"Lord, Whose Love through Humble Service"

A couple years ago, I noted a few instances in "Lord, Whose Love through Humble Service" where "freedom" or "freed" are sung with melismas.  Since the words aren't constrained to only one or two syllables, there's a sense of their meaning.

The first instance is in the third line of the second verse:  "Still the captives long for freedom," sung to this phrase from the tune "Beach Spring":

"Freedom" is sung to the notes G F D.

Later in the second verse, there's the line "Healed the sick and freed the soul," sung to this musical phrase:

"Freed" is sung to the notes A G.

Finally, at the end of the fourth verse, there are the lines "That Your servants, Lord, in freedom / May Your mercy know and live."  The first of these two lines is sung to this phrase:

Here, "freedom" is again sung to the notes G F D.

LSB #671 "Sing with All the Saints in Glory"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Revelation 7:9-17; 21:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:9; John 14:1-3

Revelation 7:9-17:  "9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'  11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.'

"13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?'  14 I said to him, 'Sir, you know.'  And he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"15 'Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'"

Revelation 21:1-5:  "1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'

"5 And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'  Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

1 Corinthians 2:9:  "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'"

John 14:1-3:  "1 'Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  2 In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.'"

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The text is public domain:

Sing with all the saints in glory,

Sing the resurrection song!

Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,

To the former days belong.

All around the clouds are breaking;

Soon the storms of time shall cease;

In God's likeness we awaken,

Knowing everlasting peace.

Oh, what glory, far exceeding

All that eye has yet perceived!

Holiest hearts for ages pleading

Never that full joy conceived.

God has promised, Christ prepares it;

There on high our welcome waits.

Ev'ry humble spirit shares it,

Christ has passed the eternal gates.

Life eternal! Heav'n rejoices:

Jesus lives who once was dead.

Shout with joy, O deathless voices!

Child of God, lift up your head!

Life eternal! Oh, what wonders

Crowd on faith; what joy unknown,

When, amid earth's closing thunders,

Saints shall stand before the throne!

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Most of the hymn is drawn from the passages from Revelation.

The first half of the second verse comes from 1 Corinthians 2:9, and the following lines ("God has promised, Christ prepares it; / There on high our welcome waits") are from the passage from John 14.

"Praise to the Lord"

Registration:

Upper:  42 8875 543

Lower:  00 5645 322

Pedal:  44

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"St. Anne" (TLH #291)

"Through Jesus' Blood and Merit"

About a year ago, I wrote a post about some features in "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit," but when it was the hymn in a Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service I watched recently, I found an-other small point to note.

The third line in the third verse, continuing the list of things that cannot separate us from the love of God, is "Nor angels of high station," sung to this phrase from the tune "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen":

"High" is sung to the highest pitch in the phrase (an A), so there's something of a sense of its meaning.

LSB #670 "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Revelation 7:9-15; 14:1-3; Ephesians 5:19; Luke 1:46-55

Revelation 7:9-15:  "9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'  11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.'

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?'  14 I said to him, 'Sir, you know.'  And he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 'Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.'"

Revelation 14:1-3:  "1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.  2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.  The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.  No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth."

Ephesians 5:19:  "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart"

Luke 1:46-55:  "46 And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.  For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'"

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The text is public domain:

Ye watchers and ye holy ones,

Bright seraphs, cherubim, and thrones,

Raise the glad strain: "Alleluia!"

Cry out, dominions, princedoms, pow'rs,

Virtues, arch-angels, angels' choirs:

"Alleluia, alleluia!

"Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!"

O higher than the cherubim,

More glorious than the seraphim,

Lead their praises: "Alleluia!"

Thou bearer of the eternal Word,

Most gracious, magnify the Lord:

"Alleluia, alleluia!

"Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!"

Respond, ye souls in endless rest,

Ye patriarchs and prophets blest:

"Alleluia, alleluia!"

Ye holy Twelve, ye martyrs strong,

All saints triumphant, raise the song:

"Alleluia, alleluia!

"Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!"

O friends, in gladness let us sing,

Supernal anthems echoing:

"Alleluia, alleluia!"

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One:

"Alleluia, alleluia!

"Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!"

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The two passages from Revelation appear throughout the hymn but in a more general way.

The passage from Luke is referred to in the lines "Thou bearer of the eternal Word, / Most gracious, magnify the Lord" in the second verse, and Ephesians 5:19 appears in the lines "O friends, in gladness let us sing, / Supernal anthems echoing" in the fourth verse.

"Jesus, Lover of My Soul"

Registration:

Upper:  40 8888 004

Lower:  00 6535 241

Pedal:  42

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"Wo Gott zum Haus" (TLH #290)

Transposed from Eb major to F major

"My Faith Looks Up to Thee"

A couple months ago, when I was practicing the arrangement of "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" in James Bastien's Great Hymns Arranged for Organ, I noticed a feature that's a bit obscured in The Lutheran Service Book (because there's a line break in the music in the middle of this phrase).

Near the end of the first verse, there's the line "Take all my guilt away," sung to this musical phrase from the tune "Olivet":

(I followed the LSB setting, which is in D major; in Bastien's book, the tune is in C major.)

The three words in the phrase "all my guilt" are each sung to a different pitch (F# G A), and this provides a sense of the entirety of that "all."

LSB #669 "Come, We That Love the Lord"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Isaiah 35:8-18, Psalm 48:2, Jeremiah 31:12, Psalm 149:2

I'm assuming that the "18" in the hymnal is a typo because Isaiah 35 has only 10 verses.

Isaiah 35:8-10:  "8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.  It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.  9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.  10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Psalm 48:2:  "beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King."

Jeremiah 31:12:  "They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more."

Psalm 149:2:  "Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!"

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The text is public domain:

Come, we that love the Lord,

And let our joys be known;

Join in a song with sweet accord,

Join in a song with sweet accord

And thus surround the throne,

And thus surround the throne.

We're marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion;

We're marching upward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.

Let those refuse to sing

Who never knew our God;

But children of the heav'nly King,

But children of the heav'nly King

May speak their joys abroad,

May speak their joys aboard.

We're marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion;

We're marching upward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.

The hill of Zion yields

A thousand sacred sweets

Before we reach the heav'nly fields,

Before we reach the heav'nly fields,

Or walk the golden streets,

Or walk the golden streets.

We're marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion;

We're marching upward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.

Then let our songs abound,

And ev'ry tear be dry;

We're marching through Emmanuel's ground,

We're marching through Emmanuel's ground

To fairer worlds on high,

To fairer worlds on high.

We're marching to Zion,

Beautiful, beautiful Zion;

We're marching upward to Zion,

The beautiful city of God.

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All of the cited passages seem to be combined in the first two lines of the first verse ("Come, we that love the Lord, / And let our joys be known") and in the refrain.  The passage from Isaiah is a bit more prominent in the refrain, though; the walking in verses 8-9 appears as "marching" in the hymn.

The passages from Isaiah and Jeremiah also appear in the line "Join in a song with sweet accord" in the first verse and "Then let our songs abound" in the last verse, although the context in the first verse ("And thus surround the throne") also recalls Revelation 5 and 7.

The verse from Jeremiah is also present at the beginning of the third verse:  "The hill of Zion yields / A thousand sacred sweets."

The description of "golden streets" in the third verse seems to come from Revelation 21:21 ("the street of the city was pure gold").

The line "And ev'ry tear be dry" in the last verse could come from "sorrow and sighing shall flee away" in Isaiah 35:10 or even "they shall languish no more" in Jeremiah 31:12, although it has a greater similarity to "the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces" in Isaiah 25:8 or "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes" in Revelation 21:4.

"Sun of My Soul"

Registration:

Upper:  00 7856 321

Lower:  00 5432 222

Pedal:  44

Played with the "mellow" drawbar organ sound on my Hammond SKX, with the Hammond XPK-130G pedals

"Old Hundredth" (TLH #289)