My faith cannot be put to shame,
And I shall never perish.

In the original we have something closer to a direct quotation of Matthew 16:16, Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. The certainty of baptism is not in the renewal it effects, but in the Word, which makes this water no mere water, but a life-giving bath, rich in grace.

And when dealing with the sin that still plagues Christians, does Neumeister direct the sinner to his own submission to the Lord? Just look:

Sin, disturb my soul no longer: I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger: Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus’ blood?

What effects and maintains our spiritual renewal must not have its power because it does this, but because it first brings the basis upon which any renewal could ever stand: the blood and merit of Jesus, who receives and forgives sinners.

And shouldn't we consult Gerhardt?

But all of that was washed away—
Immersed and drowned forever.
The water of your Baptism day
Restored again whatever
Old Adam and his sin destroyed
And all our sinful selves employed
According to our nature.

This holy bath sets free from sin,
Bestowing God’s own beauty.
All those whom Satan bound within
Are freed from sin’s dread duty.
For He Who bears the highest crown—
What He inherits, He hands down
To us the Father's children.

The second verse listed here wasn't included in the LSB, which is a shame since it speaks of the forgiveness of sins as our being"freed from sin's dread duty." This is the forgiveness of sins. There is no difference between the guilt and power of sin. When we feel the power of sin we are feeling what carries with it guilt, and this is what makes Paul cry out in Romans 7 for mercy.

We return to the regeneration for the renewal. When we are struggling with sin in our lives, we don't act as if our baptism didn't help us - this can only be a sign of our unrepentance, that we aren't acknowleding how fully we have spurned the grace of God. But we sing with Luther as he returns to his baptism in that great confessional hymn,

Therefore my hope is in the Lord
And not in mine own merit...

Which in the German actually says,

Darum auf Gott will hoffen ich, Therefore I will hope in God

Auf mein Verdienst nicht bauen... Nor build on my merit.

Paul Gerhardt expresses this baptismal truth in his hymn "If God Himself Be For Me,"

I build on this foundation,
That Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation,
The true, eternal good.

This is how we build. We don't build on any foundation other than the baptism that saves me, because that is what made the death Christ died for me mine. My baptism is my relationship with Jesus. Apart from this bath I cannot be saved. Flesh gives birth to flesh, and any renewal begun apart from this regeneration is blasphemy against God, because it deprives sinners of the comfort Christ died to give them, and replaces God's gracious act of mercy with their own worthless act of obedience, which can be nothing other than the sandy foundation of the fool who calls the sacraments not God's means of saving him, but his own obedience.

This understanding of baptism isn't relegated only to baptism hymns, just as baptism isn't relegated to the word "baptizo" in the New Testament. It permeates all our hymnody and our understanding of worship. Let's not go to those who pervert baptism to learn how the baptized should worship God.

Psalm 137: For Hans

2011-09-29T22:41:00.004-05:00

This hymn is for my cousin, Hans, who is as loyal to me as a brother, and who loves the songs of Zion, even in a foreign land.

1.
Sing, dear Christians, songs of Zion,
Don't forget the poor and weak.
Sing the doctrine of the Spirit,
Sing the truth that sinners seek;
While you wander by the river
Of a Babylonian land,
Sing of Him sent to deliver
Captives from the devil's hand.

2.
True, the world still serves the devil,
Yes, she flaunts her wealth and pride,
True, our flesh still longs for evil,
Still it casts the truth aside;
Stronger is the truth of Jesus,
And His wounds this truth maintain:
By His death he will release us
From the shackles of our sin.

3.
Far more beauteous than the heaven,
That declares God's glory here,
Are the souls by God forgiven
When before Him they appear;
For the Christ, their God and Brother
Purifies them with his Word,
He alone, and there's none other,
Is the Man whom they call Lord.

4.
Vengeance soon will come, my brothers,
When our enemies and foes
See their daughters and their mothers
See the evil they impose;
What was once a sweet seduction,
What they sang to mock our grief,
Now becomes their souls' destruction,
Judgment on their unbelief.

5. Don't forget, my soul, the mercy
That was shed by Christ my God!
Jesus, make my spirit thirsty
For Your rich, forgiving blood.
You have faced the condemnation
That all unbelievers see;
Sing to me Your free salvation
In the death you died for me.

6.
O Jerusalem, my mother,
If for Christ no song I bring,
If my tongue should praise another,
Let my mouth then cease to sing;
What but Jesus' precious merit

Keeps us trusting Him through death?

He will also give His Spirit,
Teaching us to sing the faith.

Adolph Koeberle on Justification and Lutheran Hymns

2011-09-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

‎"We can see how, in the evangelical consciousness, the salvation that is produced by God alone and that consists in reconciliation with God, is not limited to the theological ideas of a small group of hymns that would be collected under the rubric, "Justification and the State of Grace," but that it permeates the whole round of Christian thinking. The certainty of possessing peace with God is a sort of cantus firmus* that is re-echoed everywhere, here in the hymns of the high festivals and of the holy ministrations, on through those dealing with faith and life to the hope of the resurrection of the dead, which finds its basis in this justifying act of God."

From The Quest for Holiness, trans. John C. Mattes (Augsburg: Minneapolis, 1938), p. 61.

* "fixed chant" - An existing melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition.

Because my sinful flesh is prone to despair, I am struck hard when I see the apathy of Lutherans toward Lutheran hymns. I must confess that this must partly arise from some selfishness in my heart to be soothed hearing my brothers and sisters sing the divine doctrine with the same love for it that I feel.

But we can't force people to feel what we feel. Just as it breaks a pastor's heart to see his parishioners skip church Sunday after Sunday, and yet their attendance ought not be the result of coercion from the law, so the Lutheran hymn is in the position of the unrequited lover.

She has more to give than all the music of the Papists and the Reformed, and yet the daughters of Zion insist on singing Samaritan songs. What comfort they lose is lost to them, whom we pray attend more to the basics of the Creed sparsely found in the songs of the sectarians than to the obsession of the functions of our own worship that plagues most modern music that purports to be Christian.

But what pervades the "evangelical consciousness" (one might also add the evangelical conscience) is an obsession with the Gospel, the certainty of a peace with God that is outside of our reaction to it or our disposition to receive it. Whether we sing of prayer or thanksgiving, or of miracles or of the works of the Church, Lutherans cannot forget Zion and the river that makes her glad. She cannot forget that her highest worship is receiving what her Lord gives her: the forgiveness of her own sin, a reconciled Father, yes, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also have access to sing to Him - and what shall we sing, but that the mercy of our Lord endures forever?

God grant us to sing again what we have so long neglected. I don't desire to revive merely one segment of Christian hymnody known as "Lutheran," but what constitutes true Christian hymnody, which who but the Lutherans have taught us at its sweetest, at is purest, at is most comforting, as it is the most faithful to the Word of God?

On Matthew Six: For Stuart Floyd

2011-09-27T15:38:00.001-05:00

Thank you for your encouragement, Stuart.

Come, sing the praise of God the Father,

Who made us and sustains His own,

Let all God’s children sing together,

Lift up your voice to Him alone,

Who keeps us throughout all our days,

And only He deserves our praise.

Why give your heart to love an idol,

Who cannot give a single thing?

To leave your God is suicidal -

What good can Mammon-worship bring?

What wound can money ever heal?

What truth can food or clothes reveal?

Consider once the birds of heaven,

They don’t plant grain to store away;

Yet God to them their food has given,

Are we not worth much more than they?

Our worry cannot make us grow,

Or any other good bestow.

Consider flowers of the meadow,

That neither toil nor sell their wares,

Yet Solomon is but a shadow

Compared to glory that is theirs;

If God clothes grass that fades away,

Will he not give you clothes today?

How blindly does the world go straying!

She clings to what her hands have made;

Her confidence in money laying,

Her glory short and soon to fade;

Dear God, save us from trusting in

What only leads our hearts to sin!

Our need is known to God our Father;

He sent His Son from realms above,

To take our flesh, become our Brother,

And show the Kingdom of His love,

Where sinners find a gracious God,

And help upon the narrow road.

Was Jesus fed upon the mountain,

When He was starved of Heav’nly love?

And yet his body is a fountain,

That pours down pardon from above;

Unclothed and shamed he met the cross

With innocence to cover us.

So seek first what our Father gives us,

The righteousness of Christ, His Son,

That calls us righteous and revives us

To trust in what our Lord has done,

Which saves us from idolatry,

As from our sins it sets us free.

Psalm 134: Hymn for ULC

2011-09-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

This hymn was composed for University Lutheran Chapel, who have lost the property that has always housed them through a show of right. God have mercy on them. We pray for their persecutors, as Jesus bids us to do. Those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.

This hymn is a meditation on Psalm 134.

Tune: Auf Meinen Lieben Gott

You servants of the Lord,

Bless him whose gracious Word

Preserves you from disaster,

For Christ, your Lord and Master,

Delivers you from evil,

And saves you from the devil.

You stand both day and night

In God the Father’s sight,

Enthroned in holy places,

Where angels hide their faces,

Where Christ lifts up the lowly,

And makes them pure and holy.

Lift up your hands and hearts

To Him whose grace imparts

Forgiveness for transgression,

And covers with compassion

The sins that still infect us,

But soon He will perfect us.

Bless Him whose flesh and blood

Are given you for food,

Where you may always gather

And cling to Christ, your Brother,

And put on Him your burden,

And take from him His pardon.

For He who made the earth,

And gave you second birth,

Will all his children cherish;

Though brick and mortar perish,

The word still sounds from Zion,

The truth the poor rely on.

Will he not judge for us,

Who gives us righteousness?

Who made the ear will hear us,

Who gave us life is near us,

And he will soon translate us

To joys that now await us.

If you are interested, you may find another hymn I wrote for this congregation here.

The Bittersweet Root

2011-09-19T22:16:00.002-05:00

Compassion is a root that's hard to taste,
So bitter is it to Dame Reason's tongue,
If once it calls her perfect prudence wrong,
She spits it out in self-defensive haste.

The Suffer-With-Another Root is sweet -
If you have too long tasted Reason's fare,
That leaves her neighbor wounded, dying there,
Compassion is a rare and wholesome treat.

Some try to call this root emotive food,
Pathetic, bound to Pathos' mobs and charm;
But it defies Dame Logos' false alarm,
And with its nutrients it feeds the good,

But savors still as bitterness to those
Who cannot take their keisters off their nose.

for my rib

2011-09-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

Rebecca, your beauty is to me

more dazzling than the brightest sea

that calls the sun and sky its own.

Rebecca, your eyes are for my soul

a compass that brings self-control,

when life seems so alone.

And this is more than I had guessed,

when first my hand your hand possessed

in front of family and God.

Since who can plumb the depths of love

bestowed on marriage from above

to guide us on our road?

Your loveliness lies deeper than

your features that delight your man,

refreshing eyes so tired of life;

The modesty adorning you,

Your gentleness and meekness too

make you a precious wife.

The world, Rebecca, flaunts such wares

as tangle men in many cares,

and leave them pierced with greater pain.

God’s gift in you is everything

that painters paint and singers sing,

that lovers want to taste again.

But you are only mine, my love,

Nor fame nor money were enough

To pay for all I have from you,

Since God himself gave you to me,

and blessed your womb so fruitfully,

and made us one from two.

Rebecca, your beauty is to me

a crown, a song, a mystery,

of which I am but guardian,

And till we part nor sea nor skies

will match the gift that in you lies,

a help meet for her man.

The Need. For Ken.

2011-08-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

A craving. No, but more than this, I fear -
I know. It begs the question, "Who am I?"
For what I love and trust in and revere
Decides for what I live, for what I die.

And deep can call to deep and still be deaf,
And cross can leave and pleasure lead to pain,
And trying and not trying - both are grief.
I want to know the joy of life again.

But what can introspection ever gain?
When God looks at himself he sees his Son,
On whom the scars and memories still remain,
In whom alone my battle could be won,

And was, and is, and calls his sheep to feed:
I kneel, and eat and drink, and fill my need.

Words of Wisdom

2011-08-25T14:34:00.002-05:00

How can I reach to grasp your wisdom’s mind,

When often I reach down to grasp my sin,

As if there something there for me to find

Besides a battle I can never win?

If I could purify my guilty soul

I would be you, who only pardon guilt,

And if my will were all in my control,

I would not need the precious blood you spilt.

Between us seems to lie a gulf so wide

And deep, that is so insurmountable,

I must despair of all I have inside,

And listen to your mind and heart and will,

That loves the contrite heart and spirit broken;

That heals with human lips, and God has spoken.

I Sit and Smoke my Pipe

2011-08-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

I sit and smoke my pipe and praise my God,
Who gives such pleasure in the midst of pain,
Which by my works my soul could never gain,
But Jesus is the source of every good.

I think of friends whom God has given me,
My wife, my children, father and my mom,
My brothers, sister, who compose my home,
Who ever had such Christian family?

What joy is there in Christian unity!
As pours the Spirit on our Savior's lip,
When, penitent, his sinners take a sip
Of blood that covers our iniquity.

I sit and smoke my pipe and praise my Lord,
Who keeps his family faithful to His Word.

For a Friend

2011-08-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

So rarely does one find in man such zeal

As has respect for nothing men may love,

But still has love within his heart to feel

When others grieve or do not have enough.

He clings amid his sins to Christ his Lord,

He sings this truth to those who also weep,

And leaning, falling, lying on His Word,

He sows in tears and lets his brothers reap.

A love for doctrine is no sterile knife

That cuts with cold precision at the brain,

It burns into the very soul of life,

And shuns nor loss of self nor deeper pain.

Such love is only in a broken heart,

Which life beneath the cross must needs impart.

For Sutton

2011-08-15T15:02:00.001-05:00

Lord Jesus, faithful brother,

Lord Christ, my faithful God,

My heart can trust no other,

I know no other good,

That will not leave me groping

For more of what is vain,

But keeps my spirit hoping

In heartache and in pain.

The Serpent’s mind is stronger

Than my poor mortal thought,

He also waits much longer

Than in my pray’rs I ought,

All evil is his power,

Perverse his every plan,

And I, in tempting hour,

Am but a sinful man.

The world is so alluring

It hurts to live with her,

Her lips speak reassuring,

But what can she insure?

Corrupting are her pleasures,

Deceitful is her wealth,

How treach’rous are her treasures!

How harmful is her health!

What has my flesh to offer

Besides its wrong desires?

No matter how I suffer

I cannot squelch the fires

That burn toward world and devil,

And disregard your love,

That lead me into evil

And never have enough.

So now I raise my conscience

Up to your mercy’s hands,

Grant me such true repentance

That only You demands;

My efforts all are futile,

But yours are sure and true,

Your heart is pure and gentle,

Your grace is always new.

The devil can’t defeat you,

The Lord who crushed his head,

And let his world mistreat you,

Who once for sinners bled,

Your pleasure, O my Savior,

Is only to forgive.

My flesh can die forever,

My body yet will live;

And while I live, repenting

Of daily sin and guilt,

Your grace is unrelenting,

Your mercy will not wilt,

And so you will accomplish

Your will and work in me,

And all my ways establish

Till I your glory see.

IF

2011-08-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

If you can sing chorales when all around you

Are tired of hearing hymns of yesteryear,

If you are cool when heated men surround you,

Yet keep your heart still warm when they are near,

If you can chant the Psalms and keep repenting

Of ever thinking you’d know them enough,

If you can write the truth without relenting

When others crave more superficial stuff,

If you can sing and not make songs your master,

If you can write and not make words your aim,

If you can be a hymnist and a pastor,

And know that they are not and are the same,

If you can bear to see the hymns you’ve written

Cast aside by those you love and know,

If you restrain the pen when you’ve been bitten,

And bless when others only insults show,

If you can read the prophets and apostles

And know their prose is better than your rhyme,

If you can resurrect the martyrs’ fossils

And hear their witness singing still in time,

If you can force your pride and selfish effort

To die when once they shine within a verse,

Then turn again and find a better comfort

In Lutheran hymns your flesh would reckon worse,

If you can sing Christ crucified for sinners

And never think we’ve hymns enough of that,

If you’re content to sit with the beginners

And look up to where blessed Luther sat,

If you feel pain when singing Jesus’ sorrow,

And yet distinguish far between the two,

Yours is the Lutheran hymn and still tomorrow

Your song is Christ’s and His is always new.

Some Answers to Questions on Praise Music

2011-07-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

1. Is it really a Lutheran pastor's job to oppose praise worship?

All Lutherans should oppose praise services to the best of their ability. It is not wise to imitate false teachers. It gives Lutherans the bad impression that false teachers know more about worshiping God than true teachers. Also, it is acting out of disregard for fellow Lutherans who have expressed strong disapproval of it. This alone should be enough for our brothers who enjoy using such worship to stop out of love. It is dividing our church-body.

2. Should music really tame the emotions? Why do we need to be afraid of our emotions?

We are supposed to subdue all of creation. This doesn’t make creation less beautiful. By “tame” I mean put it in its proper place. So anger can be moved to righteous indignance, depression to godly sorrow or joy, ecstasy to joyous contemplation, etc. I would commend you to Luther’s words,

“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions – to pass over animals – which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them. For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate – and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men to evil or good? – what more effective means than music could you find?” AE 53, p. 323.

But we ought not choose music entirely because of what emotions it works in us. This is downright wrong. We choose music that works well with the Word of God and the emotions that ought to result in hearing it.

3. Why is praise music so offensive to you?

Praise music is offensive in different ways.

First, its doctrine is extremely shallow and, as in the hymn “How Great Thou Art,” even when some good doctrine is described, the climax of the song is almost always my praise toward God: hence the title “praise” music. This is a direct result of Calvinism, which teaches that praise of God is chiefly obedience come from the experience of knowing God. This is contrary to Lutheranism, which teaches that faith in the Gospel is the highest praise.

Secondly, Praise-proponents cite the Psalms as if they endorse their music. This is utterly Reformed and shows an ignorance of the Christ-content of them, as Calvin demonstrates in his commentary on them. When the Psalms speak of "praising" they are speak of the actual redemptive works of Christ.

Thirdly, as a man, I would never let my wife (not that she would ever think of it) play really cheesy and schmaltzy tunes on the radio while I am in the car, because I am a man and the head of my home and I would (and should) be ashamed of telling other men that I enjoy listening to overly emotional music such as we all must admit dominates praise worship. I might listen to overly emotional music when my wife and I are in a romantic mood, but we don’t want a romantic mood in church.

Fourthly, as a father, I would never let my children play their utterly awful new-age trendy music in my car while I am there. Children don’t teach us what music is, we do. Similarly, children don’t teach the fathers about music, we grow from them. Praise music doesn’t consult the Lutheran chorales, which are our fathers’ music. It is disrespectful for us to ignore this and act as if other music is worthy to be held next to what has held the pure doctrine for centuries and encouraged a pious love of music. This is a fourth commandment issue. Yielding to the rebellion inherent in the generation gap as if we have no choice is contrary to God's command and promise.

Fifthly, the praise band nearly always takes a leading role in the worship service, mainly as “worship leader,” often even leading prayers. Often times women’s names are printed in the bulletins as “worship leaders.” Why should women be “leading” a bunch of men in the worship service? What man with any dignity or respect for the Scriptures could allow his wife to lead him in worship? So why should he let another man’s wife do this? This is completely a cultural trend that the church should resist to the best of her ability, especially considering the onslaught against fatherhood in our society.

Sixthly (WOW! I’ve never really considered just how offensive this stuff really is!), as a Lutheran pastor I am bound to teach the catechism to my parishioners. I know of no single praise song that in any way could aid me to this end better than what I have in the hymnals. If this is true for me as a pastor, it is even more true for men as fathers and teachers of their children.

Seventhly (is that a word?), men and boys are way less likely to sing in the congregation when the praise band is leading because their fathers are less likely to sing it. It is also more about listening than us actually “teaching and admonishing one another” with the word of Christ dwelling among us richly.

Eighthly (how many t's?) We don't just sing to "praise," but to teach and admonish. In fact, that is what the best praise is, that which helps your neighbor. Cf. Eccl. 5:1.

4. If we avoid praise music because it comes from other denominations, are we saying they're not Christians?

A distinction needs to be made. I can’t judge anybody’s heart, so I can’t judge their “true Christianity.” That’s not the point. But it is not Christian to say that baptism doesn’t save, and it is not Christian to say that Christ’s body and blood aren't in the Supper and that they don’t bring forgiveness. It’s not Christian to develop your Christian life apart from the sacraments by which your Lord Christ wants to form not only your thoughts and works, but also your songs and your praises.

We shouldn't gauge the true Christianity of people by the outward emotions they express. Simply because one person seems more "on fire" for the Lord, doesn't mean a single thing about his true Christianity. I can’t judge a person’s faith. I can only judge their confession, or if they are living an immoral life (but that’s usually just gossip the 8th commandment forbids me to believe), or if they never go to church. We judge what true Christianity by is the pure doctrine. We judge whether people are Christians by their confession and their lives, not their enthusiasm.

The fact that a person is a Christian and believes that Jesus died for his sin doesn’t give him the right to teach others by expressing the emotions his faith makes him feel. Faith in Christ makes our praises acceptable to God, but it doesn’t automatically validate the value of a worship song. So there are Christians in any denomination where the Gospel, however weakly, is taught, but this doesn't mean we go to them for advice on how to worship God, or that we admire their worship for the emotions it makes us feel instead of the doctrine that is contained in it.

So of course, God uses his word to convert no matter how horribly people ignore it. He is a merciful God, but just as we dare not say that decision-theology is “Christian,” so we dare not go to those who promote it for them to tell us how to worship like Christians.

I hope this helps some people.

Soli Deo Gloria

Pentecost Hymn: with a verse against the fanatics

2011-06-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

This hymn is for my wife, who puts up with me. Tomorrow will be six years together. Thank God!

Praise the Spirit of our Savior,

Giver of eternal life;

Lord, adored by all forever,

Counselor in shame and strife.

He gives gifts no man can merit:

Faith and fruits that faith will show;

Only God the Holy Spirit

Plants the seed and makes it grow.

From the Son and from the Father

He proceeds to call the lost;

Nations, tongues and tribes to gather

In the name of which we boast;

Now to us is freely offered

All the good that Christ has done,

Since the death that Jesus suffered

Pardon for our sins has won.

Let fanatics flaunt their spirit,

Claiming gifts as faith’s reward;

Why should heretics inherit

What confirmed th’ apostles’ word?

Tongues shall end and knowledge falter,

Prophesies in time will cease,

But the gifts of font and altar

Still give guilty sinners peace.

Even in the midst of sorrow,

Love will rule and comfort us,

Joy will wake us in the morrow,

Peace will follow Jesus’ grace.

In the midst of pain comes patience;

Kindness speaks the Spirit’s word;

Goodness grows from every conscience

That through faith has grasped our Lord.

Gentle was our Lord and lowly,

So is every Christian soul

Whom the Holy One makes holy,

Freely giving self control,

All to serve and help our neighbor,

All in faith toward God above;

Faith alone can work such labor,

God alone can give such love.

Holy Spirit we adore You,

Comforter, to you we cry;

Paraclete, we fall before you,

On your promise we rely.

Take our prayers to God in heaven;

To the Father, to the Son,

To you, Lord, be glory given,

While unending ages run.

Fallen Star: By Pr. Tim Rake

2011-06-04T12:57:00.001-05:00

Pr. Rake listens to hip-hop. This means that he is cooler than I. He recently has been tuning his poetic strings more fervently and has come out with some really good stuff.

I could learn a lot from him. I present here (without his permission, but he published it on a public forum, so there), a scathing attack on the wily one.

Chrismed cherub wondrous made,
master creature with gems inlaid,
tapestry of life celestial,
set o'er powers of the heavens and terrestrial,
finest art of heaven's craft,
gleaming tip of the guardian shaft,
with voice symphonic,
sounding an instrumental melody harmonic,
crowned with wisdom's sacred sum,
and chief of all His works so begun,
why, with such adornment, curved you inward?
Why, in pride self-loving, turned you sinward?
Why, to Jehovah, your Creator,
did you become His accuser and His traitor?

In your ambition jealous driven,
grasping for what could be only given,
you sought the Northern Summit for your throne,
to claim God's likeness for your own,
and take from His true heir and Son,
all that was to come and done.

One third of heaven's princes you did entice,
turning flaming winds of virtue into vice,
and with that rabble rouged and ready,
you aimed to overthrow foundations sure and steady,
succeeding only there to find,
it was the folly of a maddened mind.

O Lucifer, brightest of the heavenly host,
by pride, by pomp and by benighted boast,
(having walked among the first Eden's fiery coals),
your beauty you corrupted whole,
you lost your station as the morning star,
and received at justice's righteous bar,
judgment and the thunderbolt that thrust you down so far.

Rage unquenched, you seduced His mortals,
and entering them through auditory portals,
pulled them to the dust of death,
sucking from them life and breath.

Despite the works of darkness you have wrought,
their woeful end shall come to naught,
since in the trap you laid for those you sought,
your own cloven hoof has been secured and caught,
and they, by blood that freedom bought,
have been granted heaven's holy and eternal lot.

On the Definition of Art

2011-06-02T09:54:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we need to fight over definitions. If a man can't look at a piece of self-absorbed post-modern art and, even to the chagrin of those around him, confidently confess, "That's not art," then our battle's lost. Definitions are themselves battle grounds - a brief glance at Church History and Wikipedia will affirm this. But even in inadequate or false definitions there is usually a hint of the true definition. For example, holy does mean sinless and pure because it first means set apart. Most people, when they say "God," don't use it properly, so we have to say, "No, God is not that, God is this," working on the basic definition of God that they already have, e.g., that he is powerful and we look to him for things we need. So art can have many meanings, according varying usus loquendi, but ultimately Christians can't call art the simple expression of a person's passion, since "A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back." (Prov. 29:11)

Art changes from culture to culture and from time to time, but, however often it is usurped by the world for her own selfish ends, even in its degradation God sustains its purpose. So Christian rap will never be able to stand the test of time, not only because it is aesthetically limited to musical whims which are spontaneous and impulsive, but because a congregation simply can't sing it.

Conversely even art that is aesthetically more pleasing to individuals will dwindle in influence precisely because it can't be used by a congregation. Prudentius wrote better hymns theologically than most other hymn writers of his day, but he used pagan meters that were more conducive to individuals chanting, rather than for congregational worship, so his poetry died except for a few portions of one work. Ambrose wrote good doctrine, but he used a meter that soldiers knew, and that many could sing. Since Paul, drawing from the Psalms, tells the whole Church to sing to one another while the Word of God dwells richly among them (Colossians 3:16), Prudentius' form of art, while wonderful and edifying for individuals, failed the Church, which needs art that is more universal.

The point of this little narrative is that, however the culture amends the aesthetic media through which men confess their beliefs, the Church can't depart from what is edifying to the Church catholic. Simply put, if your art form couldn't conceivably edify the Church everywhere, then why are you presenting it to one part of the Church? The diversity of gifts is not for a diverse Church - it is for one Church, which is united by the Word of God, created and sustained by the Gospel and sacraments.

But this is too broad, isn't it? We want rules that prevent us from having to sing all these strange "liturgies" that keep showing up in our hymnals. But herein lies the rub - even though we know that art ought both to conform to the laws of nature and express the truth of God's Word to the Church catholic, yet we can't give people the gifts that are required for doing this. Music, art, architecture, poetry, etc. - all these things are gifts of God. We can make them flourish only insofar as we keep God's Word in mind. We can only sincerely thank God for what he has given us in the past, and pray earnestly for more, since it is through these blessings that He is praised and men are saved through the Word that they enfold.

Ultimately the debate must be theological. It must be persuasive. We can complain about How Great Thou Art because of its schmaltzy tune, but we won't be able to convince anybody of that until they loathe the theology therein. I can't stand the tune because it manipulates my emotions into a position they shouldn't be while celebrating so unabashedly my praise of God. I can't stand the tune to Amazing Grace because I know a better hymn about grace that God gave His Church: By Grace I'm Saved. I can't stand 1970's stained glass windows because they don't express the Bible stories and basic catechism doctrines that God inspired artists of the Medieval period to create.

King David Playing the Zither - Celesti (1637-1712)

And so it comes back to imitation. Hezekiah imitated David. We imitate David and Hezekiah. Paul Gerhardt imitated Luther. We imitate Luther and Paul Gerhardt. Bach imitated the Lutheran chorales. We imitate the Lutheran chorales and Bach.

Does this give us a clear answer? Yes. Christ's sheep hear His voice, and the artist ought to make that voice as clear as possible in whatever medium God has put his talent in.

Ascension Day Hymn

2011-06-01T17:29:00.002-05:00

This hymn is written for Pr. Jonathan Bakker and Prof. William Weinrich. It is an Ascension Day hymn, drawn from the Old and New Testaments, and modeled after a hymn neglected by our last two hymnals, O God, Our Lord, Thy Holy Word, the tune of which you can find here, although, beware the unnecessary rests and slow tempo.

In particular I drew from Psalm 68:17-20; 110:1-2; Acts 1:8-11; Colossians 2:13-15; Ephesians 1:3-22; 4:8-12.

The poetry reads more rigid than it actually is, since the tune, when sung with its proper temp, is very lively, and not at all depressing, as Dr. Weinrich used to lament was the chief characteristic of my hymns. ; )

O Christ, our God,

Your flesh and blood

Fill all of earth and heaven,

Ascended now,

Still here below,

You speak our sins forgiven.

And Satan must

Now lick the dust

And Hell before you cower;

And we by faith

Will conquer death,

By your own grace and power.

Believers, why,

Look to the sky,

As if your Lord were leaving?

He still is here,

And will appear,

But now His gifts is giving.

His holy Word,

The Spirit’s sword,

Still pierces through our spirit,

Rebukes our sin,

And enters in

With Jesus’ blood and merit.

True God of God,

He climbed the road

That led him to the Father,

Whose law and will

He did fulfill,

Our servant and our brother.

Sin must retreat

Beneath his feet,

As he sends strength from Zion:

Apostles teach,

And pastors preach

The truth the poor rely on.

So fear no harm -

See Christ disarm

The power of the devil.

At God’s right hand

Our Lord will stand

And rescue us from evil.

He fills all things

And thus he brings

His sacraments of healing,

His Gospel’s pow’r,

Which every hour,

His mercy is revealing.

Cry out to him,

Let doubt not dim

The praises of your Savior!

The means of grace,

His Holy Place,

Assure you of his favor;

And seated there

With Christ you share

A heritage unfading,

Which through all tears,

And pains and fears

In Heav’n for you is waiting.

Formulaic Recitation

2011-05-31T22:04:00.001-05:00

John Pachelbel

There is nothing more useful for art than formulaic recitation. Without repetition no painter could perfect the stroke of his brush. Without a set form of words to start with, a poet is left to the savageries of barbarism.

In fact, the end of art has its source in the insistence that one must be freed from both formulas and recitation. The abandonment of the Lutheran musical heritage was not inevitable. It isn't as if Bach came, Pachelbel went by, and besides a Mendelssohn here and there, there wasn't much we could do. The music since then has embraced a purposeful dissonance from what Bach taught, together with all that Lutheranism offered. The Church stopped reciting what Bach recited. The Church abandoned the formula that so enamored Mendelssohn.

Without the formula of the chorale and the recitation of predictable and common notation Bach couldn't be art. He would be brash and aesthetically retarded. As it is with music, so it must be with all other forms of art.

If a painter imitates another painter time and time again, one doesn't say that he isn't an artist because he imitates. One judges his work on the basis of whether he accomplishes his objective. One could say the artist isn't original, perhaps, if he only paints what another paints - but no artist does that. He follows a certain formula, and from the rudiments of that formula his own personal qualities shine forth.

The Painter - Van Ostade - 1663

The reason for this is that God makes each individual differently. I recently heard one of the most popular Indian chefs make the comment that nobody can cook a recipe exactly like another person. He was very adamant about this. Why? Because God won't allow it. There is to be a diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit. So also in doctrine we must always follow the same Spirit as He teaches us in the Holy Scriptures, but depending on the circumstances, no two pastors are going to preach the same sermon, even though they follow the same sound pattern of words and repeat what the Scriptures say.

Most art is not as good as the masters. Most art must necessarily be copies of a greater glories. This is fine and wonderful. Most artists produce only a few wonderful works that stand the test of time. Prudentius was a very prolific writer, but only a small and meager portion of his Hymnus Omnis Horae is known to the Church today in Of the Father's Love Begotten. Speaking of this hymn, Elizabeth Cruciger's Herr Christ der Einig Gott's Sohn, or The Only Son from Heaven, is itself imitating Prudentius, both as regards formula and recitation.

Publius Vergilius Maro

To say that if the same structure appears time after time after time then one has not revealed art is to deny the title artist to the greatest artists who have ever lived, including Virgil, David, Homer, Shakespeare, etc. One should rather ask the question of whether one enjoys being engaged in that structure - put otherwise, how many English speakers genuinely enjoy reading blank verse?

To say that art must be spontaneous or free from the restraining formulaic recitations of the past is to adopt the worship of the Corinthians before Paul rebuked them, and is fundamentally anti-liturgical. We need a sound pattern of words. We build upon the work of others and without it we dare not claim to have any art to offer the Church. I pray that Christians learn to imitate Lutherans and teach and admonish their brethren in spiritual painting, poetry and music.

Let our imitation not end until the angels imitate us in heaven.

Rogate Sunday: We Know That God Will Hear Our Prayer

2011-05-23T14:38:00.000-05:00

I dedicate this hymn to Judy Michels, a member of our congregation, whose new-found love for the Church's hymnody is inspiring.

The tune is Wir Glauben All An Einen Gott.

We know that God will hear our pray’r,

When we ask through Christ our Lord.

His command is clear and sure,

He is faithful to His Word.

All we ask the Father for

He will give to us and more.

The world is full of sin and need;

Christ is full of grace and pow’r;

Let the wicked flaunt their greed,

God will feed us every hour.

Seek we first His righteousness,

He will give all things to us.

Yes, how could He who did not spare

His own Son for sinners’ sakes,

Fail to save us from despair,

When our heart for sorrow breaks?

How could He who gave His Son

Fail to let His will be done?

There’s nothing that this world can give

That will last beyond the grave;

Nothing that can make us live;

Nothing that has pow’r to save;

Only Jesus’ precious blood

Brings us pure before our God.

It is His good and gracious will

That we turn from sin each day,

Trusting Christ our Savior still.

If we fall and go astray

Still He calls us back again

To forgive us of our sin.

Lord God, our Father, answer us

For the sake of Christ, Your Son;

Let us all that peace possess

Which His wounds and stripes have won.

Let Your Spirit guide us on,

Till our prayers on earth are done.

A different Poem

2011-05-12T14:18:00.000-05:00

Since I've been busier than ever imaginable and full of work and duty, I have been unable to write hymns recently.

Even now I should be grading the huge stack of tests and assignments that are calling me away from this "distraction" and into the tedium of red check-marks and comments I must hope won't be ignored.

But ignored is what most good hymns become. Some may hold a grand view of the best hymns "making" it through the judgment of the church catholic, but a glance at Mr. Carver's blog will show how much good has been ignored and will be in the future.

Anyway, this is me going crazy.

Will they sing again?

What songs will they raise?

I’ve been through the possibilities, you know.

The rapping and the rhyming,

the moments of designing

what we feel

what is fate,

what we breathe and love and hate.

Will they sing again?

Whose lyrics move their hearts?

I’ve been burdened by their parodies, you know.

The melodrama victim

says your providence, it kicked him

to the sin,

to desire,

to the pleasure and the fire.

If some sing again

will I want to join their strains?

I’ve been fighting it since baptism, you know.

The learning and ignoring,

the longing for exploring

not your thoughts,

but the lies

of the lord of fools and flies.

If I sing with them

will I miss the hymns of old?

I’ve been singing from my mother’s womb, you know.

The sin and the confession,

the cross and its compassion;

God made man

Rose again –

angels preach away my sin…

A new song I will sing,

How could such tunes grow old?

You’ve sung them from eternity, I know.

Your Spirit is revealing

A righteousness that’s sealing

faith in you,

faith in God,

faith that sings my Savior’s blood.

We will sing it all again.

Finally Another Hymn

2011-04-13T22:22:00.000-05:00

This hymn is dedicated to Ken Kelly, whose sarcastic wit unwittingly shattered my writer's block.

The tune is "Herr Christ der Einig Gott's Sohn"with the last three lines altered to fit the meter. Trust me, it works.

Lord Jesus in Your sorrow

Lay me to rest tonight,

So that I may tomorrow

Awake with strength to fight

The Old Man rising up to sin;

Give me Your strength to bear it,

That Satan may not win.

He says You are not able

To help and rescue me;

So spread Your mercy's table

Before my enemy.

And let my hungry spirit feed

Upon Your pure obedience,

The righteousness I need.

For there is good inside me,

But it has come from You.

My flesh has still defied You

And hated all that's true.

The world with scorn and doctrine vain

Still flaunts her fading glory

To mask her mortal pain.

But You are still my Brother

And God in whom I trust.

I dare not trust another -

Don't leave me in the dust,

But lift my heart from shame to see

What You have suffered for me

Upon the cursed tree.

There, all my sorrow ceases,

There peace with God is found;

However sin increases,

His grace will more abound,

For it was God upon the cross

And Man - one death, one Person,

One ransom for our loss.

So I will meet tomorrow

With strength I have from You,

Whose pure and dying sorrow

Gives peace my whole life through,

And will when I must yield my breath

Give life to me forever

And wake me up from death.

Friday Night Medition

2011-03-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

It's long. Not a hymn. Maybe a song. Definitely a prayer.

1.

Have mercy on the sinners and the poor,
O You who have all riches in Your heart;
And though I have my guilt and nothing more,
Yet still Your righteousness to me impart.

2
It is Your will that I be sanctified,
But in my flesh there dwells still nothing good,
Show by Your death that I am justified,
That by Your blood I’m reconciled to God.

3.
It is our Father’s good and gracious will
To break and hinder what my flesh desires,
But Satan works with ruthless cunning still
And with his lies against my soul conspires.

4.
I do not sing because I have some pow’r
To lift me out of sin and out of guilt,
I sing because I fall in trial’s hour,
And thirst for what my suff’ring Savior spilt.

5.
How many times am I allowed to fall
Before You never pardon me again?
How deep the depths from which my soul can call,
How poor my spirit, and how dark its stain?

6.
Can I still pray to you to lift me up,
To whom You've given more than is enough,
Can I dare grasp again Salvation’s cup,
And boldly drink the deepness of Your love?

7.
One drop, I’ve heard - I know - of that blest blood,
Can silence all the doubts I have within;
Within one drop must be a cleansing flood,
That drowns my doubt and washes off my sin.

8.
And what have I within this flesh of death
That Jesus did not die for on the tree?
Has Jesus ever spurned a sinner’s faith,
That pleads for mercy in humility?

9.
Against you only have I sinned, O Lord,
And You are just to judge the sinner’s plight,
But You to sinners give Your faithful Word
That calls them righteous in Your Father’s sight.

10.
How can I take this pardon when I know
So often have I spurned its fruits of love?
Yet You make scarlet sins as white as snow,
And plead for sinners at the throne above.

11.
Pour in this weakened heart of mine Your grace,
That I may yearn for more and more each day,
That all my sin may find its rightful place
Upon the cross where You took it away.

12.
No work, no merit, no desire of mine,
No thought, no will, no feeling and no deed,
Can ever graft me on to You, the Vine -
Your mercy and your grace alone I plead!

13.
How can I doubt Your love? You show my worth
In that high price you paid - your death.
What enemy is there upon this earth
That ever could extinguish this my faith?

14.
A faith the clings to Jesus is secure,
Such faith in Christ cannot be put to shame,
But clinging to His Word, it shall endure,
Exempt from Judgment, free from guilt and blame.

15.
If I have vented too much in my haste
Then blame it on my heart, sunk down so low;
I long to grasp Your mercy and to taste
The peace that passes all that I can know.

16.
For all the world has promised me is vain,
And all the pleasures I have tasted here
Defile me and abandon me to pain
And tear from me true trust and love and fear.

17.
Keep me away from false, presumptuous sin,
I cannot understand my many wrongs,
But when the battle hastens to begin,
Surround me with Your resurrection's songs.

18
Then shall my heart begin to sing the strain
That sinners since poor Adam’s day have sung,
That through despair and stumbling shall remain,
That rests upon each Christian heart and tongue:

19.
"My life and strength and song are Christ alone,
By whom the devil's charges all are hushed;
He bruised His heel, but now the deed is done,
My Savior lives - the serpent's head is crushed!

20.
All glory to the merit of the Son,
Whom with the Father we with joy adore
And with the Spirit, Holy three in one,
As was, is now, and shall be evermore."

A Conversation...

2011-02-17T12:49:00.002-06:00

How blessed are the ones whose guilt and sin

Are covered by the righteousness of Him

Who took upon Himself their guilty load

And by His blood redeemed the world for God.

And yet how blesséd can I be, O Lord,

When sins of thought and deed, desire and word

Have stained my soul and in myself I see

The source of all the guilt that burdens me?

The heart is more deceitful than all things,

And well I know the sorrow that it brings -

In pain My heart once melted on the Tree

When every sin’s desire was piercing Me.

But he who has God’s temple here defiled

Can hardly claim to call himself His child,

And see how Saul and Judas fell from grace!

So now I look and cannot find Your face.

Be still, and know that it is Satan’s voice

That makes you think that I would make the choice

To leave you in the sins I suffered for,

To give you back the burden that I bore.

O Lord, but I have fallen once again,

And how can still a sacrifice remain

For those who left their Lord, the Crucified,

And by their deeds His mercy have denied?

Don’t try to pry in things too high for you,

But only trust what I assert is true,

There is no sin you’ve done or debt you’ve made,

For which my blood and suffering have not paid.

Amen, my Brother, Lord of death and sin!

Don’t let me fall, dear Christ, from grace again,

But always firmly trusting in Your voice,

Let me with all God’s righteous sons rejoice.

As surely as my flesh and blood once rose,

So surely have I conquered all your foes,

Nor sin nor death nor Satan’s roaring band,

Have pow’r to snatch you from your Shepherd’s hand.

Endurance in the Gospel

2011-02-02T01:26:00.000-06:00

Snow Day tomorrow. Time to write a hymn. Tune: Aus Tiefer Not II

Lord God, in mercy look to me,

Don't deal with me in anger.

However many sins you see,

Your mercy must be stronger;

I don't appeal to what I've done,

I claim the death of Christ Your Son,

How else can I be rescued?

How many sins? I cannot count

Each thought and word and action;

However great their vast amount,

Mine is a lost condition.

My efforts, thoughts and weak desires

Can't stop the sin or quench the fires

That burn within my body.

Aren't I, O God, Your child and heir?

And yet I've sold Your blessing,

And find me almost in despair,

And what am I possessing?

The pleasures of this world are vain,

And after pride what can remain

But dust that I return to?

In sin and guilt I was conceived,

And still this Adam evil

Denies what I've by grace believed

And brings me to the devil.

What right have you, you wicked snake

This soul from Jesus' hands to take?

The Lord rebuke your lying!

I know a greater Adam still,

However much I've squandered;

It is His good and gracious will

To call back all who've wandered.

Dear Jesus, God and Lord, be near,

Dear Jesus, Brother, listen, hear,

Have mercy on this sinner.

Don't gather me with those who hate,

Don't let my pride defeat me;

It cannot be that it's too late,

I hear your comfort greet me.

I hear Your Word, "Come unto me"

Announce the Day of Jubilee,

And take my heavy burden.

I see it there upon Your back,

In stripes and blood and slashing;

I see my enemies attack

Their accusations lashing;

I see my righteousness is there,

Where You in love desired to bear

My pain to bring me pardon.

And if the bonds of all my sins

Have bound my Lord to suffer,

Then surely still this hope remains

That God will freely offer

His full forgiveness every time

I come polluted by a crime,

Still I will hear, "Not guilty."

And from this verdict's peace I rise,

Each day a new-born creature,

Renewed by You who once baptize,

But always are my Teacher.

Because You are the sinner's friend

I claim the grace that has no end

And sing Your great salvation.

And when the sins return again

And flesh gives way to doubting,

Wash clean my every conscience-stain,

And silence Satan's spouting.

Both joy and gladness let me hear

As angels with Your Word draw near

To comfort and sustain me.

Free Conference Vespers Sermon: Psalm 98

2011-01-29T15:23:00.005-06:00

Psalm 98: O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen.

I have nothing, God, to offer

But the blood of Thy dear Son.

Graciously accept the proffer,

Make His righteousness mine own.

His holy life gave He,

Was crucified for me,

His righteousness perfect, He now pleads before Thee,

His own robe of righteousness, my highest good,

Shall clothe me in glory through faith in His blood.

My mother tells us the story of my Grandpa, the late Robert Preus, returning from some Missouri Synod meeting and sinking down into his chair, letting out a deep sigh, and saying, “Hell is having to listen to false doctrine.”

So also it hurts Lutherans, who have grown up drinking from the clear fountains of Luther’s Wittenberg, to have to drink from the stale cisterns of Calvin’s Geneva or from the noisome pools of Rome. This is because the Lutheran hymn most clearly reflects and teaches the doctrine of justification in all its truth and purity - that article on which the Holy Church stands or falls, the teaching which the Christian conscience would rather die than depart from.

The question is often posed by an ardent supporter of non-Lutheran hymns and songs, “What’s wrong with this song?” This question is hard for us to answer because we have lost much of our discernment, as we have collectively forsaken our Lutheran heritage and taught our children that the sects who openly teach that baptism doesn’t save, that the Lord’s Supper doesn’t bring us forgiveness, that a man can’t absolve in the stead of Christ, that only some are saved, that we are not purely passive in our conversion, that the will is free in spiritual matters, that the holy cross is something to be avoided, that the Holy Spirit works faith apart from God’s external Word, that the Pope is the head of the church by divine right, that we earn grace to enter Heaven, that our Lord Christ’s human nature has only a local presence - all of these horrible and dreadful doctrines that, in the words of our catechism, profane the Name of God among us and every day lead people away from Christ, away from the forgiveness of sins and the certainty of salvation - lies that have their source in falsehood’s father himself - we have altogether as a Lutheran people taught that those who teach these things are better fit than Lutherans to teach our children with their songs.

I came upon a realization one morning as my shower was reminding me of my baptism. When did music have the highest place and most honor in the Old Testament? It was when the doctrine of justification was most clearly expressed. Isn’t that interesting? When the doctrine that sinners are justified only by grace through faith because of what Christ has done for them - when this article of faith was most extolled then was music given the highest honor it ever had. It was during the reigns of David and Hezekiah that this article on which the Church stands or falls was expressed most succinctly; it was during this time that David and Isaiah wrote about Christ and His work for us in Spiritual psalms, hymns and songs, and the Church, the people of Israel, sang the Gospel.

David sang of the Messiah, the Christ and His work for us. He sang of our need for a Savior, the universal corruption of mankind through hereditary, original sin. He sang that God would become a man from his seed and be punished for our sins, as the Psalm, “My God My God, why have you forsaken Me?” so clearly expresses. He sang that the humiliation and exaltation of Christ for us proves that God is mindful of men and that God’s glory is our salvation. He sang blessed are those put their trust in the Son of God, who rules over His church with the forgiveness of sins.

He wrote of Christ’s active and passive obedience on our behalf. He said that Christ was obedient to the point of death and was raised again for our justification, as Psalm 16 so clearly expresses. He sang of the faith of children which silences the devil as it looks to Jesus Christ alone. He sang Christ’s ascension for us as the King of Glory in Psalms 24 and 68, how He fills all things and now gives His Church the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments, so that we may obtain the faith that justifies.

He sang blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered and why do people forget Psalm 69, where Christ’s sufferings are so vividly set before us? He sang Christ’s rule in the Church from Zion, from the mercy seat, where the blood was sprinkled for the sins of the people. David sang that we are accounted righteous before God solely by God’s grace, only through faith, not because of righteous works that we have done, but because of what Christ, his Son and his Lord would do; not that our faith was a work of ours, but that the Holy Spirit created a clean heart in us through the Gospel. David sang about Jesus, so he had to sing to the Lord a new song because he has done marvelous things. His only begotten Son hath gotten him the victory.

And Hezekiah sang. He was just a boy when Isaiah came to his father Ahaz and said, “Hear, O House of David.” And Hezekiah heard and believed the Virgin would conceive and bear a Son whose name would be Emmanuel – God with us. He heard and believed and sang that God’s Son and the Virgin’s child would take the government upon His shoulder and break the oppression of sin. Listen to what was sung in Hezekiah’s day in the Temple! After he had cast out all the contemporary garbage that his father Ahaz had brought in that people thought was so great and would make the Church more relevant to the pagan culture around them; after suffering beneath the false doctrine of his father and finally ordering the pastors and teachers to sing the 400 year-old songs of David and Asaph again; After a mere man of 25 years called the entire nation to repentance and brought back the sacrament of the Passover to teach them that only the blood of the spotless Son of God would save them from death’s judgment and make them righteous in God’s sight - what does Ezra write in Chronicles? “They sang with all their might”... so that “there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.”
And they sang Isaiah’s songs too. He sang so clearly of the sufferings of our Servant-Lord that one marvels that all the Jews don’t convert and weep with joy that our iniquity is pardoned, that the punishment that brought peace between God and man was upon the God-Man, that by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have sinned in our own ways, but Hezekiah sang Isaiah’s song which became John the Baptist’s song, which is our song – the new song - the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, Behold the Lamb of God, who carries away the sin of the world.
In Psalm 98, when David says that The Lord has made known His salvation and that He has shown His righteousness openly in the sight of the heathen, he is bearing witness, as Paul says in Romans 3, of the righteousness that is not of works, but the righteousness of faith, the faith that justifies and receives that gracious verdict that our Maker speaks to our hearts: not guilty, “All our debt Christ has paid, peace with God once more is made.” Our Lord has had mercy. How can we not sing it?

How can we not sing it? It can’t simply be the songs are too archaic. It can’t simply be that the music of the past centuries is so revolting to the children of today. Must we really believe that children don’t sing our hymns anymore, that fathers don’t want to sing to their little ones at all, that communal singing has died, merely due to the technological revolution or some theologically neutral winds of change?

No, what has come upon us is much more scary. It is frightening and should wake me out of my depression and my feeling sorry for myself that the Lutheran hymn is slowly dying among the churches of the Reformation.

The cloud of the Gospel suddenly burst upon Germany in the 16^th Century when God called a young man named Martin Luther to lead His Church out of the tyranny of sin. The apostle John saw him over 1400 years earlier as the angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, saying with a loud voice – singing, might I suggest – fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.

And worship Him they did as the gracious showers of the Gospel fell freely from Heaven. By Adam’s Fall is all forlorn. Salvation unto us has come, by God’s free grace and favor. Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice. The Only Son from Heaven. And it kept raining for over 200 years. By Grace I’m saved, Grace Free and Boundless. Now I Have Found the Firm Foundation. I know My Faith is Founded. Like the Golden Sun Ascending. A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth. O Jesus Christ, Most Beauteous Light. God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It. If Thy Beloved Son, O God and I have only slightly scratched the surface.

It was when the doctrine of justification was most clearly taught that music was honored the most. When poor sinners were most clearly given the comfort that Christ died to give them, with all human dross and works purged from our doctrine, when God was most glorified, because no hymnist or prophet or preacher can ever improve on the song the angels sang to the Shepherds that holy night,

Glory be to God on High, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

What gives God glory gives us peace. This is our common Lutheran Confession. This is what all our pastors subscribe to, that the highest worship of God is that we should seek forgiveness of sins in Christ and in none other. And if this doctrine is lacking, then our songs become as old as the Adam living inside of us. Why would we have a reason to sing a new song when we are weeping by the rivers of Babylon, far away from Zion, the Church, which has as her chief cornerstone, Christ Jesus, who came into this world to save sinners?

Is the raincloud of the Gospel leaving us? The reason the children of the Lutheran Church are longing for the worship of heterodox churches is because we have failed to defend the doctrine of justification with all our hearts. We have let our own hearts take it for granted. And what can God send to such a despising on our parts except a famine of the Word of God and the singing that goes along with it? Or have we forgotten that God will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain? Have we forgotten how sinful we are, how weak we are, how faith isn’t hereditary, but the sin that makes us forget God is, and it clings to us, to our consciences, to our hearts, and it either hardens them or makes them sink in despair?

But that is why we sing here tonight. Because God has not forgotten to be gracious. He will not always chide. He is slow to anger and abounding in mercy. While the world sings her songs of transitory love, we sing of the God who is eternally love and showed us this by giving to us His only Son, who took upon Himself our sin and Himself sang upon the cross that it is finished, however often we have fallen, no matter how deeply we have fallen, despite the snares into which we have fallen, this truth remains and stands unshaken that God is reconciled to us by the death of His Son. And no matter what accusations our conscience hears, our righteousness is outside of us, earned by Jesus Christ, true God and man, perfect in His innocence, and so by the decree of the Almighty God we are innocent apart from all that we have done, praise God!, apart from both our sins and good works, we stand securely solely on the work of Christ who died once for sin and rose to give us life forever.

And so our sins cannot stop us from singing. God has done marvelous things. The stone which the works-righteous rejected is the chief cornerstone,

Christ alone is our salvation,

Christ the rock on which we stand;

Other than this sure foundation

Will be found but sinking sand.

Christ, His cross and resurrection

Is alone the sinner’s plea;

At the throne of God’s perfection

Nothing else can set him free.

And we are free. And that is why we do not shove Lutheran hymns down people’s throats. As much as prudence allows us, we tolerate that common misguided love of the songs of sectarians, not with a patronizing air of condescension, but with true and genuine love for our brothers and sisters, and we patiently, with all humility and confidence, cling with all our hearts to the one thing needful, which cannot be taken away from us. Let us ourselves delve into these hymns as treasures greater than our cars, our houses, our pensions, every material good we have – because it is time to sing the new song. The Old Adam is drowned in my baptism and I am in the ark of the Church, justified by Jesus’ blood. Hallelujah! Amen.

My Students are AWEsome!

2011-01-28T11:17:00.003-06:00

I teach a class at our High School called "Omnibus," a conglomeration of History, Theology and Literature. Today we worked on putting my literal translation of the last and missing stanza of "Seek Where You May" (LSB 557) into verse. I am very proud of their work and it was a joy to see them looking for rhymes and discussing theology for the 45 minutes it took.

It is a bummer that this hymn, which deals with the Biblical doctrine of sanctification should be so easily overlooked when its connection with the article of justification is so sadly misunderstood by most protestant churches.
Here's the verse:

Don’t hide your face,

But grant me grace;

Give faith to bear my crosses.

Let no despair

Afflict me here,

Give comfort in my losses.

Help me to gain

Joy after pain;

At my last breath

Lead me through death

To praise Your name forever.

P.S.

This version is a harder tune , but wonderful!

For a Friend

2011-01-14T22:13:00.005-06:00

This hymn was composed at the prompting of a friend who has just lost his mother. What a wonderful privilege to know those who take refuge in Him who alone gives us life.

Our tears are shed but they can’t fall in vain;

This Christian body soon shall rise again.

For where the curse sheds blood from Jesus’ cross,

There gain is had in every mortal loss.

There Satan has become God’s grandest fool,

As death is made into Christ’s choicest tool;

As sooted coal the clearest gem will give,

So through the grave God’s holy ones will live.

Men look with mortal eyes and fail to see.

Faith sees what Jesus Christ has promised me -

The sting of death has now no pow’r to slay,

Since Christ has taken all my sins away.

And still He hides His power and His grace

And only shows to broken hearts His face;

The proud will fall, but look, my weeping heart,

Your Savior comes His blessings to impart.

This body without breath will breathe again,

And shine with glory, without spot or stain,

As will mine too, when Christ will soon return

And bring us to the Place for which we yearn.

And let the world despair, this hope I have,

That though my body rots within a grave,

I shall not die, nor face the judgment’s strife;

For I have passed through death and into life.

All praise to Christ, who gives such certainty

By baptizing and daily feeding me

With all His sweetest promises of love,

Still beckoning my mind to things above.

There I am seated now with Christ my Lord,

With all who heard and kept His holy Word,

A mystical communion with the Son,

With Father and with Spirit, Three in One.

For Ms. Cox

2011-01-11T21:41:00.001-06:00

This hymn is for a Christian suffering in pain for a long time.

Tune: Don't Despair (sung a little faster)

Lord God, our Father, hear me pray,

Take all my doubts and fears away,

And give this Christian patience,

The pain and suff'ring are too much,

I hardly feel Your Spirit's touch,

Come here and heal my conscience.

"Dear child, I can't abandon you;

Though pains are long and joys are few,

I will remain your Keeper.

Don't envy what some call success,

The temporary happiness

That fades like smoke and vapor."

But I am fading fast, O God!

Why punish me with such a rod,

Why let such suffering hurt me?

If You are good, then show me now!

Teach me the way that I should go,

Don't leave me, don't desert me.

"Dear child, I can't abandon you,

Each morning are my mercies new,

You know I can't ignore you.

Return again now to that tide

That flowed from Christ, your Brother's side,

When He was punished for you."

But how does this remove my pain?

Each day I face this grief again,

The darkness of my nature.

I know my sins are great, but see,

My body is in misery,

Don't leave Your ransomed creature.

"Dear child, I can't abandon you,

And what is left for you to do,

But trust in Christ, your Savior?

Life is not made of earthly stuff,

You have my grace - that is enough,

And you will live forever."

Then stop this doubt and false belief!

Lord, give me peace, give me relief!

My joys have all been taken.

Has God forgotten to be kind?

Could He who made the eye be blind?

Or could I be forsaken?

"Dear child, I can't abandon you,

Look to the cross and see what's true -

See Jesus in His bleeding.

There I put on Him all my wrath,

There is your life, there place your faith,

Where Christ for you is pleading."

Amen, dear Father, I will stay

Where Jesus washed my sins away

And overcame the devil.

By His sweet blood my life shall bloom

Beyond this earth in Heaven's home,

Delivered from all evil.

10.

"Dear child,soon you will see Me too,

But meanwhile I will work in you

In pain and in your sorrow.

If you have what your Savior gives,

Then you are blest - your spirit lives

And boldly meets tomorrow."

I Just Can't Stop Writing Baptism Hymns

2011-01-11T06:47:00.000-06:00

Last night we discussed "Renewal" in Baptism.

This morning this hymn came out. It is for my wife.

I am baptized! It is certain,

I am still a child of God,

Let the devil’s army threaten,

I am washed in Jesus’ blood.

In this water is the Word

Of the only God and Lord,

Which assures my heart and conscience

To believe with perseverance.

For this Word will not deceive me

Though I could deceive my soul,

And this promise will not leave me

When I fall to sin’s control;

Still God calls me back from sin

And still beckons me again,

Come and bring your guilty burden

To the One who won your pardon.

Yes, O Father, I believe it,

Though my flesh still doubts its worth,

Still in faith I will receive it,

You have worked a second birth,

I am living by Your grace,

And will one day see Your face,

Clothed in garments of salvation,

Pure in Jesus’ resurrection.

Lord, give me each day your Spirit

Through this certain seal of grace,

Building on my Savior’s merit,

Nor let me to pride give place,

But cast off the old man’s lies,

And each day anew arise;

After sorrow and contrition,

Give me joy and meek submission.

In my flesh no good is dwelling

Which can please You, O my God,

But this water’s Word is telling

Of my Savior’s precious blood,

Which now purifies my mind,

So that now Your child can find

Faith to cry out, “Abba, Father,”

When the storms of life will gather.

Let me love as You still love me,

Let me give as You have giv’n;

If the world to sorrow move me,

Put my heart and thoughts in Heav’n,

Where Your Son forever pleads

For my soul and all my needs,

Where I too will stand before You

And will bless You and adore You.

Another Baptism Hymn: For my Mom

2011-01-07T16:48:00.006-06:00

I'm dedicating this hymn to my mother, who at every major time in my life told me, "Remember your baptism." What a wonderful mom.

The tune is Werde Munter, or "Like the Golden Sun Ascending."

All you Christians come and gather,

Lift Your voices up to sing,

Praise the everlasting Father,

Praise His only Son, our King,

Praise the Holy Spirit, Lord,

Praise your Life and faith’s Reward,

Who in pure baptismal waters

Calls you all His sons and daughters.

Though the devil still may threaten,

With enticements and my sin,

And though worldly pow’r may frighten,

And my flesh may fall again,

Though I wander from the faith,

And deserve but shame and death,

Though the worst of sins could happen,

Still the gates of Heaven are open,

For the sky was ripped asunder

And the Father spoke with pow’r,

And His Son was standing under

In that bright baptismal hour

And the Spirit came a Dove,

And the Triune God is love,

Showing by these signs so clearly

That He calls and loves us dearly.

Leonardo da Vinci: The Baptism of Jesus

No mere water He has given

By which sinners are restored.

This is water come from Heaven,

Joined to His command and Word,

Joined to Him who took our shame

And has given us His Name,

And has named us all His children

And still daily gives us pardon.

Now let Satan cease to bother

This poor sinner in my need;

Let him argue with my Brother,

Who for sinners dares to plead.

He has suffered all the wrath,

He has worked within me faith,

He has washed me with His Spirit

And His blood and precious merit.

God, let no false thoughts deceive me,

No fanatics rob from me

What in love You want to give me

For my faith and certainty.

Though still thousands fall away,

By this water I will stay

Which from You is always flowing

With the peace that passes knowing.

Soon we’ll sing the song of Moses

With the harps of God in hand,

And will chant what he composes

In the final promised Land;

And beside the glassy sea

We will shout the victory

To the Triune God Almighty,

Singing Holy, Holy, Holy!

Scriptural Basis: Jeremiah 17:3; Zechariah 14:8; Matthew 3:13-17; 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 7:38; Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 5:26; 1 John 2:1; 5:6-7; Revelation 4:6-8; 15:2-4

map ~ Day after Epiphany, 2011

The Only Son from Heaven

2011-01-05T19:53:00.000-06:00

Not being especially fond of the translation of the 3rd verse of The Only Son from Heaven, I retranslated it and also offer here some untranslated verses. I wish that Hymnoglypt had a search bar on it so I can check and see if Mr. Carver has already translated it. You can find it the German and the literal English here.

3.
And in Your grace increasing,
And in Your knowledge pure,
Keep us in faith unceasing
To serve in Spirit more,
That we may taste forever
The sweetness of Your favor
And always thirst for You.

4. You made all things, O Savior,
O Light of Father's Light.
Your reign will be forever,
You rule by Your own might.
Turn now our hearts to fear You,
And make our minds draw near You
So we don't stray from You.

5. And put to death whatever
Opposes love and You.
Awake us by Your favor,
Grant us the will to do
What God the Father pleases -
Keep our desires, O Jesus
And hearts in You secure.

Full Translation: O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is

2010-12-29T18:20:00.003-06:00

I would type out all the German, but I need to get home to my wife, who loves me.

I'm so happy to have this half-way decent poetic translation of my favorite Christmas hymn! Please give me comments where I can improve! The verses in bold are those I translated today.

1. O Jesus Christ,

Thy manger is

My paradise at which my soul reclineth.

For there, O Lord,

Doth lie the Word

Made flesh for us; herein Thy grace forth shineth.

2. He whom the sea

And wind obey

Doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness.

Thou, God's own Son,

With us art one,

Dost join us and our children in our weekness.

3. Thou, highest Good,

Dost lift our blood

Up to the throne of God, Thy Heav’nly Father.

Thou, Lord, with us

(Who are as grass)

Art both the Pow’r of God and our own Brother.

4. How now can he,

Our enemy,

Oppose us with his sin and pois’nous burden?

He works with fear

To keep us there

Where Adam and ourselves with him have fallen.

5. Silence now, Foe!

Does he not know

My Friend, my Flesh and Blood in Heav’n is seated?

What once fell down

Is by the Crown

From Jacob’s root to glory elevated!

6. Thy light and grace

Our guilt efface,

Thy heavenly riches all our loss retrieving.

Immanuel,

Thy birth doth quell

The power of hell and Satan's bold deceiving.

7. Thou, Christian heart,

Whoe'er thou art,

Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!

For God's own Child,

In mercy mild,

Joins thee to Him – how greatly God must love thee!

8. Remember thou

What glory now

The Lord prepared thee for all earthly sadness.

The angel host

Can never boast

Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.

9. There dost thou see

In front of thee

Thy Flesh and Blood which steer the clouds of Heaven?

What good could be

(I ask of thee)

To be so sad, by fear and sorrow driven?

10. Thy mind so weak

Will often seek

No comfort in the midst of sin and danger.

Turn now thine eyes

Down from the skies

And find thy comfort in a lowly manger.

11. Art thou in fear?

Do not despair!

Thy Brother won’t ignore thy grief and sighing.

His heart is meak

And loves the weak,

Nor can He see our suff’ring without crying.

12. Come to Him fast!

Seek help and rest!

Thou soon wilt thank Him for His peace and patience.

He knows full well

The pangs of hell,

And understands the sick and sinner’s conscience.

13. For this indeed

Did He once bleed

And bear the cross’s fury in His body,

So that His pain

Might still remain

Of all our misery a constant mem’ry.

14. To say no more,

He is the Door

To all the joys true life could ever offer.

He soon will send

A blessed end

To all that faithful Christians here must suffer.

15. The world may hold

Her wealth and gold;

But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.

To Him hold fast

Until at last

A crown be thine and honor in full measure.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T23:21:00.000-06:00

Come, Christians bring

To Christ our King

Your praises and your songs of adoration.

Here is our God

In flesh and blood,

The Virgin's offspring born for our salvation.

The Father's Son

Calls us His own;

He joins His Godhead to our human nature;

See all our loss

Restored to us

As our Creator now becomes a creature.

Here faith can see

Divinity

Bound to our flesh and blood with all our weakness.

Here sinners find

A Savior kind,

Who bears our sin and carries all our sickness;

Here Jesse's stem

Brings hope to them

Who long have sat in darkness and in danger.

Here David's Seed

Has filled our need:

Emmanuel has turned aside God's anger.

He comes to bless

With righteousness

The heart that hungers for Another's merit.

Sin can't erase

His truth and grace,

His voice still calls the poor and broken spirit.

This Christmastide,

Cast fear aside

And hear the angels sing about your Savior:

"Glory to God,

The Highest Good,

Today the sinner finds his Maker's favor."

O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is

2010-12-21T15:34:00.002-06:00

An excellent example of musical imitation is Kenneth T. Kosche's In Paradisum, his 1996 tune for O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is. It is very similar in mood and tone to Cruegers original masterpiece, O Jesu Christ, Dein Kripplein Ist, composed for the hymn of the same name by Paul Gerhardt.

At our Church on Christmas Eve we will be singing the Crueger tune for a few reasons. 1) I don't want it to be lost. 2) It shows how a tune can match the theological content of a hymn.

Crueger's O Jesu Christ rises up to a climax and then comes down to us at the end. This is because the hymn is about God becoming a man among other salutary topics. Gerhardt's words are clearly an attack on the Calvinist denial of the genus maiestaticum, i.e. the communication of divine attributes to the human nature in the personal union. In laymen's terms, God becoming a man doesn't prevent his human nature from participating in divine things,

(Solid Declaration VIII)For to quicken, to have all judgment and all power in heaven and on earth, to have all things in His hands, to have all things in subjection beneath His feet, to cleanse from sin, etc., are not created gifts, but divine, infinite properties; and yet, according to the declaration of Scripture, these have been given and communicated to the man Christ, John 5:27; 6:39; Matt. 28:18; Dan. 7:14; John 3:35; 13:3; Matt. 11:27; Eph. 1:22;Heb. 2:8; 1 Cor. 15:27; John 1:3.

While Christ's divine nature doesn't change in the incarnation, and the human nature keeps all of its qualities, yet this doesn't mean that each nature acts separately, since this would deny the personal union. Christ is one person, "not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person." (Athanasian Creed). He becomes a man ultimately to bring man to God. It is as another Lutheran hymnist, Nicholas Herman composed,

Er wechselt mit uns wunderlich,

Fleisch und Blut nimmt er an,

Und gibt uns in seins Vaters Reich

Die klare Gottheit dran,

Die klare Gottheit dran.

He makes a miraculous exchange with us,

Takes on flesh and blood

And gives us in His Father's kingdom

The glorious divinity.

He undertakes a great exchange,

Puts on our human frame,

And in return gives us His realm,

His glory and His name. (LSB 389)

For further discussion about this "exchange," cf. the sainted Kurt Marquart's Luther and Theosis, CTQ: 64:3.

Herman's hymn, written before the Formula of Concord, expresses what the Formula teaches about the incarnation of our Lord.

And Lutherans continue to teach this in their hymns over a century later! Below I have pasted a literal translation of Paul Gerhardt's O Jesu Christ, Dein Kripplein Ist for your consideration with all its verses. I'm sad that I cannot offer at this time a poetic translation. James Kelly has a very archaic one or Matthew Carver may have one he can offer to us.

In the meantime, I hope that you see how the doctrine that Lutheran pastors subscribe to in our Lutheran Confessions is not some boring and useless dogma to be left on the shelf to gather dust, but is part and parcel to our preaching and faith, yes, to the spiritual care that we give our parishioners. And we see this in Gerhardt. He takes the doctrine from the first half of the hymn and applies it to the wounds of poor sinners. God grant every pastor to do this. Doctrine is comfort is life. Merry Christmas.

Sincerely yours,

Pr. Mark Amberg Preus

LC-MS hymnals have only had 6 verses of this hymn in the English. You can compare on your own if you desire.

O Jesu Christ, dein Kripplein

1.) O Jesu Christ,

Dein Kripplein ist

Mein Paradies, da meine Seele weidet.

Hier ist der Ort,

Hier liegt das Wort,

Mit unserm Fleisch persönlich angekleidet.

O Jesus Christ,

Your manger is

My paradise where my soul feeds,

Here is the place,

Here lies the Word

Clothed personally with our flesh

(i.e. personal union - this isn't captured in our translations)

2.) Dem Meer und Wind

Gehorsam sind,

Gibt sich zum Dienst und wird ein Knecht der Sünder.

Du, Gottes Sohn,

Wirst Erd und Ton,

Gering und schwach wie wir und unsre Kinder.

He to whom the sea the wind

Are obedient

Offers himself to serve and becomes a slave of sinners.

You, God’s Son

Become earth and dust,

Small and weak like us and our children.

(Here we have the humiliation of Christ)

3.) Du, höchstes Gut,

Hebst unser Blut

In deinen Thron hoch über alle Höhen.

Du, ewge Kraft,

Machst Brüderschaft

Mit uns, die wie ein Dampf und Rauch vergehen.

You, highest Good,

Lift up our blood

To Your throne high over all heights.

You, eternal power,

establish brotherhood

with us, who like a mist and smoke pass away.

(The communication of attributes was true already before the birth of Jesus.

In the following verses we see the great comfort that this brings to us!)

4.) Was will uns nun

Zuwider tun

Der Seelenfeind mit allem Gift und Gallen?

Was wirft er mir

Und andern für,

Dass Adam ist, und wir mit ihm, gefallen?

What now does the enemy

Of our souls want to do

Against us with all his poison and bile?

Why does he

Accuse me and others,

That Adam, and we with him, have fallen?

5.) Schweig arger Feind!

Da sitzt mein Freund,

Mein Fleisch und Blut, hoch in dem Himmel droben.

Was du gefällt,

Das hat der Held

Aus Jakobs Stamm zu großer Ehr erhoben.

Be quiet, evil Foe!

There sits my Friend,

My flesh and blood, high above in Heaven.

That which you made fall

The Hero

From Jacob's root lifted up to great glory.

6.) Sein Licht und Heil

Macht alles heil.

Der Himmelsschatz bringt allen Schaden wieder.

Der Freudenquell

Immanuel

Schlägt Teufel, Höll und all ihr Reich darnieder.

His light and salvation

Makes everything well.

The treasure of Heaven restores every loss.

The source of joy

Immanuel

Beats down devil. hell and all their kingdom.

7.) Drum frommer Christ,

Wer du auch bist,

Sei gutes Muts und lass dich nicht betrüben.

Weil Gottes Kind

Dich ihm verbindt,

So kanns nicht anders sein, Gott muss dich lieben.

Therefore, faithful Christian,

Whoever you are,

Be of good cheer and don’t let anything bother you.

Because God’s child

Binds you to him,

So it can’t mean anything else: God must love you.

8.) Gedenke doch,

Wie herrlich hoch

Er über alle Jammer dich geführet!

Der Engel Heer

Ist selbst nicht mehr

Als eben du mit Seligkeit gezieret.

And ponder still,

How gloriously high

He leads you above all sorrow.

The angel host itself

Is not more adorned

with blessedness than you.

9.) Du siehest ja

Vor Augen da

Dein Fleisch und Blut die Luft und Wolken lenken.

Was will doch sich

(Ich frage dich)

Erheben, dich in Angst und Furcht zu senken?

You see well

In front of your eyes there

Your flesh and blood which direct the air and clouds.

What can it help,

I ask you

To be depressed in fear and terror?

10.) Dein blöder Sinn

Geht oft dahin,

Ruft Ach! und Weh!, lässt allen Trost verschwinden.

Komm her und richt

Dein Angesicht

Zum Kripplein Christi, da, da wirst du es finden.

Your weak mind

Goes often inside,

Cries out Ah! and Alas!, lets all comfort disappear.

Come here and direct

Your face

To the manger of Christ, there, there you will find it.

11.) Wirst du geplagt?

Sei, unverzagt!

Dein Bruder wird dein Unglück nicht verschmähen.

Sein Herz ist weich

Und gnadenreich,

Kann unser Leid nicht ohne Tränen sehen.

Are you worried?

Don’t despair!

Your Brother won’t ignore your unhappiness.

His heart is gentle

And rich in grace,

And can’t look at our hurt without tears.

12. Tritt zu ihm zu!

Such Hilf und Ruh!

Er wirds so machen, dass du ihm wirst danken.

Er weiß und kennt

Was beißt und brennt,

Versteht wohl, wie zu Mute sei dem Kranken.

Come to him!

Seek help and peace!

He will make it so that you will thank Him.

He knows very much

What bites and burns,

Understands well the emotions of the sick.

13.) Denn eben drum

Hat er den Grimm

Des Kreuzes auch am Leibe wollen tragen,

Dass seine Pein

Ihm möge sein

Ein unverrückt Erinnrung unsrer Plagen.

Indeed for this very reason

He wanted to bear the fury

Of the cross in his own body,

So that his anguish

Might remain for Him

A clear reminder of our afflictions.

(Could he speak of the incarnation without mention of the cross?)

14.) Mit einem Wort:

Er ist die Pfort

Zu dieses und des andern Lebens Freuden.

Er macht behend

Ein seligs End

An alle dem, was fromme Christen leiden.

In a word

He is the door

To the joys of this and the other life.

He quickly makes

A blessed end

Of everything which pious Christians suffer.

15.) Lass aller Welt

Ihr Gut und Geld

Und siehe nur, dass dieser Schatz dir bleibe!

Wer den hier fest

Hält und nicht lässt,

Den ehrt und krönt er dort an Seel und Leibe.

Leave to all the world

Her goods and money

And see to it only that this treasure remains yours!

Who holds fast here

And doesn’t let go

Him He honors and crowns there in soul and body.

Advent IV: Philippians 4:4-7

2010-12-16T18:06:00.001-06:00

Thank God for Martin Luther. But I won't praise his person, I'll praise God who gave him to His Church. Such powerful sermons that rip my heart out of despondency and into the joy that God wants me to have at all times. God grant us this joy in the midst of this vale of tears.

Iambic Pentameter is hard to make perky and joyous, but Farley Castle (a tune in my head these days) works alright.

Rejoice in Him who knows and fills your needs,

Rejoice in Him whose stripes have healed your soul,

Rejoice in Him who still for sinners pleads,

Whose blood has washed and cleansed and made you whole.

Now let your gentleness be known to all,

The Lord is near who brings your faith’s reward;

In everything with thanks and patience call

On Him who answers clearly in His Word.

And do not worry, what do heathen have

That will not perish with their thoughts and pride?

And who can save his flesh from dust and grave?

And none enjoys his wealth when he has died.

Will not the God of everything prevail,

Or is there something He cannot acquire?

Can He who owns creation ever fail

To answer you with more than you desire?

And what of others failing to be kind?

Look past it, since it doesn’t hurt your faith.

So you, O child of God, will keep the mind

That once was in our Savior unto death.

And in this life of pardon there is peace

Beyond what men or angels comprehend,

That still will keep our hearts and minds at ease

Safe in the wounds of Christ until our end.

Psalm 143

2010-12-14T17:29:00.000-06:00

I guess I'm just brain-dead today. I've been trying to write a sermon, but I don't know where to begin and everything I read is getting jumbled together. So I wrote a hymn for my Lord Jesus on the basis of Psalm 143. Whenever I write, I write against the lies of my flesh, that tell me that I belong to the devil. What a wicked lie! - and how wicked that our sinful nature actually believes this cruel master. But who can argue against Jesus' own words, "Whoever sins is a slave to sin...?"

The devil is the enemy of Psalm 143. He has persecuted my soul. He has made me to be like those who are long dead. He fills me with sin and death and decay. What Christian does not feel this revulsion with his old Adam? Death is no glorious business. It is dirty and impure and slaying the Old Adam is disgusting business. Thank God we have our baptism to wash away all the filthy lies, all the foul sins and the stench of shame that comes with that life of daily repentance our flesh daily wants to escape. Only the blood of Jesus "can give the guilty conscience peace and wash away the stain."

In this battle of the spirit and the flesh there arises a heightened sense of the impending judgment of God, who is holy and righteous and clean. If He enters into judgment with us we will be found guilty with our enemy who persecutes us. We will be left with the rot of those who have been long dead, as the Psalmist so violently portrays it.

But this is real. The holly jolly Christmas isn't. This battle is. I'm waiting for the real Christmas - to celebrate my God becoming a man, where He takes on our mortal flesh and blood - and His is pure, His is clean and with His flesh He overcomes the devil, and the Father puts all judgment into His hand. It is His verdict of the forgiveness of all my sins that my Judge, my Lord Jesus brings to me today. This is the only remedy I have when I look inside me and see how far from God my heart has strayed. Only the sentence of "Not Guilty!" can call me away from this terrifying introspection and make me see our Father to be the God of love that the Son has revealed Him to be for us. Then I am His and not my own.

As John Franck put it,

Then on Him I cast my burden,
Cast it in the depths below;
Let me know Thy gracious pardon,
Wash me, make me white as snow.
Let Thy Spirit leave me never;
Keep me only Thine forever.

And here I offer my weak sacrifice of praise to such a gracious God who has made me clean in His sight - and His is the only opinion - the only judgment - that matters.

Tune: Aus Tiefer Not II a little faster...

Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner’s friend,

Save me from my transgression;

Don’t leave me to a bitter end,

Come to me with compassion.

If you would judge me for my sin,

Then I could never enter in

The holy gates of Heaven.

The devil has pursued my soul,

With sinful thoughts and pleasures;

He pulls me into his control

With worthless words and treasures.

Unless You come I know I must

Return to bondage and to dust

With all of Adam’s children.

I think back to the days of old,

Your wondrous incarnation

(Which faithful prophets had foretold)

For us and our salvation.

Is this salvation far from me?

Come answer me, Christ, speedily,

Don’t leave me poor and thirsty.

What You accomplished on the cross,

Now give me with Your Spirit.

All my goods works I count as loss

If I may but inherit

The pure and precious blood You spilt

For full forgiveness of my guilt -

Now let me, Lord, believe it!

Cause me to walk the narrow way –

You are my safest shelter.

And keep me pure for Judgment day,

Nor let this Christian falter.

Since you, Lord Jesus, are my God,

Since all your promises are good,

Preserve me with Your Spirit.

Revive me with Your water’s Word

Deliver me from evil,

In mercy keep me, gracious Lord,

And crush my foe, the devil.

I am Your servant now by faith,

Now let nor sin nor hell nor death

Keep me from You, my Savior.

For University Lutheran Chapel

2010-12-09T16:21:00.002-06:00

When I attended the University of Minnesota I also attended University Lutheran Chapel. My fondest memories of Minneapolis are in discussing theology with Pr. Kind and my fellow members and students at ULC. They not only supported my faith while I attended with the Gospel and Sacraments, but also my seminary education with their gifts of money. It was while I was attending ULC that I first began to write hymns and I got a lot of encouragement at the chapel.

For my ordination I just received my first chasuble, just in time for Christmas. I am very moved by their kindness to me, as well as their tenacious defense of the Gospel and Lutheran doctrine. It is an inspiration and a great encouragement. I wrote this hymn specifically for them in humble gratitude for their prayers and faith, which certainly works by love.

The tune is Farley Castle.

Baptized into the death of Christ my Lord,

He washed me with the water and the Word,

Now I am clean from sin and guilt and blame

Now all that Christ has done as mine I claim.

Here in this water is the Spirit’s pow’r,

Here I find free forgiveness every hour,

Here God Himself has put His holy name,

Here I can call Him Father without shame.

Let reason search this water - though it try,

It only sees what meets the mortal eye,

But faith hears Satan silenced in the flood,

And finds the grace that Noah found with God.

Here I put on a pure baptismal gown,

Here Israel lives and Pharaoh’s heart must drown;

This river’s streams make glad the hearts of them

Who drink it in the New Jerusalem.

Lord, do not let Old Adam rise again,

Nor let his love for sinning ever win,

But drown him daily in this cleansing bath,

That gives new life in Christ and seals my faith.

So in this solemn, holy sacrament

I find God’s promise and His covenant,

Which will preserve me, steadfast in the faith

Until Christ comes and raises me from death!

Then all the baptized host their song will raise,

Apostles, prophets, martyrs join to praise:

To You, O Father, Son and Spirit, be

All glory now and in eternity!

map populus zion 2010

Advent 2 Hymn of the Week

2010-12-04T15:38:00.000-06:00

Dear Sean, Matt Carver et al.,

Shouldn't "The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us" be the hymn of the week for Advent 2?

I have here my translation/edition from two years back with an additional doxological stanza. Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

1) The Bridegroom soon will call us,

"Come all, you wedding guests!"

May not His voice appall us,

While slumber binds our breasts.

Now in our hands we carry

The lamps and oil and light,

And patiently we tarry

To stand before His sight.

2) Away with every sadness,

When we see Christ, our God,

Who opened Heaven's gladness

Through suffering and His blood!

The patriarchs will meet us,

The prophets' hold band,

Apostles, martyrs greet us

In that celestial land.

3) They will not blush to own us

As brothers, sisters dear;

Love always will be shown us

When we with them appear.

We all will come before Him

To share Christ's every good,

As very God adore Him,

Who shares our flesh and blood.

4) Our God will then receive us,

And give us each to own,

What earth could never give us,

The victor's golden crown,

And then He will embrace us

With love all Fatherly,

On soul and body grace us

With beauty full and free.

5. In yonder home shall never

Be silent music's voice;

With hearts and lips forever

We shall in God rejoice.

The angels will be singing

All saints will join them too,

Eternal praises bringing,

As it is right to do!

6) To Paradise He leads us,

The wedding feast to make,

And with His Word He feeds us

For His own glory's sake.

Then joy beyond our knowing

Shall spring from love found true,

From God's own fountain flowing

His mercies ever new.

7. So God shall from all evil

Forever make us free,

From sin and from the devil,

From all adversity,

From sickness, pain and crying,

From gloom, regret and fears,

From sorrow and from sighing,

And wipe away our tears.

8) All glory to the Father,

Whose holy name we bear,

And to His Son, our Brother,

Whose day is drawing near,

When by His Holy Spirit,

(To whom all glory be),

He'll raise us to inherit

His Heaven full and free. Amen.