Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Friday, March 21, 2025

"Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense"

A few weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 25 February, in which the hymn was "Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense."  I noticed a small feature in it but also discovered a note I'd previously made but neglected to write about here.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Jesus, meine Zuversicht."  Here's the fourth musical phrase:


In the eighth verse, the text here is "While you here His footsteps follow."  The melody is mostly conjunct (from A to C), so there's a musical sense of these "footsteps."

Here are the last two musical phrases:


In the fifth verse, the text here is "In this flesh I then shall see / Jesus Christ eternally."  "Eternally" is sung to notes that have a combined total of seven beats (a quarter note, a dotted quarter note, an eighth note, and a whole note), the longest of any single word in the entire hymn.  This musical duration matches the meaning of the word.