28 May 2007

Truly a Great Hymn

Doesn't this puppy just bring joy? I know it does to me. And the way the hymn kicks from 4/4 to 3/4 halfway through each stanza sets the whole thing dancing:

One thing’s needful; Lord this treasure
Teach me highly to regard.
All else, though it first give pleasure,
Is a yoke that presses hard!
Beneath it the heart is still fretting and striving,
No true lasting happiness ever deriving.
This one thing is needful; all others are vain –
I count all but loss that I Christ may obtain.

Wisdom’s highest, noblest treasure,
Jesus, is revealed in You.
Let me find in You my pleasure,
And my wayward will subdue,
Humility there and simplicity reigning
In paths of true wisdom my steps ever training.
If I learn from Jesus this knowledge divine,
The blessing of heavenly wisdom is mine.

Nothing have I, Christ, to offer,
You alone, my highest good.
Nothing have I, Lord, to proffer
But Your crimson-colored blood.
Your death on the cross has death wholly defeated
And thereby my righteousness fully completed;
Salvation’s white raiments I there do obtain,
And in them in glory with You I shall reign.

Therefore You alone, my Savior,
Shall be all in all to me;
Search my heart and my behavior,
Root out all hypocrisy.
Though all my life’s pilgrimage, guard and uphold me,
In loving forgiveness, O Jesus, enfold me.
This one thing is needful; all others are vain –
I count all but loss that I Christ may obtain!
LSB 536:1,3-5

2 comments:

Susan said...

Have you looked at it in ELH? ELH has three beautiful stanzas tucked between the last two you quoted. My favorite is:

Jesus, in Thy cross are centered
all the marvels of Thy grace.
Thou, my Savior, once hast entered
through Thy blood the holy place.
Thy sacrifice holy there wrought my redemption;
From Satan's dominion I now have exemption.
The way is now free to the Father's high throne,
where I may approach Him, in Thy name alone.


I put the ELH stanzas on a post-it note and stuck in in my LSB. Can't sing it in church that way, but it's there for my own prayers.

William Weedon said...

Thanks, Susan! What a great stanza that one is!