LSB #595 "O Blessed Spring"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 15:1-5, Genesis 2:9, Revelation 22:14

John 15:1-5:  "1 'I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  4 Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  5 I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.'"

Genesis 2:9:  "And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.  The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

Revelation 22:14:  "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."

+++

The hymn uses the imagery from John 15, and Jesus as the vine is mentioned specifically in the first and fifth verses.

The other two cited verses (but mostly Revelation 22:14) appear in the last two lines of the fifth verse:  "That Word and water thus revive / And join us to Your Tree of Life."

The line "We breathe our last, return to dust" in the fourth verse refers to either Genesis 3:19 ("'By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'") or Ecclesiastes 3:20 ("All go to one place.  All are from the dust, and to dust all return.").

"St. Agnes"

This is the first recording in a new series I'm doing (and for which "Farley Castle" was my trial run).  Using recorders, I'm going to record the tunes named after saints, combining arrangements from The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, and The Lutheran Service Book.  I have no set schedule for these, although I'm going to post them on Tuesdays.

"St. Agnes" appears in only The Lutheran Hymnal (#361) and The Lutheran Service Book (#554), but the arrangement is the same.

"Aus meines Herzens Grunde" (TLH #217)

"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"

Recently, I was thinking about "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and remembered some features I'd noticed last year in a version by the Isley Brothers.  I dug out my copy of All God's People Sing! and found that it includes "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" (#117), although the melody there is different from what I'm familiar with.  The melody (titled "In His Hands") changes a bit from verse to verse, but the first verse (as I know it) is something like:

The text for the first verse is

He's got the whole world in His hands,

He's got the whole wide world in His hands,

He's got the whole world in His hands,

He's got the whole world in His hands.

The first three "whole"s are sung to half notes, and the difference between the lengths of these half notes and the much shorter values of the surrounding notes provides a sense of that entirety.  The first three "world"s are each sung with a melisma (A F, G E, A F, respectively), and this gives a sense of the breadth of "whole" and "wide."

Each verse simply substitutes something else for "the whole world."  The second verse alternates between "the wind and the rain" and "the sun and the moon"; the third verse repeats "the tiny little baby"; and the fourth verse alternates between "you and me, brother" and "you and me, sister."  To some degree, then, the text is a rhetorical catalogue, listing various entities that are "in His hands" and indicating the all-encompassing nature of God's care.

LSB #594 "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 6:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Titus 3:4-7

Romans 6:1-10:  "1 What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  2 By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?  3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  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.

"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."

1 Peter 3:18-22:  "18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him."

Titus 3:4-7:  "4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

+++

These three texts are similar enough that it's difficult to say where or if the hymn draws from one more than the others.  The first and last lines, however, ("God's own child, I gladly say it" and "I'm a child of paradise!") seem to refer to "becom[ing] heirs" in Titus 3:7.

The beginning of the fifth verse ("There is nothing worth comparing / To this life-long comfort sure!") seems to borrow from Romans 8:18:  "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

"Lobt Gott, ihr Christen" (TLH #106)

"Dearest Jesus, We Are Here"

When I wrote a post about the Biblical sources of "Dearest Jesus, We Are Here," I noticed a small feature in the music.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier."  Here's the second-to-last phrase:

In the third verse, the text here is "In Your arms be shielded ever."  As if the demonstrate the duration of that "ever," "shielded" is sung with a melisma (G A G).

LSB #593 "See This Wonder in the Making"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 3:16-17, Titus 3:3-7, Ephesians 5:25b-26, Mark 10:16

Matthew 3:16-17:  "16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'"

Titus 3:3-7:  "3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaved to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Ephesians 5:25b-26:  "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word"

Mark 10:16:  "And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them."

+++

The text from Matthew 3 seems to appear in the second verse, specifically in the line "And the Father beams, 'Beloved.'"  The text from Mark 10 is at the end of the third verse:  "God, into Your arms we place him/her/them, / With Your love and peace embrace him/her/them."

The text from Ephesians comes at the very end of the hymn, the last line of the fourth verse:  "Born again by Word and water."

The text from Titus informs the hymn (especially the first two verses) more broadly, although the line "'Heir of gifts a king would covet!'" at the end of the hymn's second verse seems to refer to verse 7.

"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (TLH #95)

Because this is a shorter tune, I went through it three times.

"Father Most Holy"

While working on the post about the Biblical sources of "Father Most Holy" last year, I noticed some small features in the hymn.  It's sung to the tune "Christe sanctorum"; here's the last musical phrase:

The end of the second verse calls the Trinity "Hope of all living."  "Living" is sung with a melisma (F# E D), musically giving a sense of the entirety of that "all."

The fourth verse ends with the lines "Glory we offer, praise Thee and adore Thee, / Now and forever."  Here, "forever" is sung with a melisma (G F# E D), musically giving a sense of duration.

The whole note in this phrase is the longest note value in the entire tune, and it also provides a sense of the breadth of "all living" and the duration of "forever."

LSB #592 "Dearest Jesus, We Are Here"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Mark 10:13-16, John 3:3-6

Mark 10:13-16:  "13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.  14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'  16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them."

John 3:3-6:  "3 Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'  4 Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'  5 Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'"

+++

The text is public domain:

Dearest Jesus, we are here,

Gladly Your command obeying;

With this child we now draw near

In response to Your own saying

That to You it shall be given

As a child and heir of heaven.

Your command is clear and plain,

And we would obey it duly:

"You must all be born again,

Heart and life renewing truly,

Born of water and the Spirit,

And My kingdom thus inherit."

Therefore we have come to You,

In our arms this infant bearing.

Truly here Your grace we view;

May this child, Your mercy sharing,

In Your arms be shielded ever,

Yours on earth and Yours forever.

Gracious Head, Your member own;

Shepherd, take Your lamb and feed it;

Prince of Peace, make here Your throne;

Way of Life, to heaven lead it;

Precious Vine, let nothing sever

From Your side this branch forever.

Now into Your heart we pour

Prayers that from our hearts proceeded.

Our petitions heav'nward soar;

May our hearts' desires be heeded!

Write the name we now have given;

Write it in the book of heaven!

+++

The text from Mark appears in the first and third verses, and the text from John appears in the second verse.

There are a multitude of references in the fourth verse.  "Gracious Head, Your member own" seems to refer to Ephesians 5:23:  "For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior."  "Shepherd, take Your lamb and feed it" refers to the Good Shepherd in John 10.  "Prince of Peace" comes from Isaiah 9:6; "Way of Life" from John 14:6 ("'I am the way, and the truth, and the life'"); and "Precious Vine, let nothing sever / From Your side this branch forever" from John 15.

"Write the name we now have given; / Write it in the book of heaven!" at the end of the fifth verse seems to come from Revelation 3:5:  "'The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.  I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.'"

"Farley Castle" (LSB #786)

I did this mostly as a test to see what a hymn tune would sound like if I did the higher three parts with recorders (soprano, alto, and tenor) and the lowest with electric bass.  I'm considered doing a project using this instrumentation.