A Hymn Of Glory Let Us Sing

Listen to hymn at: http://lutherantacoma.com/hymns/493.mp3
Hymn Text: Luke 6:12 ff.

Author: Christopher Wordsworth, 1862, cento, alt.

Composer: Dimitri S. Bortniansky, 1822, ad.

Tune: “St. Petersburg”

Public ministers of God’s Word are faced with a challenging task. They bring that Word to bear in a world that increasingly resents it. They must deal with many different people, many different personalities, and many different problems which Satan throws in their way. Without the hand of God at work in their ministries, they would fail in a moment. It is fitting then to pray for all those whose task it is to administer Law and Gospel; including pastors, teachers, missionaries, evangelists, and more. But what do we pray?

The hymn Thou Who the Night in Prayer Didst Spend (TLH 493) begins by reminding us that our Savior Himself prayed all night long before He chose the apostles who would carry His ministry into the world (Luke 6:12). Before any endeavor involving the work of the kingdom, it is good to call upon God (Luke 11:2). Since the ministry of the Gospel is a ministry carried out by human messengers, we pray as Christ did, asking that the necessary workers be sent out (Matthew 9:38). Thou who the night in prayer didst spend / And then didst Thine apostles send / And bidd’st us pray the harvest’s Lord / To send forth sowers of Thy Word.Read More »Hymn 493 “Thou Who the Night in Prayer Didst Spend”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (NINETEENTH IN A SERIES)

Think a moment about your daily prayers. To whom do you pray?

The obvious answer would be, “I pray to God, of course.” But press the question a bit further, and you might respond, “I pray to the one true God; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Don’t stop there. Keep riding that train of thought.

In my own case, I often pause before I start praying, and meditate a moment on the astonishing thing that is about to happen: I, a sinful speck of flesh and blood, am about to actually speak to the creator of the universe; the eternal, almighty, holy God; the “I Am” of the Old Testament—and He will be attentive to what I say. Amazing truth! This “meditative pause before prayer” puts me in a right frame of mind. It reminds me of the solemnity of prayer and of the astounding privilege which we—solely for Jesus’ sake—have in being able to directly address God.

Usually, at least in my prayers, my “default” perceptual framework is that I am speaking to God the Father. Somewhat less often, I consciously address my prayers to God the Son—Jesus Christ. Seldom, however, do I address my prayers specifically to God the Holy Spirit. Ironic, isn’t it? It is, after all, God the Holy Spirit Who created saving faith in me in the first place. It is God the Holy Spirit Who day by day sustains that faith, also through the Means of Grace. It is the Holy Spirit Who empowers me to use my gifts in a God-pleasing manner. It is even the Holy Spirit Who helps me to pray. Of the three Persons of the Triune God, it is the Holy Spirit Whom the Bible most directly connects with my day-to-day life as a Christian; and ironically, it is the Holy Spirit about Whom I think least often when my thoughts are upon God.Read More »Hymn 226 “Come, Oh Come, Thou Quickening Spirit”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (EIGHTEENTH IN A SERIES) This hymn is a metrical translation of the 23rd Psalm—a psalm of comfort. Most… Read More »Hymn 436 “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (SEVENTEENTH IN A SERIES)

Death seems final to us. Leaving the room where a loved one has just drawn that last breath, we don’t expect to turn around and meet him for lunch the next day. Our general experience is that the dead stay dead.

Yet it has happened in history, more than once, that the dead have come back to life. Lazarus (John 11:43-44) and the multitudes who came forth from Jerusalem’s tombs (Matthew 27:51-53) to name some. It is foolish to contend, as some have done and others still do, that there is no possibility of resurrection from the dead.

Our great God and Savior Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, was dead but now is living. It is His real, physical resurrection that we celebrate each spring in the processional hymn by George Woodward (1848-1934): This joyful Eastertide Away with sin and sorrow! / My love, the Crucified, Has sprung to life this morrow. So death’s finality has been proved false yet again (Matthew 28:5-6).

Read More »“This Joyful Eastertide” WS 733, LSB 482

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (SIXTEENTH IN A SERIES) I recently saw a social media post in which a Christian from a Reformed… Read More »Hymn 140 “Jesus, I Will Ponder Now”

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (FIFTEENTH IN A SERIES)

Sometimes it helps to see a sequence of letters in print to understand what is being said. Consider a-p-a-r-t. When those letters are placed next to each other it means, ironically, that items are separated. They are “apart.” When the first two letters are separated, however, it conveys that items are connected. They are “a part.”

Which of those options applies to our relationship with the people of God?

As a group, we Gentiles—those who cannot trace blood lines back to Abraham—were separate from the covenant people of Old Testament times. Gentiles were apart from God’s chosen people of Israel, apart from those to whom the prophets were sent and the promises given.Read More »Hymn 129 Once Far Off But Now Invited

A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING (FOURTEENTH IN A SERIES)

It may be a new year, but do you get the feeling that you’ve done it all before? Just like last year, you’ve watched the thirty-first of December fade out of sight and the first of January come into focus. Unless the Lord returns first, you’ll likely do the same again next year and the year after that.

In music, when certain lines repeat over and over again, it is called a refrain. Thus as the beginning of our year repeats, the words of Christian Keimann’s hymn also repeat through four stanzas: “Joy O joy, beyond all gladness, Christ hath done away with sadness!  Hence, all sorrow and repining, For the Sun of Grace is shining!”Read More »Hymn 96 “Oh, Rejoice, Ye Christians, Loudly”

If William Walsham How, the author of this hymn, saw it in The Lutheran Hymnal, I think he might not entirely approve. The words in our hymnal are his, but the order is not; and three of the original stanzas have been left out.

In this long hymn, How develops the theme of the Church Militant¹ looking to the Church Triumphant² as an example and encouragement to us in our daily battles, finally culminating in the glorious return of Christ on Judgment Day. That’s a multi-part theme, which How developed in a logical and chronologically progressive manner. Unfortunately, that careful development has been somewhat weakened in our version due to the omission of three verses and a change in the placement of one verse.Read More »Hymn 463 “For All the Saints, Who from Their Labors Rest”

Thousands would die that day in Lűtzen, Saxony. Everyone on both sides knew it. November 6, 1632.  The Thirty Years’ War between the Roman Catholic Imperial forces and the Protestants had been raging for fourteen years. Camped in the fields of Lűtzen, the Protestant army of Sweden was awakened and assembled. They would attack the formidable Roman Catholic Imperial forces of Duke Albrecht von Wallenstein. Wallenstein was prepared for them with well-sited and well-defended positions.Read More »Hymn 263 “O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe”