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Temptation of Christ. Marco Tibaldi Text: George Hunt Smyttan (1822-1870 )    Tune: Martin Herbst  (1644-1681)   1. Forty days and forty nights You were fasting in the wild; Forty days and forty nights Tempted, and yet undefiled. 2. Sunbeams scorching all the day; Chilly dew-drops nightly shed; Prowling beasts about your way; Stones your pillow; earth your bed. 3. Shall not we your sorrow share, And from earthly joys abstain, Fasting with unceasing prayer, Glad with you to suffer pain? 4. And if Satan, vexing sore, Flesh or spirit should assail, Christ, his vanquisher before, Grant we may not faint or fail. 5. So shall we have peace divine; Holier gladness ours be due; Round us, too, shall angels shine, Such as ministered to you. 6. Keep, oh, keep us, Savior dear, Ever constant at your side; That we may with you appear In your resurrection-tide. Christ being tempted by the devil. James Tissot REFLECTION The Temptation of Christ is one of the accounts in Scripture that many artists have depicted or written about, the greatest, probably, Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor which explores this event in great detail. Hymns about it are not as common, although one could argue that Luther’s "Ein Feste Burg/A Mighty Fortress is our God" puts the battle with the devil as a constant for Christians. Ultimately, as that hymn concludes, even if the battle leads to our deaths, the devil has not won because God’s Word abides. Christ has already won the battle by his death and resurrection. But still the skirmishes continue with our ancient foe. To some extent the temptations are universal and trivial for the devil is not very creative. He is, however, clever at using his same tricks on us repeatedly. So, he will pose the question of our hungers and appeal to us to satisfy them wrongly. He knows we crave power, and will betray our God in the search for it; he knows we like spectacles and will overlook our faith to exploit our love of pyrotechnics like falling from the temple heights to test God and see if the angels will save us. What Jesus teaches us in this encounter is the meaning of the First Commandment You shall have no other gods before me. That means NO other gods. The devil knows if he can get Jesus to worship him, it’s all over for his chief rival. Adam failed the test, now Jesus, the second Adam, passes it with flying colors. He is teaching us how and why we must resist these temptations. To resist we must, like Christ, have God's Word right and at the ready. (Old Nick knows his Bible too.) The hymn, an old chestnut, also teaches us what we often forget: If Jesus is being tempted in these ways, we also will be, and like him, after this trial, angels will minister to us. And so we pray in the words of the hymn writer "Keep, oh, keep us, Savior dear,/Ever constant at your side;/That we may with you appear/In your resurrection-tide." HYMN INFO George Smyttan wrote this hymn for a book called “Poetry for Lent; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” It was originally in 9 stanzas. It was revised to six stanzas in the great hymnal of 1861, Hymns Ancient and Modern . Smytten, born in India to an English doctor at the Bombay Medical Board, was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and became a rector of the Hawksworth church in Nottinghamshire. He was part of the Anglo-Catholic revival of the 19 th century which produced many hymns that fit the liturgical year. This hymn has been the most well known of the hymns he wrote. Martin Herbst, the tune writer, was a German Lutheran pastor who served as Rector at the high school in Eisleben and served as pastor in St. Andreas church in Eisleben as well. He died of the plague which still could ravage the population. LINKS Concordia Publishing House
https://youtu.be/D7JuNP8hMXY?si=q2b3GdWinbAcPE1A Chet Valley Singers https://youtu.be/9N29ZnwU4LM?si=LTA_Kn9M_vmeIIzk __________________________________________________ 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

Text: J. Armitage Robinson (1858-1933) Tune: POTSDAM by Johann Schop (1590-1667). Icon of the Transfiguration 1 'Tis good, Lord, to be here! Your glory fills the night; Your face and garments, like the sun, Shine with unborrowed light.   2 'Tis good, Lord, to be here, Your beauty to behold, Where Moses and Elijah stand, Your messengers of old.   3 Fulfiller of the past! Promise of things to be! We hail your body glorified, And our redemption see.   4 Before we taste of death, We see your kingdom come; We long to hold the vision bright, And make this hill our home.   5 'Tis good, Lord, to be here! Yet we may not remain; But since you bid us leave the mount, Come with us to the plain.   Transfiguration. by Raphael REFLECTION The Transfiguration comes at the end of Epiphany, the brighter and brghter shining of the light and divinity of Jesus. We all know the themes about it: like Bible Camp, we can’t stay on the mountain top and must go to the valley, which the disciples will do as they follow Jesus to the cross. Or that Moses and Elijah represent the Law and Prophets, that Peter wants the moment to stay and asks to build three booths. While not wrong, those insights are a mere glimpse of what is going on in this important event in the life of the disciples and Jesus.   I have been most edified by the book Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration by my friend and colleague Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. Her detailed trip through Scripture and the many ways it illuminates this event begins with the Jewish festival of Succoth. This is the harvest festival some days after Yom Kippur. Her book is a revelation to me in my dotage. A booth is what Jacob builds for his livestock, and can be translated as tent or tabernacle. And Sukkot is the festival of the booths, or Tabernacles. Christians have understood Pentecost as the giving of the Holy Spirit, but the people were thronging Jerusalem at that time for the Jewish festival Pentecost, the Feast of the Tabernacles. That was the celebration of the success of the Exodus when people did dwell in booths on their journey. The Transfiguration shows us a Jesus we will not see again until we see him in glory. What we see in the resurrection of Jesus is a body raised and still quite ordinary and recognizable but not glorified. To make her argument brief and miss much of the richness of the book, in the Transfiguration the disciples glimpse the glorified Christ which they cannot see until after his Ascension when he is seated at the right hand of his Father. Peter picks the right festival with his talk of Booths, but it cannot be seen again until after his ascension.   Interestingly enough, the one place in Scripture other than the gospels where the transfiguration is mentioned is II Peter 1:16-18. There it says, in Sarah’s translation  “And we heard this voice having been borne from heaven, being with him in the holy mountain.”   Sarah ends her book with this hymn for Transfiguration Sunday, “Tis good, Lord, to be here.” Peter has for the rest of his life the memory of that day when he woke up to a shining glorified Savior whom he would never see in that mode until later, but the hope it engendered in him drew him on even to martyrdom and suffering, even maybe his terrified denial of Jesus. So should it be with us. We cannot remain there in that light, but we do ask Jesus to come with us because we have glimpsed something of his glory during our lives. Look up! For we have seen our redemption, the hymn says. J. Armitage Robinson An erudite Dean HYMN INFO Joseph Armitage Robinson, the writer of this text, grew up in poverty. He had thirteen brothers and sisters. He was English and served as Dean of Westminster from 1902-1911 where he was said to have improved the services. He left there to become Dean of Wells where he worked until his death in 1933. He was regarded as an erudite, but somewhat eccentric New Testament scholar. He translated works from the early church as well, especially a work by Ireneus. He held many positions associated with Westminster and Cambridge. This is his one hymn. He wrote it in 1890 to fill out the poor selection of hymns for Transfiguration Sunday. The 1904 version of Hymns Ancient and Modern included it and it was picked up there by many traditions to add to their hymns for the Transfiguration. This is a 1905 caricature of Robinson from Vanity Fair. The most popular tune is Potsdam by Johann Schop. A native of lower Saxony, he was a well known musician, a composer and virtuoso on the violin. In 1615 he became musician for the court of King Christian IV of Denmark. His tunes are still highly regarded. LINKS Potsdam tune   https://youtu.be/-HexN-t9VWk Concordia Publishing House   https://youtu.be/ukBohe-va6o Jazzy version   https://youtu.be/ClzOcJa9tGA Carlisle/more popular in England   https://youtu.be/8wNCM8Gw-8o Chris Brunelle singing with guitar   https://youtu.be/UJReSsGKVv0 Organ version of Carlisle   https://youtu.be/mwKEvPCiu2E __________________________ The Link for Sarah's book https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Ways-Looking-at-Transfiguration-ebook/dp/B0CVL978SC/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2S8KG3GQI8WB1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1KabKe67X7Q94T2ySlS2Va4OWmr5JL_ww7KdM0sDiHiAu9vcft_XGisXlavEiD2m4F_7Zy1DSG-ZU2VodKPblr_LhDzyzJ84zl_bFeNGnQyV-YLZVU23VGwpKzT40ocR1dP_Ibl5UYth36axar0d4ScrIDd-4XLAM2rOwCk-GtPWGJb6aqZjEZRIMK5a2q4MICiod8BM8YqZsOnCPl4Bow._vgdsLGMV6MCEnS-7GTDyu7fvWxJz-zfQaBzX3-ObWI&dib_tag=se&keywords=sarah+hinlicky+wilson&qid=1770606122&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C130&sr=1-4

Swedish: Jag är främling, Jag är en pilgrim   Text: Mary Stanley Bunce Dana Shindler (1810-1883)     Tune: Oskar Ahnfelt (1813-1882) Sermon on the Mount. Alex Miring 1.     I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger, I can tarry, I can tarry but a night; Do not detain me, for I am going To where the fountains are ever flowing: I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger, I can tarry, I can tarry but a night. 2.     There the glory is ever shining; O my longing heart, my longing heart is there: Here in this country so dark and dreary I long have wandered, forlorn and weary: I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger, I can tarry, I can tarry but a night. 3.     Of the city to which I'm going My Redeemer, my Redeemer is the light; There is no sorrow, nor any sighing, Nor any sinning, nor any dying: Of the city to which I'm going My Redeemer, my Redeemer is the light. REFLECTION The pilgrims were exhorted by William Brewster before the Puritans left Southampton for what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be a city on a hil. They were to witness to the LOrd by their work, he noted, warning them if they failed "we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world. " In our lesson for today, spoken just after the Beatitudes, Jesus, the light of the world, tells us we, as his disciples, are the light of the world, which we are to shine before others so all can see it and give glory to our Father.   This hymn does put the city and light together as few do. An old chestnut from the treasury of Anglo-American Gospel songs, it was given an Ahnfelt tune by the Scandinavians.   The longing for the light, the longing to be home, is palpable today. People feel the need for connection, for meaning, for truth. Our calling as Christians is to be the light that leads them to that place, the city of God. So Christ gives us his light so we can be seen and show people the way. He doesnt say try to be like lights, he says we are the light. How can that be? I feel sometimes overwhelmed with darkness, lost in the valley of the shadows. But Christ says we are the light. There isnt a switch in us that turns the light on or off. Because we are in him and he in us, the light shines. Always. Our pilgrimage is a struggle, a battle against the dark forces of this world. In the Beatitudes Jesus blesses us, and gives us strength for that journey, a journey is difficult. Jesus knows that. Blessed are the persecuted, he says, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The world hates this light and as bearers of that light we fight its darkness with all our might. The light shines wherever we go. We can take comfort that he will protect us “in this country so dark and dreary.” Wherever we go as Christians we bring his light, it is our calling and who we are. It is a difficult time just now in the world, but we go forward knowing how brightly the Light of the World shines. Filled with blessings, bright as heaven. HYMN INFO Mary Shindler Mary Shindler was one of the early women hymn writers in America. She lived in the south so she knew about the southern harmony tradition. She published several books of poetry over her lifetime. Raised as a Presbyterian, she tried Unitarianism for a bit, but became an Episcopalian when she married her second husband, an Episcopal priest. With her first husband she had moved west into Iowa, but in 1838, he and their son were taken by a fever, which Mary survived. She returned to her family in South Carolina. She published a book of poems known as The Southern Harp which became a best seller and made her some money. Her publishers asked her to write other works, one of them, The Northern Harp , which also did well. She continued writing. In 1848 she married Rev. Robert D. Shindler, who taught at Shelby College in Kentucky. They then moved to Nacogdoches, Texas, where he died. She moved to Memphis where she lived until her death. Somehow this text made it to Sweden where Betty Ehrenborg (1818-1880) the founder of the Swedish Sunday school, translated it. It appeared in Sionstoner , the songbook of the Swedish revival. Oskar Ahnfelt found two tunes for it. The compilers of the Concordia Hymnal took the English text and used it with one of Ahnfelt’s tunes. I can't find the Concordia version on line, but this tune has a similar sound. LINKS Einar Ekberg,   https://youtu.be/0ld6HrW257I Anders Andersson https://youtu.be/LKbW43NC3sM Per-Arne Wahlgren https://youtu.be/-3TH3I_A4DM The Church Hill Boys https://youtu.be/WRnXAW6A1zs

Danish: Bliv fuld av hellig Glæde Text: Birgitta Boye (1742-1824) Tune: Erfurt (1577) Von Gott will ich nicht lassen The Presentation Rembrandt 1. Be filled with holy gladness O blessed one, come forth And prayerfully go to meet him, Who made you out of earth. Sing goodness’ praise abroad: Let ev’ry gift rise upward To heaven’s sturdy kingdom With praises to your God. Purification of Mary Bartolo di Fredi 1388 2. For you whom pain has driven To heavy cries of woe, You have been blest most richly, As you with faith and trust Have met your troubling trials With God and loving fam’ly And bravely gone to battle Against death’s bitter wiles! 3. Though you will soon forget it: The pain of facing death, When happy voices shouted, “A child, a child is born! Who gladly will be giv’n The legacy of heaven, A hope without comparing.” You will forget the pain! 4. See! God has given children As fruit, a loan for life, And what a joy receiving A worthy little child! I shout: “My grave is free; It does not hold my body. And you are here, Lord Jesus, With those you gave me. 5. Sing! Praise and strength and glory Through all eternity Belong to God in heaven Who saw me pained and weak. O God! By grace so new: My lips sing out your praises, A happy sigh that struggles To rise up unto you! 6. To you!—I scarce can say it— To you, O risen Christ, My soul, with all its power, Still lifts itself to you; Still sings my Lord and God, The Alpha and Omega. He was the strength I trusted, My all! Hallelujah!                   Tr. Gracia Grindal Women being churched Tanum Church. 1892 Harriet Backer MEDITATION (A previous blog, but one for my favorite Mary day/) Tomorrow is Candlemas, the day the church remembers Mary’s Purification, forty days after the birth of Jesus. It is one of my favorite days in the church calendar. The young couple, too poor to afford the normal offering required, brings two turtle doves. They are met by Simeon, the old priest who has waited for this day his entire life. As he takes the baby Jesus he sings the great song Nunc dimittis, or Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.... The attention then turns to the old man and his song. Mary is only mentioned again when Simeon tells her a “sword will pierce her heart.” And then Anna appears and gives thanks. The rite of purification and what it meant for Mary has been somewhat overlooked in our rightful interest in Simeon. Mary is undergoing the purification required by the law. The Christian church adopted a version of that–known as churching--and it is now making a slight comeback in liturgical churches Churching of women Danish church Christian Dalsgaard 1860 Because Mary in giving birth has touched blood, she is considered unclean, and needs to be purified. Ritual cleansing was part of Jewish practice and was necessary after many major and minor events in life, especially the birth of a child. Mary Douglas, the great student of these rites, says this is a moment when a woman is at a liminal place in life, really holy, and needs welcome back into normal life through some kind of ceremony. Mary had been confined after the birth of Jesus for forty days. The time of confinement helped woman to recuperate from childbirth. Friends and relatives would come to take care of her and the baby. In England it was called the gander month since the husband was expected to help. Medieval people began to think that birth made the woman pagan again and so the churching ritual was something like a rebaptism. Luther fought that idea and looked upon the rite as a time for the woman with her child to be blessed and welcomed back from near death. Lutherans in the north when they were compiling hymnals included a couple of hymns for the day, both written by men. They emphasized the sinfulness of the woman and her husband’s joy in the birth of the child. One hymn by Kingo began “I am unclean from top to toe.” It was sung during the "leading in" when the pastor would come to the woman in the door of the church, hand her the edge of his stole and walk in with her. She was usually there with her friends, all dressed to the nines. Birgitte Boye Birgitte Boye is the first woman we know of to help with the editing of a major Lutheran hymnal. She was a member of the minor aristocracy in Denmark, her husband the steward of the king’s forest near Vordingborg, south of Copenhagen. A bright young woman, she learned German, French and English while she was raising four children. When the Danish hymnal committee advertised for new hymns that would meet the requirements of the new day—the Enlightenment—she sent in, anonymously, over a hundred texts which were greeted with high praise by the men who would be the editors. She was asked to help them in their work and she did. Over 100 of her hymns were included in the Guldberg hymnal of 1788. It was the hymnal most Norwegian immigrants brought with them to America. Her festival hymns after the reading of the Gospel on Christmas, "Rejoice, Rejoice, This Happy Morn," and Easter "He is Arisen, Glorious Word" remained in the LBW. My father could never read any of those festival texts without having the congregation stand and sing her hymns. Most interesting for me, however, is her hymn on the churching of women, the first by a woman who had given birth. The first stanza describes how she will be received back into fellowship. The experience of childbirth, the pain and then the joys, which the woman will soon forget, are new to hymnody. She then rejoices that she has escaped death, which happened frequently in childbirth until the past century. (Both my grandmothers died in childbirth so I have a keen sense of that in my own experience.) Her last stanza is an ecstatic cry of praise that Christ has kept her safe through the experience. It is a little treasure that has disappeared from the hymnals as the rite has disappeared, but it still could be sung after childbirth by women who know exactly what she means and might like the words Boye gives them to sing. HYMN INFO Boye’s hymn was printed in the Guldberg hymnal, 1788, but did not survive into the next Dano-Norwegian hymnal the Evangelical Christian hymnal , 1798. The Norwegian church kept her hymns longer than the Danish church. But this one did not make it. The suggested tune for her hymn is below. We are not sure of its composer, but it appeared in 1577 in Christliche und Tröstliche Tischgesenge  from Erfurt. I include also a wonderful cantata by Bach, "Ich habe genug," which once again focuses on Simeon. LINKS Concordia Publishing House Version https://youtu.be/IGNZ3UgOtHk   German congregation singing Von Gott will ich nicht lassen https://youtu.be/6AIzKJvtNv8 Guitar accompaniment https://youtu.be/Nx41YPZyDFc Bach Cantata 82 Ich Habe Genug https://youtu.be/fQyUWyW3-lA

Text: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) Tune: Lowell Mason (1792-1872) 1. When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. 2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. 3. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? 4. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. Isaac Watts 1674-1748 REFLECTION Jesus carrying the cross. Titian (I am sorry I confused the texts for this Sunday with last Sundays. This one goes with the epistle for next Sunday.) The cross is the darkest moment in human history. It is also the most glorious. We crucify God’s Son, and he turns that death into a victory that will save us from death. That is a paradox that horrifies and amazes us. “Sorrow and love flow mingled down.” Sorrow for how we have treated him and his love for us “while we were yet sinners.” How can this be? While reading the accounts of Jesus’ passion, we see that everything that is done to get rid of Jesus God uses to bring us salvation. Judas betrays Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders. He wants a revolution, but Jesus is not that kind of revolutionary. So Judas betrays him, bringing Jesus to his death and resurrection. Jesus was leading a revolution of a different kind, one that would change life for the world forever. The high priests ridicule him for hinting he is God, just as he is about to prove he is. The mockers beneath the cross cry out, “He saved others, he cannot save himself.” But he remains on the cross until “it is finished” so he can save us. Pilate puts a superscription on the cross, in three languages, the King of the Jews, mocking the very idea of this poos man as a king. And yet, these words on the cross become the first missionary epistle. All can read the announcement and wonder. The soldiers hired to keep the disciples from coming to steal the body and lie about his resurrection ironically see his rising and become the only witnesses to the resurrection. The cross baffles us and shocks us even as we run to it for succor. Here is something we cannot fathom. All of God’s power and wisdom suffer humiliation on the cross in order to save us. As Paul notes, “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but for us who are being saved it is the power of God.” As Watts says, nothing we have, not even our own beings—“our all”—can equal God’s gift. We cannot pay the debt we owe, but we can live in thanksgiving and praise. Even if we owned all creation, “the whole realm of nature,” we could not pay him back. What he wants is you. He died to make it possible for us to be in relationship with God. Only through him can we be reconciled to God and live with him. Give yourself over to the Lord and relish this new life. HYMN INFO Isaac Watts Watts is known as the Father of English hymnody. He took the Calvinist tradition of paraphrasing the Psalms that had outlived its time and began writing hymns based on Scripture and about it. His sturdy language and masterful use of the conventions of English poetic forms became models that taught many English writers like William Blake and Emily Dickinson how to write poetry. Many consider this his greatest hymn, but it is hard to rank them, there are many great ones. Meanwhile, below are some of the most thrilling versions of the hymn. LINKS Luther College’s Nordic Choir under the direction of Weston Noble sang this hymn as a closing anthem. Here we can enjoy it and see Weston at the Crystal Cathedral in a thrilling performance. Weston used the tune Hamburg by Lowell Mason; the King’s College choir uses Rockingham . Both are well loved. LINKS Nordic Choir/Weston Noble/ Hamburg https://youtu.be/PQb33oRLpuw Festival choirs with Weston/ Hamburg https://youtu.be/fEOLUnoQdmQ The King’s College Easter Service/ Rockingham https://youtu.be/Z9eCUqz_x5A My hymn on the MIcah reading. Roy Hopp set this for my hymns on the A Cycle of OT texts. This is an attempt to put into hymn language the questions of MIcah. It is filled with questions, but I hope it teaches as well as it concludes with a reference back to the 1 Corinthians lesson. 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

Text: Daniel Webster Whittle (1840-1901) Tune: James McGranaham (1840-1907) 1 There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love; There shall be seasons refreshing, Sent from the Savior above. Refrain:Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need: Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. 2 There shall be showers of blessing, Precious reviving again; Over the hills and the valleys, Sound of abundance of rain. [Refrain] 3 There shall be showers of blessing: Send them upon us, O Lord; Grant to us now a refreshing, Come and now honor Thy Word. [Refrain] 4 There shall be showers of blessing: Oh, that today they might fall, Now as to God we're confessing, Now as on Jesus we call! THE BEATITUDES [Refrain] Text: Gracia Grindal Tune: Dan Damon   Sermon on the Mount. Bloch REFLECTIONS
What we receive from Jesus in his great Sermon on the Mount could be called showers of blessing, as the old Gospel song has it. The eight beatitudes come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. They are among the most beautiful sayings of Jesus and the whole Bible. To hear them is to be blessed, like one is blessed by a shower after a long drought.   Jesus begins his ministry showering us with great blessings, powerful words. We are so used to the idea that words are nothing, and things are real, but sound is real, we can feel it in our bodies. So listen to the richness Jesus is bestowing on those sitting around him that day all the way down to us. They cannot be revoked . they will do what he says. Pedants like me call it performative language rather than elaborative, which talks about blessings rather than gives them. Sermon on the Mount. James Tissot Words are so cheap these days and so manipulative—we weary of all the influencers who are trying to make us do something that benefits them by a clever use of language—that it is hard for us to feel that we are filled with the blessings Jesus is giving us here. But soak them in, he is giving his all for you without your doing anything but listen.   Fredrick Bruner in his commentary on Matthew connects these firsr words from Jesus in his sermon to the last words at the end of Matthew, where Jesus tells his disciples to go to the whole world with all that he has taught them and given them, among them his blessings.   Instead of saying simply blessings, maybe we should say, Bless you! Bless your heart! as the southerners say. Maybe we should say it to each other more and more. We know these words of Jesus that we also speak in his name, will not return void. Somehow those sound waves, like showers, will resonate through the flesh and spirit of others and change them. When you do so, "There will be showers of blessings!" Bless you all!   HYMN INFO Daniel Whittle Whittle and McGranahan worked with Dwight Moody and his team to produce songs to sing during their revivals. Whittle, a Massachusetts native who marched with Sherman through Georgia during the Civil War, also went by the pseudonymn El Nathan. Whittle wrote this text in 1883, based on Ezekial 34:26, praying for a spiritual revival. He and McGranahan worked closely together with the Dwright Moody and Ira Sankey Gospel team in Chicago. McGranahan wrote many famous gospel tunes, among them the tune which became Hawaii'i Aloha, now one of the best loved songs in the state.. The hymn below I wrote twenty years ago for the first book of my lectionary hymns, A Treasury of Faith . Dan Damon, the tune writer, set the entire collection to music. Dan plays jazz piano not only in secular venues around San Francisco where he lives, he also play his tunes, many of them jazzy, for the churches he has served. He is now retired and an editor and writer of hymns for Hope Publishing Company.   Daniel Charles Damon LINKS Showers of Blessing St. Andrews Church https://youtu.be/0_y0IuCU8kQ Andy Harsan t https://youtu.be/T2hqISashRg   Hear Dan play familiar hymns https://youtu.be/qw8HTH-n1Cw?si=MqacvavneuBMH6i8 Find on Amazon: dan damon come away to the skies, plus many other CDs

Text: Daniel March (1816-1909). Tune: W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) Jesus calling his disciples 1. Hark! the voice of Jesus calling, "Who will go and work today? Fields are white, the harvest waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away?" Loud and long the Master calls out, Rich reward he offers free: Who will answer, gladly saying, "Here am I, send me, send me." 2. If you cannot cross the ocean And the foreign lands explore,Y ou can find the needy nearer, You can help them at your door. If you cannot give in thousands, You can give the widow's mite, And the least you give for Jesus, Will be precious in his sight. 3. If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus, You can say he died for all. If you cannot rouse the wicked, With the judgment's dread alarms, You may lead the little children, To the Savior's waiting arms. 4. Let none hear you idly saying, "There is nothing I can do," While the lost of Earth are dying, And the Master calls for you. Take the task he gives you gladly; Let his work your pleasure be. Answer quickly when he's calling, "Here am I, send, send me." REFLECTIONS (NB: you will notice that we have done a major upgrade of the site. After six years it was about time! All of the entries are still here, but there is more to attract and involve readers. Blessings to all!) Calling o St. Matthew Carravaggio The Scripture for this Sunday from John gives us the picture of Jesus calling his first disciples. John the Baptist has been pointing to Jesus and crying out, Behold! the Lamb of God! And then he appears! Jesus asks the two who follow him, Whom are you seeking? And they ask in the older version, where do you abide? That word comes up through the rest of the gospel. Abiding. It is more than staying. Jesus does not tell them where he is staying, he says follow and you will see. While they will call him the Christ or Messiah, they have no idea what that means, really, or where he abides. They will discover that in the next three years as they follow him to the cross. And only after he is raised from the dead and ascended to his Father will they have the complete story. They will not even then fully understand who he is or where he abides, except with his Father. What that means will take a lifetime to discover. And as Paul says only after our resurrection will we see in full. Now we see as in a glass darkly. This, however, does not stop us from a full life with Jesus. He calls us to share the light we have found in him. Even those glimpses are enough to propel us forward to tell others, to fish for people out there in the wild seas of life. Our calling is to bring the light to the whole world, not for our own sake, but for the sake of others. While the passage from Isaiah that sparked this hymn is a calling, the calling is to tell the people a strange thing: that they do not understand nor will they, a selection from Isaiah 6:8 which Jesus in Matthew 13 commends to his disciples. A strange passage to commend to them on the blindness and deafness of the people Isaiah is called to preach to. Jesus praises his disiples because they do see and hear, but it isn't always a sure thing. The word can be stopped, like the seed, but it has a way of growing everywhere it is sown. And we are to sow it everywhere. For those who do hear and see, the harvest is great, as much as one hundred fold. So as the hymn advises us, we are called to be faithful in the smallest and humblest ways because this work is precious in his sight, it can help the smallest child, and poorest stranger. Let this work be our pleasure as the hymn has it. We can only abide with him and trust that one day, as Jacob saw the heavens opened and the angels with the Son of Man climbing up and down, we will seem him coming to us again. We can believe he will bring us rich rewards, as the hymn has it. HYMN INFO Daniel March This popular Gospel song from the 19 th century was written, as many hymns are, by a preacher needing a hymn to go with the sermon. This one by a Congregational minister Daniel March before his sermon at the Philadelphia Christian Association. His text was Isaiah 6:8, as many call hymns and sermons are. The full text can be found in Brownlie’s Hymns and Hymnwriters of the Church Hymnary in 1895. It was originally 6 stanzas but has been reduced and revised to fit with modern sentiments. The tune Elesdie is attributed to Mozart. LINKS St. Matthew Lutheran Church https://youtu.be/7rAbbdEGwq4?si=p1WdJowLlqsE3_up Concordia Publishing House https://youtu.be/cO6TAYtLiW4?si=IQMucsYK3CbY19Lr Dan sings Hymns https://youtu.be/X96j5L7vliI?si=kT4owOgnHa18dZZw BEKOFI Creative Hub https://youtu.be/7rAbbdEGwq4?si=p1WdJowLlqsE3_up ___________________________________________________ My latest book What a Fellowship: Remembering Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church. You can read it in either a book or ebook! https://www.amazon.com/What-Fellowship-Remembering-Augsburg-Seminary/dp/B0DSTBWQHG/ref=zg-te-pba_d_sccl_2_2/141-3290927-0452340?pd_rd_w=4kESz&content-id=amzn1.sym.081392b0-c07f-4fc2-8965-84d15d431f0d&pf_rd_p=081392b0-c07f-4fc2-8965-84d15d431f0d&pf_rd_r=75NWSDJBJZ3KR8D55SZ3&pd_rd_wg=gwGhv&pd_rd_r=e5b74c46-9ab4-41b6-99b9-e8ead9a9e2c8&pd_rd_i=B0DSTBWQHG&psc=1

German: Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam   Text: Martin Luther (1483-1546) Tune: Johann Walter (1486-1570) The Baptism of Christ. Rublev To Jordan came the Christ, our Lord To do His Father’s pleasure; Baptized by John, the Father’s Word Was given us to treasure. This heav’nly washing now shall be A cleansing from transgression And by His blood and agony Release from death’s oppression. A new life now awaits us. O hear and mark the message well, For God Himself has spoken. Let faith, not doubt, among us dwell And so receive this token. Our Lord here with his Word endows Pure water, freely flowing. God’s Holy Spirit here avows Our kinship while bestowing The Baptism of His blessing.   These truths on Jordan’s banks were shown By mighty word and wonder. The Father’s voice from heav’n came down, Which we do well to ponder: “This man is My beloved Son, In whom my heart has pleasure. Him you must hear, and Him alone, And trust in fullest measure The word that He has spoken.”   There stood the Son of God in love, His grace to us extending; The Holy Spirit like a dove Upon the scene descending; The triune God assuring us, With promises compelling, That in our baptism He will thus Among us find a dwelling To comfort and sustain us. To His disciples spoke the Lord, “Go out to ev’ry nation, And bring to them the living Word And this My invitation: Let ev’ryone abandon sin And come in true contrition To be baptized and thereby win Full pardon and remission And heav’nly bliss inherit.” 6. But woe to those who cast aside This grace so freely given: They shall in sin and shame abide And to despair be driven. For born in sin, their works must fail, Their striving saves them never; Their pious acts do not avail, And they are lost forever, Eternal death their portion. 7. All that the mortal eye beholds Is water as we pour it. Before the eye of faith unfolds The pow’r of Jesus’ merit. For here it sees the crimson flood To all our ills bring healing The wonders of His precious blood The love of God revealing, Assuring His own pardon. Tr. Elizabeth Quitmeyer (1911-1988)   REFLECTION Martin Luther knew early on that he had to provide educational resources in the vernacular so people could understand the faith into which they were being baptized. He began by translating the Bible, then writing German hymns. In 1523, he and musician Johann Walter started writing hymns. Luther wanted German poets who could write poetry well enough for the people to sing—and these hymns would be the Word of God like sermons.   Luther's family and students singing hymns To that end he began writing hymn texts and tunes. He also wanted a simple catechism. He finished his Small and Large Catechisms  in 1529. During this time he also planned for a “Singing Catechism,” a series of hymns that taught the Catechism. Families could teach the Catechism through these hymns.   This hymn is probably the last hymn he wrote. It served as the Lutheran baptism hymn for generations. In its seven stanzas he teaches about baptism. It begins in Stanza one, on the fourth line: “This heavenly washing now shall be/A cleansing from transgression."    Luther knew that it was important to teach children the faith they were baptized into. Without the teaching, the rite could descend into pure magic. That is why Lutherans have promised at baptism to teach their children the Scripture and Catechism—especially the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer.   Many millions have stood at the baptismal font and promised they would teach the faith to their children, but it was not clear they did. Sponsors also promised to do the same should the parents not be able to keep the promise, either through death or apostasy. In the olden days to be a sponsor meant one would take care of the child being baptized should something happen to the child's parents. Both my grandmothers died in childbirth. My father's mother died when he was born. His mother's close friend, Anna, a sponsor at his baptism along with her husband, knew what that meant. Childless herself, she told her husband it was their duty to take him. It stands in the Bible, as they would say, translating the phrase from Norwegian. They did take him and raised him with love and a deep immersion in the rituals of the faith: daily devotions, church, Sunday school, Luther League. He knew well the faith he had been baptized into and taught it to us. My grandmother Anda with a niece, Mildred, whom she raised and who raised my mother My mother's mother died in childbirth after giving birth to a baby who died the next day. She had herself raised several nieces and nephws whose mothers had died. Before giving birth she stood in the kitchen looking at my five year old mother and sang, "God will take care of you." She died a few days later. My mother clung to that song through her life. And her mother's promise was true. Through her godmother and father, she was cared for while living with her father who never married again. Many of her aunts, especially Mildred, and uncles, worked to give my mother and her sister as good a life as one could have during the Depression. They did not have much, but they knew that their family would care for them through anything. And they raised her in a home and family that lived richly in the word and kept the rituals of the faith. They probably did not know this hymn, but they knew enough to say to each other something like this: "Let faith, not doubt, among us dwell And so receive this token." HYMN INFO Johann Walter by Lucas Cranach the Elder Luther and Walter worked together in Luther's house some time during 1523 when they first started writing hymns. As director of Frederick the Wise’s chapel, Walter composed and led the singing there. He became the Lutheran composer of his time. While Luther was well trained as a musician, Walter probably helped him with his musical compositions, like "Out of the Depths." Walter wrote passions, motets and songs for use in the church. He lives on in the work he did with Luther on the first Protestant hymnals, the first, Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn  in 1524.   Bach wrote three cantatas for St. John’s Feast, Midsummer. One on this hymn, BWV 7. Enjoy it. The first and last stanza begin and end it, the middle movements are on the themes of each stanza. Enjoy the musical waters flowing!   LINKS Concordia Publishing House version https://youtu.be/gmDzL03cs_E   Children's Choir Holy Cross Lutheran https://youtu.be/SjkdSjK4e6s   Bach's cantata BWV 7 Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam https://youtu.be/FaFe8ZtdAJc   ___________________________________________________ To read those stories about my grandmothers in greater detail read my latest book What a Fellowship: Remembering Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church. You can read it in either a book or ebook! https://www.amazon.com/What-Fellowship-Remembering-Augsburg-Seminary/dp/B0DSTBWQHG/ref=zg-te-pba_d_sccl_2_2/141-3290927-0452340?pd_rd_w=4kESz&content-id=amzn1.sym.081392b0-c07f-4fc2-8965-84d15d431f0d&pf_rd_p=081392b0-c07f-4fc2-8965-84d15d431f0d&pf_rd_r=75NWSDJBJZ3KR8D55SZ3&pd_rd_wg=gwGhv&pd_rd_r=e5b74c46-9ab4-41b6-99b9-e8ead9a9e2c8&pd_rd_i=B0DSTBWQHG&psc=1

The Adoration of the Magi, 1510, by Hieronymus Bosch Tune and text: Philip Nicolai (1556-1608) 1 How lovely shines the Morning Star! The nations see and hail afar the light in Judah shining. O David's son of Jacob's race, my Bridegroom and my King of grace, f or you my heart is pining. Lowly, holy, great and glorious, O victorious Prince of graces, filling all the heav'nly places. 2 O highest joy by mortals won, true Son of God and Mary's son, the highborn King of ages! In your blest body let me be, e'en as the branch is in the tree, your life my life supplying. Sighing, crying for the savor of your favor, resting never till I rest in you forever. 3 O mighty Father, in your Son you loved me ere you had begun this ancient world's foundation. Your Son has made a friend of me, and when in spirit him I see, I joy in tribulation. What bliss is this! He is living, to me giving life forever; nothing me from him can sever. 4 Oh, joy to know that you, my friend, are Lord, beginning without end, the first and last, eternal! And you at length — O glorious grace — will take me to that holy place the home of joys supernal. Amen, amen! Come and meet me, quickly greet me! With deep yearning, Lord, I look for your returning. 5 Lift up the voice and strike the string, let all glad sounds of music ring in God's high praises blended. Christ will be with me all the way, today, tomorrow, ev'ry day till trav'ling days are ended. Sing out ring out triumph glorious, O victorious chosen nation; praise the God of your salvation. REFLECTIONS (This great hymn deserves more attention, so here is a slight revision of a previous blog, it goes so well with the prologue of John's Gospel.) God through his Son Jesus has gone to every length to love us and heal us so we can live freely. He conquered death so we could live without fear of death and face life and all its terrors with courage. He gives the lonely a home so they can be in communion with him and those around them—I will not leave you orphaned. He will stay with us, even live in us, with his Father and Holy Spirit, so we are no longer alone. In fact, he died to make us his brothers and sisters—but more he gave us brothers and sisters in those around us. We see him in others, he is in others as he is in us, and so we have communion with each other and him as we gather in his name. In addition, he makes us friends both with him and with each other. This hymn dwells on that image of friendship and our joy in Christ. It can be used any time of the church year as it rejoices in Christ, our Light. It was used as the hymn for weddings for centuries--and rightly so because marriage begins life and is rightly one of the images for our relationship with our bridegroom, Christ. The row of English kings in Yorkminster I remember a long time ago, fifty years now, I was in England over the New Year’s holiday and Epiphany. On Epiphany I was in York, all alone, very cold in the raw English weather. Just across from me was Yorkminster, the huge cathedral there The paper announced there would be a play in the cathedral that evening. I decided to go. As people gathered, I heard them chit chatting, talking family, weather, and news. The play began. It was punctuated by the singing of hymns. At the end, the wisemen entered with all the pomp of royalty, something the English know all about still as we have just seen. The great Queen of Chorales, How Lovely Shines the Morning Star, rang out as the organ thundered. It is the great Epiphany hymn, written by Philip Nicolai the pastor in 1597 as he saw the Morning Star rising above the caskets of hundreds of people who had died of the plague. He would have to bury them, many of whom he knew. The losses were awful and terrifying. And yet, he could write this great chorale, a triumph of life over death, asserting against all the darkness and death around him, the light of Christ. He, like the branch of a tree, supplying us life. He hath made a friend of me. “Oh, joy to know that Thou, my Friend, art Lord, Beginning without end, The first and Last, Eternal!” As we sang it, a thousand of us, we watched the richly garbed wisemen proceeding to the humble manger. Suddenly, I realized I was with friends, brothers and sisters, joining my voice with many others in a heavenly chorus as we all worshiped at the foot of the cradle. That night, I walked out into the raw English mist, with a warm heart, no longer lonely, but joined at the heart with Christ and all the others in whom he lived. It is exactly what he came to do! And we can sing it any time of the year. It celebrates who Christ is today. For now we live as friends, brothers and sisters in our Christian family. HYMN INFO Philip Nicolai The hymn is based on Psalm 45, known as the wedding psalm. Nicolai adds to it the image of the Morning Star from Revelation 22:16. He wrote it quickly, spending an entire day working it over and over. Its meter is unusal--moving from iambics suddenly to trochees in the Lowly, Holy part. Very brave of him, but he wrote the tune too so he knew what he was doing! It became the hymn for weddings and funerals in Germany. Lutherans also used it for the celebration of the annunciation, when Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel. Johan Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata "Wie Schön Leuchtet der Morgenstern" for the celebration of the Annunciation in 1725. He used this hymn as the basis for his composition. He followed the language and thought of the entire hymn in his cantata, using the first and last stanzas of the hymns with two arias of rapturous beauty in the middle. LINKS Choir singing hymn https://youtu.be/LInu_tmf4MM   Instrumental version https://youtu.be/k1nHfYwtr3k   Bach Cantata BWV 1 Wie Schon leuchtet der Morgenstern Ton Koopman https://youtu.be/kZojfxR5BBM   Text and information about cantata http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale015-Eng3.htm The text of the entire cantata can be found here. http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV1.html

Text: Gracia Grindal Tune: James Clemens   Slaughter of the Innocents. Breughel REFLECTION Every time there is a school shooting, images and sounds of Herod’s slaughter of the innocents come to mind. Cruel and senseless, pure evil. King Herod hears from the wisemen that a king has been born in the neighborhood, in his realm, and he wants to kill him. Temporal power is fleeting and tyrants do everything in their powers to keep it. When fighting against divinity, however, swords and soldiers are utterly useless. Jesus will ultimately be crucified because he has been called a king of a kingdom, which he tells Pilate is not of this world. His resurrection, which shows him to be lord of death, sin and devil, will be followed by his ascension which is his coronation. He goes to be seated at the right hand of his Father from where he will rule. Pilate and Herod and all the powers of Rome could not prevail against him.   While these assassins can cause deep and inconsolable hurts to those left behind, Christians believe that we have the last word. As Jesus promised the thief at his right hand that he would be with him that day in Paradise, so he promises us that if we are in him, we will be raised as he was. The truth gives us courage when tyrants rage, but still the hurts go deep.   Flight to Egypt Henry Ossawa Tanner Joseph in responding to the angel in his second dream brings Jesus and Mary to Egypt and saves Jesus from death, for the time being. Jesus will go to his death thirty some years later. Joseph saves him so that Jesus can do his saving work for us. The scene of the holy family fleeing on a donkey into safety is a picture of great meaning and significance. God is using the simplest people to get his work done, battling the greatest empire on earth with the weakest and least: a simple carpenter, a new mother and a baby. Joseph is doing what God called him to do: protect his wife and child.   We may think God cannot use us as we are not very powerful. But as Paul makes clear many times, God’s strength is in weakness and here we see the truth of that. How impotent the powers of Herod are against the Lord of life, now just a nursing baby. It doesn’t make sense to us, but we know that it is true. When you take a step out into the unknown, praying for God’s guidance, you never know where it will lead. But I can promise you it will always end up in something surprising. Mary tells of the Flight to Egypt Flee! King Herod heard the wisemen tell Of a king’s nativity in Bethlehem. Murderous with power, the potentate cried. “Kill!“ Newborn baby boys threatened him Sweet in their mother’s arms, ripped from their hands. Joseph, dreaming of danger, took us south To Egypt, like Moses fleeing Pharaoh’s commands. Riding the donkey jogging me back and forth, Panicked by sights of soldier’s swords and shields We fled, nature’s cycles rolling by Riding along the greening barley fields, Emerald grain under a topaz sky, Nodding their blades of foliage in the breeze Innocent of Herod, his steel decrees. From The Sword of Eden Gracia Grindal Wipf and Stock 2018 link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Eden-Eve-Mary-Speak-ebook/dp/B07GDT16RN?ref_=ast_author_dp_rw&th=1&psc=1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kqaZVm0tjndj72W_0Wl7NUeqdICuSmwp4PTpxWpJIuWX43OtZek_J7JtQgbNvHUVFUpw798gc6Nag1cdq2fjDV7bh5c_ARIUzR5zYgGEqoCvof6pPFLuHnAjRuS2XH8wu1pPoDuuIvUBSLH9WG0KyFQlRm20cXHMX_H01HOdWik.Zi1FUr6FiQtqTuic-kVTK4Tf-8JinJab1MJq99-ScYw&dib_tag=AUTHOR   HYMN INFO Written for Holy Innocents day, this text remembers the phrase from Matthew 2:18, regarding the slaughter, “A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” . One hears Rachel weeping whenever there is a school shooting anywhere. James Clemens set the text which was included in my Festival and Martyrs collection Wayne Leopold published in 2017. Clemens is an accomplished composer of everything from musicals to hymn tunes. He lives in Virginia where he continues composing.   LINKS

Merry Christmas! Here is an old blog on Christmas bells! https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-280-i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day-kling-no-klokka

Read about the history of Christmas celebrations with Joy to the World as the hymn. Merry Christmas! Notice the ox and donkey who know what is going according to Isaiah https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymns-for-christmas-eve-joy-to-the-world-a-thousand-christmas-candles-gleam-nu-tändas-tusen-juleljus