We sing the praise of Him who died,
Of Him who died upon the cross,
The sinner's hope let all deride.
For this we count the world but loss.
Inscribed upon the cross we see
In shining letters "God is love."
He bears our sins upon the tree,
He brings us mercy from above.
The cross! It takes our guilt away;
It holds the fainting spirit up;
It cheers with hope the gloomy day
And sweetens ev'ry bitter cup.
It makes the coward spirit brave
And nerves the feeble arm for fight;
It takes the terror from the grave
And gilds the bed of death with light;
The balm of life, the cure of woe,
The measure and the pledge of love,
The sinner's refuge here below,
The angels' theme in heav'n above.
To Christ, who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevemore.
LSB 429
4 comments:
Thanks for this Wil. (And I'll let you comment on the Bach poem from today's TDP.)
This is one of my favorite Lenten hymns:
-In shining letters, "God is love" (Who knew INRI meant God is love?)
-Verse 3 preaches to me all the time, especially when I feel my guilt, when my spirit faints, when the day is gloomy, and when the cup is bitter.
-The cross is the balm of all life and the cure of all woe.
We sang this on Sunday. It was wonderful then and it's wonderful today. Thanks.
Jeremy,
Yes, I love that "in shining letters" bit - it can't go more to the heart of matters.
You know, our hymnal has taken its fair share of knocks, but over all it leaves me astonished at the treasures it has preserved or introduced us to. The gold far, far outweighs the straw.
Wil, I'm fairly new at 'critiquing' hymmals, and I don't like to look for issues in hymnals. I believe I have a fairly good familiarity with the ones in use in Lutheranism. My father's church used TLH, then in the late 70s moved to LBW. His next church had both TLH and LW in the pew, eventually moving strictly to LW. Attended CURF and went to chapel everyday there and then at the St. Louis seminary. Vicared at a church that used Wisconsin's CW. My first parish used TLH and the 1998 Supplement. My current parish has moved from LW to LSB.
With that being said, (and I don't believe I am transgressing the Second Commandment) but: OMG! I love LSB! The more I used LW, the more deficient it seemed to be, especially the translations of the hymns. I realize that not everyone is a 'fan' of Richard John Neuhaus, but in a recent edition of Forum Letter, they reprinted something he had written about the nefarious Alt. Why do we believe we are so much smarter than the men and women who wrote the hymns and poems and prose of the past? And why do clergy disrespect their laity so much by thinking that the laity cannot understand the thees, thous, and thys that are contained in some of the solid literature?
From the Divine Services and the Daily Offices and the body of the hymns and the prayers for the people, LSB is fantastic. Nothing will ever be perfect, but this is as close as this fool can imagine.
Sorry for the length.
And have you read the Bach poem contained in today's gift from TDP? Also fantastic.
Jeremy
Yes, just finished Matins and read the Bach. Beautiful.
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