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

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

LSB #858 "O Father, All Creating"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:18, 21-24; John 2:1-11; Psalm 127:1

Matthew 19:4-6:  "4 He answered, 'Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"?  6 So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.'"

Genesis 2:18:  "Then the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'"

Genesis 2:21-24:  "21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  22 And the rib that the LORD God has taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  23 Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.'  24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

John 2:1-11:  "1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'  4 And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what does this have to do with me?  My hour has not yet come.'  5 His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'

"6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  7 Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water.'  And they filled them up to the brim.  8 And he said to them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.'  So they took it.  9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, 'Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine.  But you have kept the good wine until now.'  11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.  And his disciples believed in him."

Psalm 127:1:  "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

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The text is public domain:
1 O Father, all creating,
Whose wisdom, love, and pow'r
First bound two lives together
In Eden's primal hour,
Today to these Your children
Your earliest gifts renew:
A home by You made happy,
A love by You kept true.

2 With good wine, Lord, at Cana
The wedding feast You blessed.
Grant also these Your presence,
And be their dearest guest.
Their store of earthly gladness
Transform to heav'nly wine,
And teach them, in the testing,
To know the gift divine.

3 O Spirit of the Father,
Breathe on them from above,
So searching in Your pureness,
So tender in Your love
That, guarded by Your presence
And kept from strife and sin,
Their hearts may heed Your guidance
And know You dwell within.

4 Unless You build it, Father,
The house is built in vain;
Unless You, Savior, bless it,
The joy will turn to pain.
But nothing breaks the union
Of hearts in You made one;
The love Your Spirit hallows
Is endless love begun.
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The first three citations (Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:18, 21-24) are all combined in the first half of the first verse:  "O Father, all creating, / Whose wisdom, love, and pow'r / First bound two lives together / In Eden's primal hour."

The passage from John 2 is referred to at the beginning of the second verse ("With good wine, Lord, at Cana / The wedding feast You blessed"), and Psalm 127:1 appears at the beginning of the fourth verse ("Unless You build it, Father / The house is built in vain").