"Magdalen" (TLH #370)

I had to put my guitar and bass in drop D tuning to accommodate notes out of the standard tuning range.  Had I seen these sooner, I would have just transposed the tune.

"Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright"

A couple years ago, I found some features in "Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright."  I had to wait a while until it was seasonally appropriate to write about, though; the hymn is for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, which is 29 September.

The hymn is sung to the tune "O quanta qualia."  Here's the second musical phrase:

In the second verse, the text here is "Lord God of Sabaoth, nearest Your throne," continuing the sense from the previous line:  "These are Your ministers, these are Your own" ("Lord God of Sabaoth" is a vocative).  "Nearest" is sung with a melisma (A G A), giving a sense of the superlative nature of the adjective (more notes for a higher degree).

The third musical phrase:

In the fourth verse, the text here is "Till, where their anthems they ceaselessly pour."  "Pour" is sung with a descending melisma (A G), giving something of a sense of its meaning, although it's used metaphorically.

The fourth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "Praise the Thrice Holy One, serving but Him."  "Holy" is sung to three notes (A G G), matching the modifying adverb "Thrice."

In the third verse, the text is "Then all the sons of God shouted for joy" (from Job 38:7).  "Sons" is sung with a melisma (A G), providing a sense of the entirety of "all," and "joy" is sung with a melisma (G F), giving a sense of ebullience.

LSB #749 "There Is a Balm in Gilead"

Biblical citation in the hymnal:  Jeremiah 8:18-9:2

Jeremiah 8:18-9:2:  "18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.  19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land:  'Is the LORD not in Zion?  Is her King not in her?'  'Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?'  20 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'  21 For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

"22 Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

"9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!  2 Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them!  For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men."

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The text is public domain:

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

1 Sometimes I feel discouraged

And think my work's in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

Revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

2 If you cannot preach like Peter,

If you cannot pray like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus

And say He died for all.

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

3 Don't ever feel discouraged,

For Jesus is your friend;

And if you lack for knowledge,

He'll ne'er refuse to lend.

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

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The text from Jeremiah seems to appear only in the refrains.  The line "There is a balm in Gilead" comes from verse 22; "the wounded" in the second line refers to verse 21; and the phrase "the sin-sick soul" in the last line seems to come from "my heart is sick within me" in verse 18.

"Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten" (TLH #369)

"O Holy Spirit, Grant Us Grace"

A couple weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from the 5th.  The hymn was "O Holy Spirit, Grant Us Grace," and I noticed a small feature in it.  It's sung to the tune "Es ist gewisslich."  Here's the fifth musical phrase:

In the second verse, the text here is "O make us die to ev'ry sin."  The phrase "ev'ry sin" is sung to notes of all different pitches (G E D), giving a sense of the breadth of "ev'ry."

LSB #748 "I'm But a Stranger Here"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Hebrews 11:13-16, Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 4:9

Hebrews 11:13-16:  "13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  14 For people who speak this make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

Philippians 3:20:  "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ"

Ephesians 2:19:  "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"

Hebrews 4:9:  "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God"

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The text is public domain:

1 I'm but a stranger here,

Heav'n is my home;

Earth is a desert drear,

Heav'n is my home.

Danger and sorrow stand

Round me on ev'ry hand;

Heav'n is my fatherland,

Heav'n is my home.

2 What though the tempest rage,

Heav'n is my home;

Short is my pilgrimage,

Heav'n is my home;

And time's wild wintry blast

Soon shall be overpast;

I shall reach home at last,

Heav'n is my home.

3 Therefore I murmur not,

Heav'n is my home;

Whate'er my earthly lot,

Heav'n is my home;

And I shall surely stand

There at my Lord's right hand;

Heav'n is my fatherland,

Heav'n is my home.

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All of the cited texts express a similar idea (although Hebrews 4:9 puts it in slightly different terms), and this appears throughout the hymn as "Heav'n is my home."

"Strangers and exiles" from Hebrews 11:13 and "strangers and aliens" from Ephesians 2:19 appear in the line "I'm but a stranger here" at the beginning of the hymn.  The same idea is also in Psalm 119:19:  "I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!"

"Surrey" (TLH #368)

"Lord of Our Life"

Last week, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 4 September.  The reading was from Ephesians 6, and I noticed verse 16 in particular:  "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one."  This seems to be the source of the imagery in the line "And with great spite their fiery darts are hurling" in the second verse of "Lord of Our Life."

(Here's a link to my post from last year about the Biblical sources for the hymn.)

LSB #747 "No Saint on Earth Lives Life to Self Alone"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 8:38-39, Romans 6:5-11

Romans 8:38-39:  " 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:5-11:  "5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.  8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

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Both cited passages could be included in "we with Christ are one" in the first verse, and the passage from Romans 6 has some general similarities with the hymn text as a whole, but really, the basis for the hymn is Romans 14:7-9:  "7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.  So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.  9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."  The hymn's first verse paraphrases verses 7-8, and the second verse paraphrases verse 9.  "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" from verse 8 appears at the end of both verses in the hymn.

The line "That to new life He might arise again" near the beginning of the second verse may also be based on Romans 6:4:  "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

"O Durchbrecher" (TLH #367)

LSB #746 "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 8:35-39, Ephesians 1:4-6

Romans 8:35-39:  "35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 1:4-6:  "4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."

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The text is public domain:

1 Through Jesus' blood and merit

I am at peace with God.

What, then, can daunt my spirit,

However dark my road?

My courage shall not fail me,

For God is on my side;

Though hell itself assail me,

Its rage I may deride.

2 There's nothing that can sever

From this great love of God;

No want, no pain whatever,

No famine, peril, flood.

Though thousand foes surround me,

For slaughter mark His sheep,

They never shall confound me,

The vict'ry I shall reap.

3 For neither life's temptation

Nor death's most trying hour

Nor angels of high station

Nor any other pow'r

Nor things that now are present

Nor things that are to come

Nor height, however pleasant,

Nor darkest depths of gloom

4 Nor any creature ever

Shall from the love of God

This ransomed sinner sever;

For in my Savior's blood

This love has its foundation;

God hears my faithful prayer

And long before creation

Named me His child and heir.

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The passage from Romans 8 is the main source for the hymn; verses 35-37 are paraphrased in the hymn's second verse, and verses 38-39 are paraphrased in the third verse and the first few lines of the fourth.

The passage from Ephesians 1 appears at the end of the fourth verse.

The line "Though thousand foes surround me" in the second verse may come from Psalm 3:6:  "I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around."

"Eins ist not" (TLH #366)

Part way through, this tune changes meter (from 4/4 to 6/4).  I had to put my guitar in drop D tuning to accommodate a couple notes in the tenor part.