Translated by Richard Massie, 1800-87.
Evening and Morning,
Sunset and dawning,
Wealth, peace, and gladness,
Comfort in sadness:
These are Thy works;
All the glory be Thine!
Times without number,
Awake or in slumber,
Thine eye observes us,
From danger preserves us,
Causing Thy mercy upon us to shine.
St. Paul admonished the Church to let the word of God dwell richly among us with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And by God's grace, the church has used God's gift of music to spread the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Generations of poets have left a great treasure to the church. They sang; and as they sang, they confessed Christ, they proclaimed His grace, they comforted His people. The hymnody of the church has never served the purpose of entertaining bored audiences, exciting restless bodies, or prosucing mystical encounters. On the contrary, the beauty of musical expression was seen as a fitting instrument to lead the faithful to meditate, appreciate and desire the true means of God's grace: His holy word, revealed through prophets, apostles, and ultimately in His Son, who instituted the holy sacraments by which His grace would be imparted on those who believe.
This blog is no way written by an expert; however, those who drink from the wells of Christian hymnody and discover its revigorating freshness cannot but speak of the songs they have heard and learned. As a grateful pupil of those who helped the church sing her praises to her Lord, I intend to share with anyone who deigns to read these rumblings a bit of the richness of Christian hymnody, scriptural, catholic, and Lutheran.
Paul Gerhardt's words not only provide the first sample, but also announce the main goal of this blog: to provide hymnic reflections for the daily prayer of God's people - especially for evening and morning prayer. Hopefully it will help and encourage not only the reader, but also the blogger to grow in the blessed habit of calling upon the name that is above all names, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Generations of poets have left a great treasure to the church. They sang; and as they sang, they confessed Christ, they proclaimed His grace, they comforted His people. The hymnody of the church has never served the purpose of entertaining bored audiences, exciting restless bodies, or prosucing mystical encounters. On the contrary, the beauty of musical expression was seen as a fitting instrument to lead the faithful to meditate, appreciate and desire the true means of God's grace: His holy word, revealed through prophets, apostles, and ultimately in His Son, who instituted the holy sacraments by which His grace would be imparted on those who believe.
This blog is no way written by an expert; however, those who drink from the wells of Christian hymnody and discover its revigorating freshness cannot but speak of the songs they have heard and learned. As a grateful pupil of those who helped the church sing her praises to her Lord, I intend to share with anyone who deigns to read these rumblings a bit of the richness of Christian hymnody, scriptural, catholic, and Lutheran.
Paul Gerhardt's words not only provide the first sample, but also announce the main goal of this blog: to provide hymnic reflections for the daily prayer of God's people - especially for evening and morning prayer. Hopefully it will help and encourage not only the reader, but also the blogger to grow in the blessed habit of calling upon the name that is above all names, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Father, O hear me,
Pardon and spare me;
Calm all my terrors,
Blot all my errors,
That by Thine eyes
They may no more be scanned.
Order my goings,
Direct all my doings;
As it may please Thee,
Retain or release me;
All I commit to Thy fatherly hand.
P.S.: How could TLH miss such a wonderful hymn is a mystery beyond my limited imagination.
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