Text: Johann von Rist (1607-1667) Tune: Samuel Wesley (1766-1837)
1 O living bread from heaven,
How you have fed your guest!
The gifts you now have given
Have filled my heart with rest.
O wondrous food of blessing,
O cup that heals our woes,
My heart, this gift possessing,
In thankful song o'erflows!
2 My Lord, you here have led me
Within your holiest place,
And here yourself have fed me
With treasures of your grace;
And you have freely given
What earth could never buy,
The bread of life from heaven,
That now I shall not die.
3 You gave me all I wanted,
That food can death destroy;
And you have freely granted
The cup of endless joy.
Ah, Lord, I do not merit
The favor you have shown,
And all my soul and spirit
Bow down before your throne.
4 Lord, grant me that, thus strengthened
With heav'nly food, while here
My course on earth is lengthened,
To serve you, Lord most dear.
And when you call my spirit
To leave this world below,
I enter, through your merit,
Where joys unmingled flow.
Tr. Catherine Winkworth
REFLECTION
This hymn, a meditation on the Lord’s Supper, meant to prepare the singer to receive the body and blood of our Lord, or give thanks afterward, is an elegant use of the John 6 sermon by Jesus on what the bread of Heaven really is. The episode in John occurs after Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. It is rich with truths about Jesus and his mission on earth. It is also confounding. Talking about himself as being the bread from heaven, he is referencing many events from the Old Testament, especially the manna sent from heaven to the Israelites on their pilgrimage through the desert. Jesus keeps turning the conversation deeper and deeper. They think Moses is the one who gave them bread, but no, Jesus says, it was God.
And he has now sent the True Bread from heaven in Jesus. “The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Like the manna, Jesus has come down from heaven, but unlike the manna, which grows moldy if stored overnight, he gives eternal life to us..
This is some bread, Rist tells us. It destroys death—since it is our Lord. There can be no death where our Lord is and when we eat his body and drink his blood, we are imbibing life eternal. As we receive it God works in us so we can believe in Jesus—that is our work, Jesus says. As Rist has it, “Lord, grant me that, thus strengthened /With heav'nly food, while here /My course on earth is lengthened, /To serve you, Lord most dear. “
HYMN INFO
Johann von Rist suffered through the Thirty Years War. Born in Ottensen, near Hamburg, he was dedicated for ministry from his youth. He attended Rostock University where the war was somewhat distant, but he suffered from the economic difficulties of the time in addition to becoming ill with the local plague. He wrote over 600 hymns, several of which have become classics. Rist is one of the best of Lutheran hymn writers for the family altar. This hymn appeared in 1654. It had the title "A devotional hymn, which may be sung when the people are about to take their place at the Holy Communion of the Lord."
The tune of course is easily recognized as Aurelia, associated with “The Church’s One Foundation” by Samuel Sebastian Wesley. There are other tunes for it. While it has been a durable hymn in the tradition, it is, unfortunately, not in the top 100.
LINKS
Rod Smith/Instrumental
Mary Ruth
Sacred Harp Tune for Rist’s text
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