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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. B ut 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. I f 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 Gr ü newald 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

Text and Tune: African American spiritual Arranger: Harry Burleigh (1866-1949) Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Giotto Refrain:Jesus is a rock in a weary land, a weary land, a weary land; My Jesus is a rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm. 1 No man can do like Jesus, Not a mumbling word He said; He went walking down to Lazarus’ grave, And He raised him from the dead. [Refrain] 2 When Jesus was on earth, The flesh was very weak; He girdled himself with a tow'l, And washed his disciples feet. [Refrain] 3 Yonder comes my Savior, Him whom I love so well; He has the palm of victory, And the keys of death and Hell. [Refrain REFLECTION Raising of Lazarus. Van Gogh The shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept. It goes deep in our souls. Human woe is endless and awful. There is a saying that if preachers knew what was really going on in the hearts of the people they were preaching to, they would weep bitterly for hours. Jesus knows this, but we see it most vividly here. The group with Mary and Martha were weeping their loss and their grief was keenly felt by Jesus. So he bursts out weeping, bawls loudly, shaking the universe, one commentator says of the account.   What we see in Lazarus’ death is the result of the power of sin, death and the devil, our three great enemies. We get used to the enemy of sin in particular. It is easy to think of sin as minor infractions, mistakes, like white lies, that don’t really hurt much and can be easily corrected. We have a list of sins that we can avoid: like the old man I heard once say that he could say he had lived to be eighty five because “I ain’t sinned once yet!” He had a list: drinking, dancing, playing cards, etc. His hearers, however, knew him to be a miser who made his wife and single daughter suffer penury. He wrote nasty letters to the pastor on butcher paper to save money on paper. Others pride themselves on being fiercely honest in their business dealings but mistreat their children. The great deceiver has been at work in us to delude us into thinking we aren’t so bad after all and, oh, yes, by the way, forgive me for my little sins.   Sin, however, that began in Eden with the tempter, unleashed an evil that seeks to destroy and corrupt everything on earth. It goes right down to the fundaments of our lives. Satan causes disorder and terror everywhere, from church basements to international conflicts. We are all bound in its clutches. We can’t untangle this web on our own. Only God, in Jesus, can. Repentance for our part in all of this needs to be deep and wide. Like Jesus bawling over the human grief he sees at the grave of Lazarus.   In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jacques Ellul in his wonderfully prophetic book Presence in the Modern World elaborates on how that might work in our lives, compromised as we are by the networks of evil tangled around us. He suggests prayer and being the salt and light he has made us to be. Salt doesn’t have an agenda, it does what it is: seasoning the loaf, preserving and curing the rot. Writing mission statements can satisfy us that we are doing the right thing, but it is not what salt does. We, if we use that model, simply need to be present ito our immediate neighbors where we find ourselves and bring to them the salt that is in us from the Lord. He will do the work.That goes against a lot of our need to do something, like design a program, to be God's hands. I heard of a Christian couple moving into a bad neighborhood and simply living their lives serving their neighbors when they needed help. Looking into their faces and seeing them. They noticed after a bit that crime had gone down since they arrived. Can we believe it? Can we do it? I find it hard to believe, but something must come from Christ's dwelling in us and we in him not what we do. The spiritual has it right. "Jesus is a rock in a weary land, a weary land, a weary land. He has the keys of death and hell." HYMN INFO Like all spirituals, this is by anonymous and uses the conventions of orality—that is repetition and reference to the stories from Scripture, Lazarus, him washing the feet of the disciples.Harry Burleigh, the first African American composer, who arranged one of the performances above, brought these spirituals to the attention of Antonin Dvorak when he was in New York. Dvorak used them especially in his New World Symphony. Diethrich Bonhoeffer became acquainted with Burleigh in 1930-1931 while he was studying at Union Theological Seminary in New York and learned much about spirituals from him. Burleigh had a distinguised career as a singer and composer, arranging spirituals into art songs, and choral arrangements, such as the version sung by the Lamont School of Music.   LINKS David W. Carter Choir https://youtu.be/gUh0csSsXkk?si=1drvk4Zw-6DsbOub   Lamont School of Music. Denver University https://youtu.be/0fPEKrtMW5o?si=hwEpi2FROvGVhrfH   Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem https://youtu.be/uGEXqGhlsvA?si=OWqvlbdDKDswUMj8

Text: John Newton (1725-1807) Tune: New Britain Healing the man born blind. Duccio Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears reliev'd; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believ'd! Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. The Lord has promis'd good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures. Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who call'd me here below, Will be forever mine Though we’ve been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We’ve no less days to sing his praise Than when we first begun. REFLECTION There is no contest. The hymn that goes with this text is John Newton’s Amazing Grace. You can find several blogs on the hymn on my website and one on the lesson for the next Sunday for which I have supplied the link below. Jesus healing the man born blind This account of Jesus and the man born blind is one of the longest in the gospels. It involves Jesus debating with his disciples about who sinned, the man or his parents, that made him blind. This occasions a discourse with them after which he heals the man with mud made from his spittle. He tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam (which means Sent) and wash his eyes with the waters there, which he does and comes back seeing! What interests me just now, especially after reading Fredrick Bruner’s commentary on John, is the honesty of the blind man. He speaks the truth at every point. And by speaking the truth, becomes a missionary to his parents and the scribes and Pharisees who are irate that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Whenever he is asked about his healing or Jesus, he tells the truth. Which brings him close to Jesus who is Truth.   When asked about whether Jesus is a sinner or not, he speaks clearly, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” The line Newton used, “was blind, but now I see.”   There are two kinds of blindness being discussed here. Physical blindness and spiritual. The man born blind comes to see both physically and spiritually; the religious cannot really see that the man has been healed and that Jesus is from God. Emily Dickinson wrote once about being able to see to see. That is what faith gives the man born blind. And once he sees, he sees both dimensions: the physical and spiritual. He sees that Jesus has given him sight of both kinds, and so he worships him. Such is the sight that faith gives and that we pray each day for. And that we will go forth with the truth to tell all who will hear! John Newton HYMN INFO For a full account of John Newton's life and this hymn see this blog or the link below on the story of Amazing Grace. Plus many more links to great performances of the hymn! https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-pentecost-23-amazing-grace-and-have-mercy-on-me-lord LINKS The Story of Amazing Grace/15 minutes well worth your time https://youtu.be/8m8AHHduTM0 Judy Collins and choir/ some 80 million views https://youtu.be/CDdvReNKKuk Swedish congregation singing Swedish version https://youtu.be/XcfGR_7W3aQ

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. Duccio Text: Nicolaj Fredrik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872) Tune: Ludvig Lindemann (1812-1887)   1. As after the waterbrooks panteth The hart when it sinks in the chase, So thirsteth. My soul, as it fainteth, For Thee, O my God, and Thy grace; For Thou art the fount ever living, Who unto the thirsty art giving The water of life that I need.   2. Why art thou disquiet within me? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Confide in thy God, let Him win thee! Still hope in thy God, Him extol! For surely once dawneth a morrow, When, freed from thy care and thy sorrow, Thou praises shalt sing to thy God.   3. His light and his truth, they shall lead me In peace to his temple at last; I rest on his word, He will speed me, And conflict and sorrow are past; Yes, joyful I anthems will raise Him, With heart and with voice will I praise Him— My heart and my life and my God! Tr. Carl Døving   Jesus and the Samaritan Woman by Paolo Veronese REFLECTION Thirsting after righteousness is one of the marks the Bible uses for those seeking God. Psalm 42 is one of the golden psalms that expresses the image of thirsting for God beautifully. Jesus blesses with a beatitude those who thirst after righteousness. The Samaritan woman discovers her thirst in her long discourse with Jesus at Jacob’s well. It is one of the great accounts of Jesus interacting with a person in Scripture.   In the psalm the thirst for God is caused by memory, remembering a time when the psalmist was drinking from the fountain and receiving the water of life. What interests me just now, however, is what it means that God is a spirit, what Jesus tells the Samaritan women toward the end of their conversation.   Today as I was sitting in church in a kind of holy daydreaming trance, it struck me how common it is to think of Spirit as invisible and unseen and therefore like nothing. This is Gnosticism pure and simple. Ghosts do not breathe and are not filled with breath. But like our air, which we cannot see, the breath of God, is life. Without God’s breath, Adam is just dust.   My father once marveled to an airline pilot how planes could rise up on nothing. The pilot retorted that the air we breathe is something, it envelops us and from it we receive life. It is enough to hold up huge planes.   So it is with the Spirit of God. To those who believe, it is all around us giving us life. In this encounter Jesus says I AM The Living Water, I AM of course his claim that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whom Moses met on Mt. Sinai. We drink from him and receive the Spirit and Truth, in the living water: Jesus. Now, Jesus says, we worship God in Spirit and Truth. This truth is not ideas we believe, it is the Spirit that inhabits us fully, like the water we drink and the air we breathe, it goes to every cell in our bodies. Which is why Paul can say For me to live is Christ. When we believe in him, he dwells in us and he is our life. No wonder we grow thirsty when the water of life, the spirit of God, is kept from us. Give me some of that water, she says. So should we.   HYMN INFO Grundtvig as a. young man after a crisis of faith Grundtvig wrote this early in his career, 1812. It was not a hymn but a poem that he later worked into a hymn. Ludvig Lindemann, the great Norwegian church composer of the 19th century, wrote a tune for it when he was setting texts in the Landstad hymnal. The hymn with the Lindeman tune has lasted in Norway. There is a Danish tune by Oluf Ring (1884-1946) in Denmark, but neither was taken up in the Service Book and Hymnal because of its archaic translation. One can see from the variety of versions of it on Youtube that it is still known and sung in Denmark and Norway. Carl Døving's translation needs updating, but it gets the meaning right. For those that want a more familiar hymn try I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. It refers directly to the John text. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/pentecost-6-i-heard-the-voice-of-jesus-say-lord-i-am-thirsty For another take on the lesson, one of my own favorites, Lord, I am Thirty, with a lovely tune by Dan Damon is attached.   LINKS Ring's Danish tune stanzas 6-7 https://youtu.be/MV7x8BTXX_4   Lindemann tune/Norwegian choir https://youtu.be/Wir2o9GKuX0   Organ plays Lindemann tune https://youtu.be/wPYIo0Efzlk   Iver Kleive, Poul Disse and Knut Reiersrud https://youtu.be/vxrYO1K4agI   Anne-Lise Berntsen and Nils Henrik Asheim/Norsk folk tune/ https://youtu.be/Pv_k7n9k6Ic Enjoy this lovely tune Daniel Charles Damon for my text on the Samaritan woman

Text: Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929)       Tune: Assam Jesus and Nicodemus. Henry Ossawa Tanner 1.     I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, No turning back, no turning back. 2.     The world behind me, the cross before me; The world behind me, the cross before me; The world behind me, the cross before me, No turning back, no turning back. 3.     Tho' none go with me, I still will follow, Tho' none go with me, I still will follow, Tho' none go with me, I still will follow, No turning back, no turning back. 4.     Will you decide now to follow Jesus? Will you decide now to follow Jesus? Will you decide now to follow Jesus? No turning back, no turning back. REFLECTION This hymn, sometimes called, "No turning back," a theme song for the Billy Graham meetings, gives Lutherans the willies. Faith is a gift from God, not that of your own making, they say. But the story of the hymn should blunt most of those twitches. Welsh missionaries brought the gospel to Assam who welcomed them, but there was a fierce tribe among them that violently persecuted the Christians. One family was chased down by the tribe and forced to deny their Lord. As they stood before the chief and the people, the chief asked them to renounce their faith or die. The father, Nokseng, a man of the Garo tribe from Meghalaya , refused, and said something like the first words of this hymn. When asked again, his sons were killed, as he said something like the lines in the second stanza.   As his sons lay dead before him, he was again asked to deny his Lord, and he said the third line, and his wife was killed. Then again, and as he was being shot, the father spoke the word. The chief having seen the strength of their faith came to regret his actions and himself became a Christian.   This hymn is a vivid and terrifying picture of what it means to follow Jesus. It is not about the decision to give your heart to Jesus. It is about what it means to follow--to live with--Jesus. No matter where he leads, and it will mean suffering and death, he is the way, the truth and the life. In today’s lesson, Jesus is challenging Nicodemus in this most vivid encounter to follow him into life, eternal life. Nicodemus is an earth-bound literalist and cannot understand Jesus’ challenge to receive everlasting life. Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save it. To live with him is to follow him. The Christian life is not only about our ending, it is about our living life to the fullest here.   It makes a difference when you walk with the Lord. One friend of mine said that when she became a Christian it was like the world became Technicolor rather than black and white. Jesus came to give us new life in this world as well as the next! Nokseng made the decision to obey the Lord. he decided to follow Jesus by doing the Lord’s will. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, he was able to give witness to Jesus Christ. No turning back. God give each of us the strength in today's antagonistic world to follow Jesus no matter where he leads! HYMN INFO Sadhu Sundar Singh is said to have turned this story into singable verse using an Assam tune. Born in Rampur, Punjab, India, Sundar became a Christian missionary to Kashmir, Tibet and Afghanistan, and the Punjabi. Raised as a pious Sikh, he had a spiritual crisis after his mother died when he was fourteen. He prayed for some insight and a vision of Jesus appeared before him with the nailprints in his hands and feet. From then on, he believed and brought the gospel to everyone he met. He became a holy man (sadhu) to teach the Gospel to people in his own culture. For this he was persecuted and beloved. William Reynolds, a Baptist pastor and professor of hymnology, heard the music to the song from India and set it in 1959 so that people at the revivals could sing it. It became a standard of the Billy Graham revival meetings.   LINKS Elevation Worship https://youtu.be/iRb769P50IQ Rampert and Meghala https://youtu.be/m60jZFP9Yo0 GooberSir https://youtu.be/S8jvfdDtoqY Kathryn Scott https://youtu.be/54VrglT2NLA Tasha Cobbs Leonard https://youtu.be/DCgHLqJubVg _________________________________________________ For your Lenten reading "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