"May God Embrace Us with His Grace" (LW #288)

I wrote two posts about "May God Bestow on Us His Grace" as it appears in The Lutheran Service Book (#823 and #824), but it appears in a different translation as "May God Embrace Us with His Grace" in Lutheran Worship (#288).  The original hymn is by Martin Luther.  The LSB translation is by Richard Massie, and the LW translation is by F. Samuel Janzow.  While the tune ("Es wolle Gott uns gnädig sein") is the same, albeit in a different key, it emphasizes different parts of the LW translation.

Here are the first two musical phrases, which are also repeated as the third and fourth phrases:

In the second verse, the text here is:

All people living on his globe,

Praise God with exultation!

The world puts on a festive robe

And sings its jubilation

"Exultation" and "jubilation" are both sung with a melisma (C A G D F G E), musically giving a sense of this ebullience.

Near the end of the third verse, there's the line "May people ev'rywhere be won" (the sense is completed in the next line:  "To love and praise you truly"), sung to this phrase:

The three syllables of "ev'rywhere" are each sung to a different pitch (D A G), and this provides a sense of breadth.

The first verse ends with the lines "Let Jesus' healing power be / Revealed in richest measure, / Converting ev'ry nation."  The last line is sung to this phrase:

"Nation" is sung with a melisma, with each syllable sung to a different pitch (F G E), and these features give a sense of number or breadth (for "ev'ry").

LSB #697 "Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Ephesians 5:1-14; Ephesians 3:16-19; 4:3-6

Ephesians 5:1-14:  "1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

"3 But sexual immortality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.  4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.  5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light.  Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'"

Ephesians 3:16-19:  "16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 4:3-6: "3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  4 There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

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The passage from Ephesians 5 is the primary source for the hymn text.  The end of verse 14 is paraphrased in the first half of the first verse ("Awake, O sleeper, rise from death, / And Christ shall give you light") and, along with verse 2, is referred to in the hymn's last verse ("For us Christ lived, and for us He died... Awake, arise, go forth in faith.").  Verse 2 also appears at the beginning of the third verse:  "Then walk in love as Christ has loved."

The passage from Ephesians 3 (specifically verses 18-19) is referred to at the end of the first verse:  "So learn His love, its length and breadth, / Its fullness, depth, and height."

The passage from Ephesians 4 (particularly verse 3) appears at the end of the second verse:  "He came... To give the Spirit's unity, / The very bond of peace."

"Holy, Holy, Holy"

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"Ach Gott und Herr" (TLH #317)

"May God Bestow on Us His Grace" (LSB #824)

This is the second post on "May God Bestow on Us His Grace," specifically LSB #824, where the text is sung to the tune "Elvet Banks."

Here are the first two musical phrases:

In the second verse, the text here is "Thine over all shall be the praise / And thanks of ev'ry nation."  "Nation" is sung with a melisma (E F G), giving a sense of amount (for "ev'ry").  The three syllables are also sung to all different pitches, and this adds to the effect, providing a sense of breadth.

In the third verse, the text is "O let the people praise Thy worth, / In all good works increasing."  Here, "increasing" is sung with a melisma (F E F G), and since there's an extra syllable, there's a sense of the word's meaning.

LSB #696 "O God, My Faithful God"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 John 5:14-15; James 1:5, 17; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

1 John 5:14-15:  "14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."

James 1:5:  "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

James 1:17:  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:  "16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

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The text is public domain:

O God, my faithful God,

True fountain ever flowing,

Without whom nothing is,

All perfect gifts bestowing:

Give me a healthy frame,

And may I have within

A conscience free from blame,

A soul unstained by sin.

Grant me the strength to do

With ready heart and willing

Whatever You command,

My calling here fulfilling;

That I do what I should

While trusting You to bless

The outcome for my good,

For You must give success.

Keep me from saying words

That later need recalling;

Guard me lest idle speech

May from my lips be falling;

But when within my place

I must and ought to speak,

Then to my words give grace

Lest I offend the weak.

Lord, let me win my foes

With kindly words and actions,

And let me find good friends

For counsel and correction.

Help me, as You have taught,

To love both great and small

And by Your Spirit's might

To live in peace with all.

Let me depart this life

Confiding in my Savior;

By grace receive my soul

That it may live forever;

And let my body have

A quiet resting place

Within a Christian grave;

And let it sleep in peace.

And on that final day

When all the dead are waking,

Stretch out Your mighty hand,

My deathly slumber breaking.

Then let me hear Your voice,

Redeem this earthly frame,

And bid me to rejoice

With those who love Your name.

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The asking in both 1 John 5:14-15 and James 1:5 seems to be the basis for the hymn and appears throughout the text.

James 1:17 appears in the line "All perfect gifts bestowing" in the first verse.

The sixth verse comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

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The line "Without whom nothing is" in the first verse bears some resemblance to John 1:3:  "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

The second verse seems to come (at least in part) from Romans 8:28:  "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

"Both great and small" in the fourth verse is a merism.

"Crown Him with Many Crowns"

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"Nun lob, mein' Seel'" (TLH #316)

"May God Bestow on Us His Grace" (LSB #823)

A couple years ago, I noticed some features in "May God Bestow on Us His Grace."  The hymn is paired with two different tunes in The Lutheran Service Book, and I noticed features in each, but I'm going to write about them separately.  This post is about LSB #823, where the text is sung to the tune "Es wolle Gott uns gnädig sein."  Here are the first two musical phrases, which are repeated as the third and fourth phrases:

The second verse begins with the lines "Thine over all shall be the praise / And thanks of ev'ry nation; / And all the world with joy shall raise / The voice of exultation."  "Nation" is sung with a melisma (F C Eb F D), giving a sense of amount for "ev'ry," and "joy" and "exultation" are both sung with melismas (C D and Bb G F C Eb F D, respectively), providing a sense of ebullience.

The third verse begins with the lines "O let the people praise Thy worth, / In all good works increasing; / The land shall plenteous fruit bring forth, / Thy Word is rich in blessing."  Here, there are multiple words sung with a melisma for a sense of abundance:  "increasing" (G F C Eb F D); "fruit" (C D), which is "plenteous"; and "blessing" (F C Eb F D), which is described as "rich."

LSB #695 "Not for Tongues of Heaven's Angels"

Biblical citation in the hymnal:  1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:  "1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have no love, I gain nothing.

"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

"8 Love never ends.  As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

"13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

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The hymn's first verse comes from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; the second and third verses come from verses 4-7; and the fourth verse comes from verses 8-13.

"Lead On, O King Eternal"

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"Ich sterbe täglich" (TLH #315)

"My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker"

A few years ago, I noticed a handful of features in "My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker," sung to the tune "Nun lob, mein' Seel'."  Here's the first musical phrase:

In the second verse, the text here is "He offers all His treasure."  "Treasure" is sung with a melisma (G A B), giving a sense of the entirety of that "all."

This phrase is re-used as the third phrase, and the same feature is also present in the line "His love beyond all measure" (still in the second verse).  Here, "measure" is sung with the same G A B melisma.

At the beginning of the fourth verse, the text is "His grace remains forever."  Here, "forever" is sung with a melisma (D G A B), and since it's stretched out, there's a sense of that duration.

About halfway through the first verse, there are the lines "Forget Him not whose meekness / Still bears with all your sin," sung to these musical phrases:

Similar to the above, "all" is sung with a melisma (F# G), giving something of a sense of entirety.  Additionally, "sin" is sung to a note held for five beats, and this long duration mirrors that great amount ("all").

A little more than halfway through the second verse, there's the line "And high as heav'n above us" (the sense is completed later in the verse:  "He puts our sins away"), sung to this musical phrase:

Pitchwise, "heav'n" (sung to a C) really is above "us" (sung to a G).

LSB #694 "Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tower"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 14:23, 1 John 4:19, John 8:12

John 14:23:  "Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.'"

1 John 4:19:  "We love because he first loved us."

John 8:12:  "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"

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The text is public domain:

Thee will I love, my strength, my tower;

Thee will I love, my hope, my joy.

Thee will I love with all my power,

With ardor time shall ne'er destroy.

Thee will I love, O Light divine,

So long as life is mine.

Thee will I love, my life, my Savior,

Who art my best and truest friend.

Thee will I love and praise forever,

For never shall Thy kindness end.

Thee will I love with all my heart -

Thou my Redeemer art!

I thank Thee, Jesus, Sun from heaven,

Whose radiance hath brought light to me;

I thank Thee, who has richly given

All that could make me glad and free;

I thank Thee that my soul is healed

By what Thy lips revealed.

O keep me watchful, then, and humble;

Permit me nevermore to stray.

Uphold me when my feet would stumble,

And keep me on the narrow way.

Fill all my nature with Thy light,

O Radiance strong and bright!

Thee will I love, my crown of gladness;

Thee will I love, my God and Lord,

Amid the darkest depths of sadness,

And not for hope of high reward,

For Thine own sake, O Light divine,

So long as life is mine.

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John 14:23 and 1 John 4:19 both seem to appear throughout the hymn ("Thee will I love") but more generally than specifically.

John 8:12 (particularly "'I am the light of the world'") seems to be referred to in a few places:  the phrase "O Light divine" in the first and fifth verses, the lines "I thank Thee, Jesus, Sun from heaven, / Whose radiance hath brought light to me" in the third verse, and the line "Fill all my nature with Thy light" in the fourth verse.

The description of God as "my tower" in the first verse may come from Psalm 61:3:  "for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy."

"He Leadeth Me"

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"Herr Jesu Christ, dich" (TLH #314)

"Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord"

When I wrote about the Biblical sources for "Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord" a little over a year ago, I noted that "For greatest and for least" is a merism.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Old 124th," and when I recorded the arrangement in The Lutheran Hymnal recently (where the hymn has a slightly different title:  "Draw Nigh and Take the Body of the Lord"), I noticed something else about this merism.  Here's the musical phrase to which the line "Offered was He for greatest and for least" is sung:

There's a B natural accidental, and to some degree, this complements the greatest/least merism.  The extreme opposites of the merism and this foreign tonality both provide a sense of range.