Philipp Nicolai, 1556-1608
How lovely shines the Morning Star!
The nations see and hail afar
The light in
Thou David's Son of Jacob's race,
My Bridegroom and my King of Grace,
For Thee my heart is pining.
Lowly,
Holy,
Great and glorious,
Thou victorious
Prince of graces,
Filling all the heavenly places.
O highest joy by mortals won,
True Son of God and Mary's Son,
Thou high-born King of ages!
Thou art my heart's most beauteous Flower,
And Thy blest Gospel's saving power
My raptured soul engages.
Thou mine,
I Thine;
Sing hosanna!
Heavenly manna
Tasting, eating,
Whilst Thy love in songs repeating.
Now richly to my waiting heart,
O Thou, my God, deign to impart
The grace of love undying.
In Thy blest body let me be,
E'en as the branch is in the tree,
Thy life my life supplying.
Sighing,
Crying.
For the savor
Of Thy favor;
Resting never,
Till I rest in Thee forever.
A pledge of peace from God I see
When Thy pure eyes are turned to me
To show me Thy good pleasure.
Jesus, Thy Spirit and Thy Word,
Thy body and Thy blood, afford
My soul its dearest treasure.
Keep me
Kindly
In Thy favor,
O my Savior!
Thou wilt cheer me;
Thy Word calls me to draw near Thee.
Thou, mighty Father, in Thy Son
Didst love me ere Thou hadst begun
This ancient world's foundation.
Thy Son hath made a friend of me,
And when in spirit Him I see,
I joy in tribulation.
What bliss
Is this!
He that liveth
To me giveth
Life forever;
Nothing me from Him can sever.
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, every day,
Till traveling days be ended.
Sing out,
Ring out
Triumph glorious,
O victorious,
Chosen nation;
Praise the God of your salvation.
Oh, joy to know that Thou, my Friend,
Art Lord, Beginning without end,
The First and Last, Eternal!
And Thou at length – O glorious grace! –
Wilt 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 Thy returning.
Each morning we wake up to a new light-flooded day and, guided by the sunlight, we go about our work. In this hymn by Lutheran pastor Phillip Nikolai, that light is not taken for granted. The appearance in the sky of the morning star gives the clue for the author’s singing of Christ, the light of the world and the bright star that guides the church in this world of darkness. With Christ, our morning star fair and bright, we begin the task of our day rejoicing.
This is a hymn that transcends any brief reflection. The marvellous tune, “Wie schön leuchtet,” also known as “the queen of chorales,” is matched to a text of deep evangelical piety, a true teacher of the most genuine Lutheran faith. The true Son of God becomes Mary’s son; He comes to earth to give His life for us that we may live for Him and say: “Thou mine, I Thine; Sing hosanna!”
That union, in which the Son of God binds us to Himself with cords of sacrificial love, finds its most profound expression in the Sacrament of the Altar. There He gives us His body to eat, His blood to drink, that we become branches of the life-giving vine and members of His body, the church.
In this life-giving supper God reveals the love He had for us before the world’s foundation, revealed now in the appearance of His Son in the flesh to make of us, who where enemies, friends of God. This assurance that the Living Christ is our source of life helps us sing even in tribulation, for nothing can separate us from God since the body and blood of Christ have united us to Him.
This is the Christian faith. We live under the cross, yet we rejoice, for Christ bore our sins on His cross to crown us with His glory. "Christ will be with me all the way, Today, tomorrow, every day;" and so we go into our earthly vocations – our jobs or roles in which as a holy priesthood we praise God in serving our neighbour. We rise each new morning, begin each new year, with the prayer that the Lord will soon come and take us into the eternal rest in His kingdom:
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to testify to you about these things for the churches.
I am the root and the descendant of David,
the bright morning star.”
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”
And let the one who hears say, “Come.”
And let the one who is thirsty come;
let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
He who testifies to these things says,
“Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:16.17.20
2 comments:
Nice layout for the hymn with the text looking like a chalice. It almost seems like the author did it on purpose.
Today we sang this hymn in church out of LSB. Stanza 2 from TLH has been deleted, and the translation is obviouly inferior to that of TLH (I mean the English text is much weaker).
In some places it has taken a clear Calvinward twist:
Jesus, Thy Spirit and Thy Word,
Thy Body and Thy Blood, afford
My sould its deepest treasure.
. became
Your Word and Spirit, flesh and blood
Refresh our sould with heavenly food.
You are our dearest treasure.
With so many people praising LSB, it is interesting that we hear so few comments on the decay of our hymnology sanctioned by commissions of worship. The LSB editors boast of expanding the Communion section of the hymnal; what about the Communion stanzas of our greatest hymns?
Please, give us our TLHs back!
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