Text: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) Tune: Sigfried Fietz, et al.
By gentle Powers faithfully surrounded,
Protected wondrously, consoled by grace,
That’s how I long to live these days together,
Close by your side, to start the coming year;
Our hearts are tortured even now by evil days,
The burdens of the past are hard to bear,
Oh Lord, grant our scared souls the salvation,
Therefore You have created us and saved.
And if You pass the heavy cup of suffering,
The bitter chalice, filled to the highest brim,
Then we will take it, grateful without trembling
Out of Your good and so beloved hand.
But if You will grant us once more the joy to see
This world, the splendor of its beaming sun,
Then we will surely all the past remember
And our whole lives will be Yours alone.
Let warm and bright the candles’ flames light up today,
Which You have brought in our gloomy times,
Lead us together back again if that can be!
We know for sure, Your light shines through the night.
When now the silence spreads around, help us to hear
And listen to the full embracing sound
Of this world, which unseen around is widening
To all Your children’s highest hymns of praise.
By gentle Powers wonderfully sheltered,
Awaiting fearlessly what there will be.
God is near at dusk and in the morning
And with us certainly on each new day.’
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, December 19, 1944 Tr. Eckhard Becker Translation used by permission of author
REFLECTION
After James and John have asked Jesus whether they can sit at his right and left hand in his kingdom, which embarrasses the other disciples, Jesus speaks vividly of what his kingdom is. It is not the kind of kingdom they imagine. It is of another dimension, one with “gentle powers” completely upside down from their expectations. Even though they think they can drink the same cup as he, Jesus challenges them. They do not know what they are asking. When they drink from his cup, as they will, they will face as much suffering as joy. They will learn that, and we know it as we read the story again. For now they still haven’t gotten it.
Bonhoeffer’s hymn, which has been translated into many languages and set to many tunes, dwells on those opposites in a way that points to the kind of kingdom and power Christ would establish. This is appropriately a Christmas hymn as Bonhoeffer wrote it in a Christmas greeting to his family some three months before his martyrdom. It has candles in it, but more than that—it has a particular pleasure of each day in the world, something the Incarnation was all about. These joys however were not undimmed by human tears. Christ suffered for us at our hands, but also suffers with us.
The suffering he speaks of is incomprehensible to most of us, but the suffering of the Christian is a given—even as is it for all human beings. Christians live in a great drama in which our Lord, who came to save us from death and destruction, has to submit to the worst suffering that could be meted out to a person—a crucifixion. Add to that, it was for his friend who betrayed him, and the religious and secular powers of the day who wanted him gone. They could not bear his goodness and his wisdom. He had to be destroyed. But even as they destroyed him, he loved them and died for them. His sacrifice made things right for us. And his resurrection is the victory that defeated all his enemies.
Only when we submit to him and serve him, will we find place with him in his kingdom. A promise of joy in the midst of terrible suffering. Thanks be to God for our Lord’s gentle powers.
HYMN INFO
This hymn text, “Von guten Mächten,” appeared in Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, written in the last days of 1944 while he was facing death at the hands of the Nazis. Since its publication, the hymn has received many tunes and translations. The translation above is by Eckhard Becker, a German writer and composer. He has included his own setting for the text on his website here.
The tune most popular in Germany today is by Sigfried Fietz which you can find in the links below.
LINKS
Sung and played by Sigfried Fietz
New Choir
Moses
All Saints Anthem
NB For a lovely anthem for All Saints Day click here
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