"I Walk in Danger All the Way"

A couple weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 20 May.  The hymn was "I Walk in Danger All the Way," and I noticed a way in which the tune ("Der lieben Sonne Licht und Pracht") represents the text.

Here's the last musical phrase:

The melody here is conjunct (not skipping any notes in the scale), and it gives an impression of the steps involved in the "walk[ing]" mentioned in most of the lines sung to this phrase:  "I walk in danger all the way" in the first verse, "I walk with angels all the way" in the fourth, "I walk with Jesus all the way" in the fifth, and "My walk is heav'nward all the way" in the sixth.

[Years ago, I noted a similar feature elsewhere in the hymn.]

LSB #842 "Son of God, Eternal Savior"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Peter 1:20-23; Hebrews 7:25; John 13:34-35; 17:20-21

1 Peter 1:20-23:  "20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

"22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God"

Hebrews 7:25:  "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

John 13:34-35:  "34 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:  just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'"

John 17:20-21:  "20 'I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'"

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The text is public domain:

1 Son of God, eternal Savior,

Source of life and truth and grace,

Word made flesh, whose birth among us

Hallows all our human race,

You our Head, who, throned in glory,

For Your own will ever plead:

Fill us with Your love and pity,

Heal our wrongs, and help our need.

2 As You, Lord, have lived for others,

So may we for others live.

Freely have Your gifts been granted;

Freely may Your servants give.

Yours the gold and Yours the silver,

Yours the wealth of land and sea;

We but stewards of Your bounty

Held in solemn trust will be.

3 Come, O Christ, and reign among us,

King of love and Prince of Peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion,

Bid its cruel discords cease.

By Your patient years of toiling,

By Your silent hours of pain,

Quench our fevered thirst of pleasure,

Stem our selfish greed of gain.

4 Son of God, eternal Savior,

Source of life and truth and grace,

Word made flesh, whose birth among us

Hallows all our human race:

By Your praying, by Your willing

That Your people should be one,

Grant, O grant our hope's fruition:

Here on earth Your will be done.

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1 Peter 1:20-21 seems to appear in the first half of the first verse (repeated as the first half of the fourth verse), although the hymn text bears a stronger resemblance to other Biblical passages, such as John 1:14 ("And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.") and John 14:6 ("Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.'").  1 Peter 1:22 is combined with John 13:34-35 at the beginning of the second verse:  "As You, Lord, have lived for others, / So may we for others live."

The intercession in Hebrews 7:25 is referred to in the first verse:  "Your our Head, who, throned in glory, / For Your own will ever plead."

John 17:20-21 is alluded to in the fourth verse:  "By Your praying, by Your willing / That Your people should be one."

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Perhaps just coincidentally, the line "Yours the gold and Yours the silver" in the second verse bears some resemblance to Haggai 2:8:  "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts."

The title Prince of Peace in the third verse comes from Isaiah 9:6:  "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

The line "Here on earth Your will be done" at the end of the fourth verse echoes Matthew 6:10:  "'Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'"

"I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

I recently watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 6 May.  The hymn was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," and in it, I noticed yet an-other instance where a phrase starting with "all" is sung to notes of all different pitches, resulting in a sense of extent or entirety.

The fifth verse starts with the line "He lives to silence all my fears," sung to this phrase from "Duke Street":

The phrase "all my fears" is sung to the notes D C# B A.

LSB #841 "O Son of God, in Galilee"

Biblical citation in the hymnal:  Mark 7:32-37

Mark 7:32-37:  "32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.  33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.  34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'  35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.  36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one.  But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.  37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, 'He has done all things well.  He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'"

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While it's obvious that the hymn is based on this passage from Mark 7, there are only a couple elements from the passage that are actually in the hymn text.  Part of verse 37 is the basis for the first three lines of the hymn ("O Son of God, in Galilee / You made the deaf to hear, / The mute to speak, the blind to see") and for the first half of the third verse ("The speechless tongue, the lifeless ear / You can restore, O Lord"), and the word ephphatha from verse 34 appears in the second half of the third verse ("Your 'Ephphatha,' O Savior dear, / Can instant help afford").

The line "O bid them cast on You their care" in the second verse bears some resemblance to the first part of Psalm 55:22 ("Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you") and 1 Peter 5:7 ("casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you").

"Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest"

A couple years ago, I noticed two small features in "Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" (paired with the tune "Komm, Gott Schöpfer").

The fourth verse starts with the line "Your light to ev'ry thought impart," sung to this musical phrase:

The words "ev'ry thought" are sung to notes of all different pitches (spanning a fifth:  Eb F Bb), giving a sense of this extent.

The third verse ends with the lines "While You with tongues of fire proclaim / To all the world His holy name."  The second of these is sung to this musical phrase:

Similar to the above, the phrase "all the world" is sung to notes of all different pitches (again spanning a fifth:  Bb G Eb), lending some sense of the entirety of "all."

LSB #840 "Christ High-Ascended, Now in Glory Seated"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 28-18-20, Acts 1:8, Philippians 2:9-11, John 16:19-24

Matthew 28:18-20:  "18 And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"

Acts 1:8:  "'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'"

Philippians 2:9-11:  "9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

John 16:19-24:  "19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, 'Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, "A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me"?  20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.  21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.  23 In that day you will ask nothing of me.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.  24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.'"

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Matthew 28:18-20 is paraphrased in the second verse, in the line "To win disciples out of ev'ry nation" in the third verse, and in the fourth verse.

Acts 1:8 appears in the line "We are His witnesses" at the end of each verse and in the line "Filled with His Spirit, love and pow'r receiving" near the end of the fifth verse.

The passage from Philippians 2 is referred to at the beginning of the first verse:  "Christ high-ascended, now in glory seated, / Throned and exalted, victory completed."

The passage from John 16 is the basis for the line "As at His parting, joy shall banish grieving" at the beginning of the fifth verse.