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The Prophetess Anna (Rembrandt's Mother). Rembrandt 1631 Text: Proverbs 31, paraphrase by Gracia Grindal. Tune: O dass ich tausend Zunge hätte Johan B. König (1691-1758) Her children rise and call her blessed Her husband’s heart is filled with praise. She gives them life, with love confesses Her failures, thanking God for grace. She helps her children, does them good, Her table rich with tasty food. She buys a house and tends the garden And raises produce with her hands. She garners profits from her ventures Gives alms to those who need a friend. And she is clothed in dignity, Warm laughter fills her mouth with glee. Her words are patient, filled with wisdom, In all she says she would be kind. She shares a good name with her husband He sees her keen and steady mind. Her heart rejoices in the Lord, She daily lives within his word. When hardships come, her God she blesses, As evening falls and beauty fades, She prays to be all she professes For on the Lord she daily waits. She is more precious than bright gems, Her faith her shining diadem. Copyright Leupold Editions 2025 REFLECTION Love is the subject of this Sunday’s text from John in Jesus’ last discourses. This Sunday is also Mother’s Day when we celebrate mothers, also about love. The celebration makes some women uneasy—the ideal mother is not easy to be, some, like me, are not mothers, others had a bad abusive mother. Still, the ideal of motherhood is worth honoring as we are instructed to do in the Commandments, Honor your father and mother…. Just because we can't meet the ideal, does not mean we should not celebrate and hope to come nearer the ideal in our own lives, even as we celebrate those who have come close, rather than resent that we are not like an ideal mother. Proverbs 31 lovingly describes such a woman who is worth our admiration. Solomon portrays her as a faithful woman aware of her faults, and always looking to be faithful. Whatever her faults, she prays to overcome them and do better. As a wife, mother and businesswomen, she is diligent. Many young women today are delaying the roles of wife and mother, wanting to be successful in their vocations, which often delays bearing children beyond what nature allows. The statistics show it doesn’t seem to have made them happier. Many women who have thought a child would be a burden report on holding their first child that it has changed them and taught them that submission to the flesh is not a burden, but a blessing. As Jesus says, to find life we must lose it. We can compare the love of God to a mother’s love, something Scripture does in Isaiah 49:15, can a mother forget her child? Or Jesus comparing himself to a mother hen brooding over her children, like the Spirit at the beginning of Genesis brooding over the waters. More common is the image of God as a groom wooing his bride through all of Scripture, making us brides of Christ. These are comparisons, not names. As people of flesh we need analogies, metaphor and similes of what we know to compare to something we cannot comprehend, but need for purposes of our faith. Using our most intimate relationships to compare our relationship to God is poetry which reveals meanings to us rational speech cannot. But still our images and metaphors are weak tea next to the love we receive from God who gave his Son to die for us so that we might be friends with God, who is love itself, and has gone to every length to dwell with us and befriend us. And in creating us as flesh and blood, fashioning us for the making of families, he has given us abiding love in the flesh, he has even set the solitary in families so they can be be tended and nourished by people who care for them. I, as a single woman, living with my nephew and his family, rejoice in this rich benefit as I close out my days here on earth. HYMN INFO Chris Fenner of the Hymnological Archives asked me last year if I had a hymn on Proverbs 31. I said no, but I could write one. With his help, I came up with this text, something of a paraphrase of Proverbs 31, a wonderful text praising a faithful wife and mother. Fenn was working on a daily devotional using a hymn and meditation on it for every day of the year Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship. It can be purchased as a book or an ebook on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Hymns-Devotions-Daily-Worship-Fenner-ebook/dp/B0DKZMYMK7. It is a big beautiful book and well worth meditating on and singing the many hymns in it. A treasury indeed. König, the tune writer, was a Lutheran composer from Frankfurt who sang in the choir directed by George Philip Telemann, He wrote many churchly works, among them Harmonischer Liederschatz, with 1,913 melodies, in 1738. He was a contemporary of Freylinghausen, the compiler of the great pietist hymnal, Geistreiches Gesangbuch 1704. Several of his tunes have lasted until this day. This tune was for the German hymn that resembles Charles Wesley’s O That I had a thousand tongues. See below for the tune with the original German text. LINKS O Dass ich tausend Zunge hätte https://youtu.be/cD52PA6uCwQ?si=0XVjy_r5Ra-KEILB DetlefKorsen https://youtu.be/EV5rlHuPJ2g?si=Z3rJgn55Z5Fo7xw8 Chen Reiss/ Felix Mendelssohn version https://youtu.be/TiWwH5djlXY?si=B_LURUP4AI99LaNf

Jesus last discourse with his disciples Duccio Text: John Newton Tune: Charles Gounoud (1818-1893) , or Andreas Peter Berggreen (1801-1880) 1 One there is, above all others, Well deserves the name of Friend; His is love beyond a brother's, Costly, free, and knows no end. They who once his kindness prove Find its everlasting love. 2 Which of all our friends, to save us, Could or would have shed his blood? But our Jesus died to have us Reconciled in him to God. T his was boundless love indeed; Jesus is a Friend in need. 3 When he lived on earth abased, "Friend of sinners" was his name. Now above all glory raised, H e rejoices in the same; Still he calls them brethren, friends, And to all their wants attends. 4 Could we bear from one another What he daily bears from us? Yet this glorious Friend and Brother Loves us, though we treat him thus: Though for good we render ill, He accounts us brethren still. 5 O for grace our hearts to soften! Teach us, Lord, at length to love; We, alas! forget too often What a Friend we have above: But when home our souls are brought, We will love you as we ought. John Newton REFLECTION Most everyone knows a bit about John Newton from his most famous hymn, maybe the most well known in the world, "Amazing Grace." The movie Amazing Grace put Newton in the context of the abolitionist movement in Britain. His story is truly an amazing one. Raised by a godly mother who filled his mind with Scripture verses, but who died when he was seven, the young boy ended up going to sea with his father when he was eleven. This age was not uncommon at the time. Young boys his age were often pressed into service. What they had to endure is legendary, usually filled with cruelty and forced debauchery. Newton tried to desert the Royal Navy ship and was flogged, and taken captive by a cruel slave trader in West Africa. During this time he nearly drowned, fell in love with Mary Catlett whom he would marry in 1750, and began reading Thomas á Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ. His love for Mary kept him sane while he was suffering his captivity by the slave ship owner. He escaped and became a captain of a slave ship himself. In 1754, he gave up the slave trade and became acquainted with Wilbur Wilberforce, the great opponent of slavery in England. Soon he became a fervent abolitionist. While he was working in Liverpool as a tide-surveyor, he came to know John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, the great preacher of his time. Under their influence he began studying for the ministry and was ordained into the Church of England to serve in the Olney parish and then St. Mary Wolnoth in London. While in Olney he lived with and cared for William Cowper whose seasons of insanity made him need the care of Newton. Together they produced a hymnal, The Olney Hymnal which contains many favorite hymns, such as "Amazing Grace," this hymn and Cowper’s "God Moves in a Mysterious Way." Newton became blind toward the end of his life, but did not cease preaching. When told he should, he responded, “Why should this old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?” He never stopped wondering that Jesus, the Son of God, came to be our friend! It really is unfathomable. To be God's friend! This is boundless love indeed! HYMN INFO Charles Gounoud There are several tunes for the text. The British tend to use LUX PRIMA by Charles Gounoud. Gounou, a French composer who wrote operas, the most fmous, Faust. A devout man,he composes church music all his life. He came to admire Bach's music through his acquaintance with Felix Mendelssohn. During the Franc-Prussian War in 1870 he and his family fled to England. When he returned to France, while respected he was considered old hat. Andreas Berggreen’s tune was used in the Concordia, Service Book and Hymnal and the Lutheran Book of Worship. Berggreen’s tune is how I know it. It has a Scandinavian sound that reminds me of many other hymns on Jesus as friend. Berggreen was born in Copenhagen and spent his life there. He studied with Weyse, the composer of "O Day Full of Grace," but was most influenced by J. A. P. Shulz, the composer of the tunes for "Thy Little Ones Dear Lord are We" and "We Plough the Fields and Scatter." Berggreen became an important hymn tune writer for the Icelandic church as well. Over thirty hymns in its hymnal are set to Berggreen tunes. LINKS Gerhard Sundberg Berggreen's tune https://youtu.be/rxX7kxzOVYI Rod Smith https://youtu.be/h6odFds-Q-s Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, Gounoud’s tune https://youtu.be/R2BhQaKBcnQ African version https://youtu.be/jtd3_xvRVGA _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145

Jesus as shepherd. from the catacombs Text: Dorothy Thrupp (1779-1847) Tune: William Bradbury (1816-1868) 1. Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. 2. We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, Be the guardian of our way; Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, Seek us when we go astray: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray. 3. Thou hast promised to receive us, Poor and sinful though we be; Thou hast mercy to relieve us, Grace to cleanse, and pow'r to free: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee. 4. Early let us seek Thy favor, Early let us do Thy will; Blessed Lord and only Savior, With Thy love our bosoms fill: Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still; Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still. REFLECTION Until about a century ago, and maybe not even that long ago, most people had a fairly good idea of what sheep and lambs were like in real life. Today most of us think of nursery rhymes and fairy tales where sheep and Bo Peep are cavorting, the lambs very cute. Jesus as shepherd is a sweet picture in those. But anyone who has spent much time with sheep knows they are rather stupid, difficult and completely at sea without the shepherd’s voice. Scripture uses the shepherd image often to speak of God and Jesus. There is of course Psalm 23, and then John 10. In John 10 Jesus takes the image of shepherd and talks about his role with the sheep—as a shepherd whose job it is to keep his flock of sheep together and safe, he will do what it takes, even lay down his life for the sheep. We see this especially in the parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine sheep to find the one lost sheep. To be cared for by such a shepherd gives one a feeling of security and peace. The earliest images of Jesus in the catacombs are of Jesus as a shepherd. The early Christians who hid there to escape the wolves of Caesar and the powers that stood against them knew that their shepherd would keep them, not just in their dire circumstances at the time, but even in death. The images in the catacombs of Jesus carrying the sheep to safety on his shoulders tells the story about as well as any. To think of oneself as a sheep makes the relationship clear. We are helpless and lost without our shepherd. We dare not go out on our own. One of the strangest commands of Jesus to his disciples is that they go out with the good news as sheep among wolves. As Paul tells us, God’s power is always in weakness. Jesus sends us out as the weakest among the fiercest. But we can go knowing that he is our shepherd and has stopped at nothing, not even a cruel death, to show us his eternal power. You can go toward the wolves, he says, because I am with you always. And Lord over death. He is risen! HYMN INFO William Bradbury Dorothy Ann Thrupp, like many women writers of her era, frequently wrote under a pseudonym, Iota. Scholars think she wrote this. Bradbury always looking for Sunday school texts found this in a book of hers. As a young man, Bradbury studied with Lowell Mason in Boston. He traveled to Europe, especially Leipzig, where he studied composition with the great teachers there. When he returned, he moved to Brooklyn where he continued composing and compiling hymnals for Sunday schools. By the end of his life he had edited over fifty such books. Although it was paired with a popular Norwegian tune in the LBW, the Bradbury tune remains popular—one can find grand organ settings, along with jazz and country western on the web. This tune will be sung in many churches this Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday. It really is in the barbership quartet style and well worth a try. Stand around the computer or piano and sing along! LINKS Kaoma Chenda Quartet—for some barbershop and by one singer! https://youtu.be/P_nffQ3HepA Martin Nystrom https://youtu.be/pbdqPm66faE The Haven of Rest Quartet https://youtu.be/b_V_F-u357s The Discover Singers/kind of Swingle Singers style https://youtu.be/YRmRQR_VuYU _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145

Text: Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) Tune: William Henry Monk (1823-1889) Emmaus. Rembrandt 1. Abide with me! fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide! When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. 2. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me. 3. I need Thy presence every passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me. 4. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless: Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness: Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. 5. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. REFLECTIONS Emmaus. Rembrandt This most popular hymn for death and dying is used at funerals so often it is hard to hear its strains without tearing up. Because it uses the phrase “Abide with me,” we also hear the couple walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, asking him to stay for dinner, since the hour is late. Abide with us, they say. Then, as they sit down to eat, Jesus breaks the bread and they see him suddenly revealed in that instant. But he does not linger. In a flash of light, he is gone, but they have recognized him. Now they know he is risen from the dead so they run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others. We have seen the Lord, he is risen! While singing this hymn may seem less than a triumphant hymn for Easter, its last stanza is thrilling. it speaks to us because we know the words from so many occasions where the tears were flowing and we needed the Lord to abide with us. We maybe don’t want to recognize him and then have him disappear. We want him to abide. Maybe he hasn’t disappeared; he is there still in the bread. Through his food he becomes one with us and lives in us as he has always promised to do. Upon realizing this truth, the couple run to tell others. And what they tell is the good news that death has been defeated and Christ has risen from the dead showing he can raise us one day. We hear some of Paul’s great chapter 1 Corinthians 15 in the hymn: "Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?/I triumph still, if Thou abide with me." If we do not believe Jesus has been raised, Paul says, we are most to be pitied. It makes our faith a laughing stock for the main thing in the whole story is that Jesus’ resurrection is the end of the powers of death, sin and the devil. While he abides in us, as he promised to, he also bears in his body the promise of the resurrection, so even as we face that last enemy, we can look with joy on the flash of light before us, as “heav’n’s morning breaks” and the one whom we now know to be our Lord and Savior, is risen from the dead. And he will raise us also from the dead. And abide with us forever. HYMN INFO Henry Francis Lyte Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847), an Anglican minister, who wrote this classic hymn in the 1820s, suffered poor health his entire life. He knew his need for the Lord every minute of the day. It is said he wrote this hymn after attending a dying friend who kept repeating, Abide with me, abide with me. The writer of the tune, Eventide, William Henry Monk (1823-1889), organist, composer and choir master in England’s most prestigious post, edited one of the most famous English hymnals of all time, Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). The hymn has gone around the world. It is considered one of the patriotic hymns of England. It became especially important during World War I. Remembrance Day commemorating the tragic losses of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli, always featured a moving rendition of the hymn. One can hear it in grand highly liturgical services, to folk and rock concerts. Even Elton John sang it in a concert! It is the anthem sung at the Rugby Challenge Cup. I have included a variety of styles and versions here. LINKS St. Olaf Cantorei and Congregation https://youtu.be/kkXI-8no9ZE Australian /Nathan Lay https://youtu.be/32eP-mjRINo Band version at the Anzac Remembrance Day https://youtu.be/a7FUcu5OD3Y Ole Paus/Norway’s Bob Dylan https://youtu.be/ms7lODbNdm0 Thelonius Monk https://youtu.be/RHctGCUS2fE Rugby Challenge https://youtu.be/fg3gCw5mm7c _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145

I am sorry the last blog did not get through. it is there, but the email system was not working. Hopefully we have fixed it. you can find the most recent blog here https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-ii-o-sons-and-daughters-of-the-king-1

Doubting Thomar The geeks are working on the issue, but For some reason the blog is not being sent out, but it is been there since Monday. click below. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-ii-o-sons-and-daughters-of-the-king-1

Text: Jean Tessarand (d. 1494) Tune: French 15th century Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! O sons and daughters, let us sing! The King of heaven, the glorious King, Over death today rose triumphing. Alleluia! Alleluia! That Easter morn, at break of day, The faithful women went their way To seek the tomb where Jesus lay. Alleluia! Alleluia! An angel clad in white they see, Who sat, and spake unto the three, “Your Lord doth go to Galilee.” Alleluia! Alleluia! That night th’apostles met in fear; Amidst them came their Lord most dear, And said, “My peace be on all here.” Alleluia! Alleluia! When Thomas first the tidings heard, How they had seen the risen Lord, He doubted the disciples’ word. Alleluia! Alleluia!“ My piercèd side, O Thomas, see; My hands, My feet, I show to thee; Not faithless but believing be.” Alleluia! Alleluia! No longer Thomas then denied; He saw the feet, the hands, the side; “Thou art my Lord and God,” he cried. Alleluia! Alleluia! How blessed are they who have not seen, And yet whose faith has constant been; For they eternal life shall win. Alleluia! Alleluia! On this most holy day of days Our hearts and voices, Lord, we raise To Thee, in jubilee and praise. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Thomas the Incredulous. Caravaggio REFLECTION Today doubt, if not plain disbelief is chic.. On the other hand our certainty in things political and social seem not to be in doubt. But as to the faith, that is another story, except...something is happening that the Spirit is surprising us with. We read in the papers now that more people than in a long time are converting to Catholicism and not a small number are returning to churches, the ones of their childhood. The Spirit is working to bring people into the faith, often times people who are weary of living without rules or rituals that give order to the day. Families and individuals need rites and customs to live, and so much of what we see around us today is people living in disarray and only for the present. To be a Christian is to care about past, present and future. Those who don't become nihilists, where nothing means anything and one should simply do what seems right at the moment. A more disastrous way of living is hard to imagine. The churches, too many, have abandoned old rites and rituals in favor of sponteneity. That makes for problems. Maybe what we have is what I have come to call the burden of sponteneity. If everything has to be spontaneous, only chaos will emerge. It makes us rootless and blown about in the winds of change and time. True sponteneity comes when one is in a routine or a ritual and someting new breaks forth from that routine. The meeting with Thomas happens as the disciples are gathered as usual. They have heard Thomas' demand that he needs to see and touch Jesus' wounds to believe he has risen. During their ordinary time, Jesus does something extraordinary. He appears without going through the door, he answers Thomas' urgent demand. It isn't what he expected, but Thomas' response to this good news is worship; he kneels down and worships Jesus, now his Lord and God. This is new, for Thomas to see Jesus as not only Lord, but his God! The fulfillment of centuries of longing. It is then Jesus looks down the halls of history into the future and blesses those who have not seen but believe, his final beatitude. And it is to us. It is a wonderful blessing that we should treasure. This is a new thing, but it has always been there, couched in the stories and language of the old, the law and prophets. And now we can see to see it. At this meeting, Jesus also breathes the Holy Spirit upon his disciples and gives them the power to pronounce the forgiveness of sins to others and give new life to the old broken down sinner. It is an awesome thing. Through the power of the Holy Spirit which gives us the faith and power to speak Jesus to the world, he extends himself to all the world. To be a disciple is to follow, one who gets the message of the Lord to all the ends of the earth, as we see when we read the Acts of the Apostles, and the work of missionaries down through the millennia. Jesus is in charge and sending us everywhere with his word which is the fulfillment of long ago old prophecies now come true! Sing praise! John Mason Neale HYMN INFO
Jean Tissarand (d. 1494) was a Franciscan monk about whom we know little except that he died in Paris. It is thought he founded an order for repentant women and wrote a service to remember the martyrdom of fellow monks that were killed in Morocco. The translator, John Mason Neale, became one of the leaders in bringing ancient Greek and Latin hymn texts into the life of the English church. Ill health prevented him from serving out his call as a priest in the Anglican Church, but he worked tirelessly as a theologian and translator of early Christian texts. Without his work we would not have had as many hymns for Advent, or less celebrated festivals of the church. Lutherans took many of his translations into their hymnals at the end of the 19th century and they have become necessary to the hymnody of the church year, as this one has. LINKS From Notre Dame before the fire https://youtu.be/vRYc8OVh-jc Budapest https://youtu.be/6RrpKKD8Rlo Richard Proulx https://youtu.be/N8yK9Z6Zafw

Resurrection Axel Hjalmar Ender copied by August Klagstad REFLECTION The hymn for today in the English speaking world is Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today. While there may be many many other hymns that fit the day well and are worthy, those planning the Easter service would be well advised not to leave this one out. People expect it and love it. And for many it won’t be a real Easter service without it. There is a feeling among many that we shouldn’t be so caught in our traditions and find new things and not repeat old chestnuts. The older I get the less advisable I think that is. Our faith is rooted in memory. Psalm 42, among many others, teaches us that. We have had a mountain top experience in our past and want that feeling to return. It often can when we repeat a hymn much loved and remembered from another time. The truth of the gospel is that often just when we think we are tired of the old old story, we hear it again, and suddenly something pops and it is new, entirely new. That cannot happen when we only do new things. New things come when the old is repeated and it seems utterly new. Or when we see that we have not quite seen the fullness of what the old contained of the new. As the old hymn has it, “Sometimes a light surprises a Christian while he sings.” That happens most often when we sing something old. Resurrection Montegna On the other hand, Easter is the story of something so new it changes everything, but it was always there embedded in the old. Paul believed and taught, as the church does, that the story of Jesus was there from the beginning. Sin, death and the devil are defeated. When the women hear the good news from the angels and run back to tell the disciples, their road is the old way, but now looks completely new. Flowers blossom in the air and all things are made new. Even as they run they remember what Jesus has told them and recognize something of what he meant. Now they see in the old words that they were speaking of this new thing. It is hard to describe that in anything but poetry, the best of which we remember. Even when we are in the depths of despair, which many are today, we must not fail to hope. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that no matter what our situation is, what governments are doing, what we fear most, Easter makes the old things lose their powers, we now know that our fears are not the last word. Jesus is. He is alive and well, ruling over all things. Because of his death and resurrection he makes penultimate all our fears. He has defeated our enemies and rules over all for our good. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! HYMN INFO There are many hymns that are musts for Easter. For information on "Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today" see below, and then a couple more. You can find blogs on more Easter hymns if you search in the blog front page. Just enter Easter and many will appear! LINKS Christ the Lord is Ris’n today https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-23-christ-the-lord-is-ris-n-today I come to the Garden alone, plus .. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-solen-på-himmelen-lukket-sit-øye-i-come-to-the-garden-alone Easter Morrow Stills our Sorrow https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-24-easter-morrow-stills-our-sorrow

Isenheim Altarpiece Matthias Grünewald Text: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) Tune: Johan Crüger (1598-1665) 1. O sacred head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded With thorns, Thine only crown; O sacred head, what glory! What bliss, till now was Thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine. 2. What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, Was all for sinners’ gain; Mine, mine was the transgression, But Thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place; Look on me with Thy favor, Vouchsafe to me Thy grace. 3. What language shall I borrow, To thank Thee, dearest friend, For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? Oh! make me Thine forever, And should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never Outlive my love to Thee. 4. Be near me when I am dying, Oh! show Thy cross to me; And for my succor flying, Come, Lord, and set me free! These eyes new faith receiving, From Jesus shall not move, For he who dies believing, Dies safely through Thy love. Tr. James Alexander 1830 REFLECTION The most horrible day in all of history: when human beings, unknowingly, killed their God. Every Good Friday since I was a kid I feel a tremor in the earth at about noon. That day the sun ceased shining for a bit, the horror of this moment cosmic. The temple curtain was torn open and the death of Jesus broke through the veil there and into the world. Of course, we know that this death turned out to be a victory of cosmic proportions as well. Now death had been defeated. Everything has been changed, but for now we see the dregs of human existence. All the evil there is enters Jesus and he becomes sin for all the world. Even his father shrinks from him and the sin he has become. The Veronica napkin from the stations of the cross, said to be what Gerhardt saw on the altar every day in his church in Mittenwald and a source of his hymn O Sacred Head He had prayed that he would not have to go through this, but he obediently went to the cross for our sakes and in obedience to his Father. Many struggle to understand why this had to happen and are offended by the brutal killing of Jesus. Could not have God done it another way? Over the years I have come to see both how corrupted each of us is by sin, and also that God who is love and holiness itself cannot become what he is not. His holiness demands that we become holy in order to be in relationship with him. The only way that can happen is through the sacrifice of his Son. As Leviticus says, there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. That is the origin of the sacrificial system in the temple which happened many times a year as faithful Israelites brought pigeons, lambs, cattle to be sacrificed in the temple. Now, Jesus through his sacrifice has ended that practice once and for all. He is killed just as the Passover lamb is sacrificed and he becomes the one who makes things right between us and God by making us holy. Thus, we are able to live in communion with God and others. Words fail us. Gerhardt says it best in his third stanza: What language shall I borrow? At once simple, and yet an unfathomable mystery that drives us to our knees. Paul Gerhardt HYMN INFO Johan Sebastian Bach used this chorale several times in his cantatas and especially the St. Matthew Passion. As John Gardiner says in his wonderful book on Bach's cantatas, “in the passions we become participants in the re-enactment of a story which, however familiar, is told in ways calculated to bring us up short, to jolt us out of our complacency, while throwing us a lifeline of remorse, faith, and ultimately a path to salvation.” There is a helpful website with a translation and comments on the music and the texts below—all of the Matthew account with reflections on it, from arias to chorales. Very edifying! LINKS Choral version https://youtu.be/p5hjdz4xZF4 St. Matthew Passion conducted by Gardiner (the whole thing!) https://youtu.be/eU6QEklM4SA A libretto and an excellent guide and commentary on the entire passion http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/0104_passion/index.shtml Icelandic jazz version/sax and organ https://youtu.be/8pLh6JTZRHY _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145

The Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci Text: Johann Heerman (1585-1647) Tune: Johann Crüger (1598-1662) 1. Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, That we to judge thee have in hate pretended? By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted! 2. Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee! 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee. 3. Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered. For our atonement, while we nothing heeded, God interceded. 4. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation, Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation; Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion, For my salvation. 5. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee, Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, Not my deserving. Tr. Robert Bridges 1844-1930 REFLECTION Last Supper. Duccio My pastor has memorized the gospel of Mark and made chapters 14-15 the full sum of his sermon this Palm Sunday. To hear it from the beginning through to the burial was more powerful than one might think because we have heard pieces of it all our lives. But like any great story, it keeps on yielding meaning and richness as we hear it over and over again, especially in one setting. One of the most awful parts is to hear how Jesus predicts during the supper that he will be betrayed by one in their midst. It is the moment that Leonardo Da Vinci portrayed in his great painting the Last Supper. The disciples are all thunder struck and wondering who it is. Who could do such a thing? Our Lord has only done good, he has healed people, raised some from the dead, fed them, counseled them, entered into the fullness of life with them, their weddings and religious festivals, and yet one of his closest friends betrays him? In fact, we acknowledge it every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper—On the night in which he was betrayed… which should always jolt us awake. Then even as he knows this, he offers himself to them in the bread and wine. He knows he is going to his death for them, even his betrayer. This is all unfathomable, this kind of love. He isn’t doing it just for good people, he is doing it for the worst of the worst. And as the hymn makes clear it was I who crucified him.. And yet as Paul makes clear in Romans, because of his last will and testment we become co-heirs with Jesus, who gives us all his goodness in exchange for all our sins. Here Jesus passes out his testament, our inheritance, to us. Legally, we know that a testament cannot be given or received until the giver has died. Then the gift can be given. Here in this moment we receive his legacy of life from his death and resurrection. He goes to the cross and takes on our sin even as he gives us his eternal life. Luther called it the divine exchange. Through his gifts, he has become one with our flesh and spirit. Wherever we go, no matter how weak our witness, he lives in us. Through our bodies and spirits, he gets his work done. He will become the temple that will be raised up in three days, something the religious authorities scoff at, so he also makes us his temples because the temple is where God dwells, from Eden to the wilderness, to Solomon’s porches, and Herod’s restoration of it, to him and then to us. Think as you receive the sacrament this Thursday how Christ is making you his own, joining with you, to make his presence known to all the world. HYMN INFO Johann Heerman Johan Heerman’s (1585-1647) life is a study in suffering. Born in Silesia, he had poetic gifts and was encouraged in them by friends and teachers. He almost died as a child. His first wife died in their first year of marriage. He suffered poor health his entire life. He wrote this hymn in 1630 during his pastorate in Koben where he served from 1611-1634. Plagues, fires, pestilence, and the Thirty Years War ravaged the area. Several times he and his family had to flee the armies pillaging the town. In 1634, he finally had to give up his work because of a continuing sinus infection that some say even spread to the bones in his skull. He died in Lissa, in what is now Poland. With its tune by Johan Crüger, organist at St. Nikolai Church in Berlin, who set many of Gerhardt's and Herman's texts, the hymn became a Holy Thursday/Good Friday classic among Lutherans. Johan Sebastian Bach used it in his great St. Matthew Passion. It is surprising how popular it is on Youtube. It appears in many styles, from Bach to rock. Here are some versions: LINKS Choir, congregation arrangement Craig Courtney https://youtu.be/SGYduw3VblU Choir/John Ferguson Arrangement/First Plymouth Church/viola https://youtu.be/l9we-11OUw0 Classic Christian hymns https://youtu.be/s4MKOP-vhQ0?si=L0IkjLeyll1_M_G5

Every year, Palm Sunday marks a significant moment for many, and sharing reflections and insights through our blog has become a cherished tradition. This year, however, some of you may have noticed that the latest Palm Sunday blog post did not arrive in your email inbox as expected. If you missed the update, don’t worry—you can still find the full post on our website, Hymnfortheday.com. In this article, we’ll explore why the email might not have reached you, how to access the blog post, and what you can do to stay connected with future updates. Whether you’re a regular reader or new to our community, this guide will help you stay informed and engaged. What Happened with the Palm Sunday Email? Sometimes, even with the best intentions and reliable tools, emails don’t get delivered as planned. Here are some common reasons why the Palm Sunday blog email might not have reached your inbox: Email Filters and Spam Folders Email providers use filters to protect users from unwanted messages. 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Text: St. Theodulf (ca. 750-821) Tune: Melchior Teschner (1584-1635)Text: 1. All glory, laud, and honour To Thee, Redeemer, King! To Whom the lips of children Made sweet Hosannas ring, Thou art the King of Israel Thou David's Royal Son, Who in the LORD'S name comest, The King and Blessèd One. R/All glory, laud and honour To Thee, Redeemer King! 2. The company of Angels Is praising Thee on high, And mortal men, and all things Created make reply. The people of the Hebrews With palms before Thee went Our praise and prayers and anthems Before Thee we present. R/ 3. To Thee before Thy Passion They sang their hymns of praise; To Thee now high exalted Our melody we raise. Thou didst accept their praises; Accept the praise we bring, Who in all good delightest, Thou good and gracious King. R/ Tr. John Mason Neale 1854 REFLECTIONS Louis the Pious As we look to celebrate Palm Sunday, it is salutary to remember we are celebrating that Jesus is going to his coronation as king, which will be on the cross, his death and resurrection, ending in his ascension. A very different kind of king, but he will have all power on heaven and earth and wil reign forever and ever, our Redeemer and King. (This hymn is a must so I have reused previous comments.) The glory of this hymn is how it celebrates Christ's kingship and remarks on what a different kind of king he will be. One doesn’t need to know the history of a hymn to enjoy it and be blessed by it. But there is an uncommon pleasure to know something about what one is singing, especially those that are as old and traditional as this. The hymn is one of the oldest in our hymnal. It is said to have been written by St. Theodolf of Orléans (ca. 750-821), a bishop in Charlemagne’s realm. The next king, Louis the Pious, viewed Theodulf as a traitor and put him in prison where he languished. Some time during his imprisonment, he wrote this hymn. One Palm Sunday as the king was processing by the prison he is said to have heard this hymn coming from the jail. He was so moved by it, he decreed it should always be sung on Palm Sunday. During medieval times, the people reenacted Jesus' procession into Jerusalem.The clergy and city dwellers would gather outside the city and march in through the gates of the city behind an actor representing Jesus riding a donkey. As they approached the city, children would sing this hymn in Latin and the crowd responded with the refrain. The gates were opened and the crowd processed in to the cathedral. We still follow King Louis’ decree twelve hundred years later. Whenever we sing this on Palm Sunday, and it is usually every time, I think of St. Theodulf in the prison singing a hymn—having experienced both the praise of a king and the scorn. The king riding by in the spring of the year on hearing it repents of his cruelty and is changed. Singing this connects us to those scenes in France, but more than that, to a joyful scene in Jerusalem when the crowd about to celebrate Passover greets Jesus enthusiastically as their King, who is riding a donkey as Solomon did on his coronation day. A donkey for humility. St. Theodulf But the joy of the music is tinged with sadness, or maybe the great paradox of the passion. Here we are shouting Hosanna and know as we shout that a few days later we will be shouting Crucify him! How fickle. How awful! Jesus knows this as he is riding into the Holy City. What is he thinking? We have some idea from his comment to the daughters of Jerusalem weeping for him. Feeling sorry for the Savior is the last thing he needs; he wants us to feel sorry for our sins. Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. Look into your own heart. That should make you turn to him for forgiveness and healing. You will know why he is riding in to meet his death. It is for you. He does not want our pity; he wants our hearts, so he can change them and make us new. That is why he sets his face like flint as he rides into Jerusalem. It will take courage and a great heart to die for this fickle mob. And yet he does out of love, to change and save us. Pray that you will be like King Louis the Pious and let your heart be changed by the song as you sing it on Sunday. HYMN INFO The tune by Teschner, born in Silesia, was a cantor and composer, serving as cantor in Fraustadt and pastor in Oberpritschen until his death.. Valet vil ich dir geben, one of the great Lutheran hymn tunes, is used for several other texts, but this is the one most people sing on Palm Sunday. Enjoy these grand versions of the song being sung in cathedrals and give thanks. LINKS King’s College https://youtu.be/W3-jjMhNMXw Choir and congregation https://youtu.be/L-6eHCtqwDE Choir and congregation with children’s choir waving palms/fun https://youtu.be/z9X4-lIRFOE _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145