Malachi 4:1 (ESV) "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
The Scripture reading for this episode is Mark 7 with commentary from the Kretzmann Commentary Series. The hymn this time is “Who Trusts in God A Strong Abode” found on page 714 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Dan makes the case that “Mark 7 has all sorts of Gospel goodness in it. First Christ calls out the Pharisees for setting up rules that actually get in the way of hearing the word of God and obeying it. He then, by His word, declares all foods clean. Third, the faith of the Gentile receives the word of the Lord and responds according what is promised to you and me so that her daughter may be relieved of a demon. Finally, through his word, “Be opened!” He makes the deaf-mute hear and speak.”
The hymn “Who Trusts in God A Strong Abode” is a proclamation of security. Jesus’ saving merit is our hope and consolation, our defense against what we encounter in this life.
Be sure to stop by, say howdy, and thank Dan for doing such a great job on Time Out, Episode 84!
Issues, Etc. had a great segment on Monday with Pastor Wil Weedon of St. Paul Lutheran-Hamel, IL study the Te Deum, one of the Christian church’s most ancient hymns of praise. I hope everyone will take some time out of their day and listen to Pastor Weedon walk through this marvelous hymn that is so strong theologically that Martin Luther thought it should be one of our creeds. Listen here.
The Te Deum is one of my absolute favorite hymns and I enjoy singing it once or twice a month during the Order of Matins on the Sundays. While the Stephan Starke setting of the Te Deum used on the show is not my favorite setting, I couldn’t help but smile and sing along as the verses were being played while on my way home in the car last night.
Here is the text for one the greatest sung confessions on this side of eternity and the other side of eternity as well if Pastor Weedon is correct in his sanctified speculation (and I have no reason to think otherwise!):
Te Deum Laudamus
We praise you O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord; all the earth now worships you, the Father everlasting. To you all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein; to you cherubim and seraphim continually do cry: Holy, holy, holy Holy Lord, God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise you, the goodly fellowship of the prophets praise you, the noble army of martyrs praise you, the holy Church throughout all the world does acknowledge you: the Father of an infinite majesty, your adorable, true, and only Son, also the Holy Spirit, the counselor. You are the King of glory, O Christ. You are the everlasting Son of the Father. When you took upon yourself to deliver man, you humbled yourself to be born of a virgin. When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You sit at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe that you will come to be our judge. We therefore pray you help your servants, whom you have redeemed with your precious blood. Make them to be numbered with your saints in glory everlasting.
Just so ya’ll don’t think it’s just me… here’s Pastor Tom Chryst’s excellent list on evaluating hymnondy to be sung during the Divine Service:
Words:
1. Is it Christian? If a Jew or Mormon or Buddhist could sing the song without pause, it is likely not a Christian song.
2. Does it mention Jesus (Christ) by name? Titles such as Savior and Lord are not wrong, but songs/hymns are most clear when the proper name is used. It leaves no room for confusion.
3. Does it mention the cross? Or does it speak nebulously about God’s love apart from this central teaching?
4. Does it balance Law and Gospel? (Especially troublesome is if Gospel is absent)
5. Does it suggest salvation has to do with my work, decision, commitment or heart, or does it rather make clear that we receive everything as a gift from God alone?
6. Does it rightly show our good works as a response to God’s good work in Christ, or does it leave the impression God justifies us in response to our action? Could it give such an impression?
7. Does it specifically teach some false doctrine (like the Rapture, for instance)?
8. Does it refer at all to the Means of Grace (Word and Sacraments of Baptism and Communion)? Or does it suggest we receive from God apart from such means?
9. Does it make prayer into a sacrament (which offers grace)? Does it suggest a certain prayer must be prayed to invite Jesus into our hearts? (Decision theology)
10. Is it scriptural? There should be a strong scriptural connection, rather than lofty and abstract concepts tied to no particular text.
11. Does it present a corporate view of the church, or does it overly emphasize the importance of the individual? (Us/We vs. I/Me) “Me-and-Jesus” music should be avoided.
Music:
1. Is the music beautiful?
2. Is the tune appropriate to the text? Does the “mood” fit?
3. Is the music inappropriately difficult for the singers?
4. Does the tune carry “baggage” (i.e., a familiar Christmas tune should not be used in Lent. Likewise certain secular tunes have strong associative ideas we might want to avoid)
5. Does the music “play on the emotions”? This should be avoided.
6. Is the music reverent?
7. Does the music have a timeless quality, or is it too strongly associated with a narrow style?
Pastor Chryst, who is an associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Racine, WI, is an excellent and faithful preacher whose sermons and general musings can be found at Preachrblog. His blog has long been favorite read of mine as are his appearances on Issues, Etc.
I was having a “friendly discussion” with a friend of mine concerning what goes on during worship on a Sunday morning recently on Facebook. After much back and forth about the Divine Service versus praise and worship as a mere preference (it’s not a matter of personal preference for confessional Lutherans but that is a whole other can of worms and another post to be written for a later discussion…) I was asked who, in my ever so humble opinion, should test the hymnody. Should that responsibility fall to the pastor or maybe it should be the music minister. I was also asked how my church handles a situation where “the called staff find a song acceptable and you personally do not, how does your church handle that?”
The first thing that I think would be helpful is to establish a standard so that we remove our personal preferences from the equation. I may like the old Greek and Latin hymnody (I’m referring to the style of hymns and not the Latin or Greek language) but just because I like a certain era’s hymns doesn’t mean that anyone else will. By setting up some guidelines the thorny issue of a hymn’s aesthetic value as a personal preference will be greatly diminished.
A few years ago I posted a simple list which I thought was an excellent guide as to how we can evaluate hymnody so that the matter of personal preference or subjectivity could be pushed to the back burner and a more objective standard could be set forth as a means to judge what we sing on a Sunday morning:
1) Is the Crucified and Risen Christ Jesus the indispensable center of the hymn? 2) Does the hymn clearly proclaim Christ’s vicarious satisfaction as the sinner’s salvation? 3) Is the hymn grounded on a clear, Scriptural text? 4) Does the hymn point us clearly to the Church’s ministry of word and Sacrament as the place where we surely receive Christ’s gifts? 5) Does the hymn make clear that it is entirely Christ’s work alone that saves us without works, responses, or proper feelings of our own? 6) Does the hymn make clear that the faith which alone justifies is not a human work, but a free gift given by God’s choosing of us (not our choosing of Him), in Christ Jesus, through Word and Sacrament? 7) If the hymn speaks of the Christians response to Christ’s gifts, does it make clear that it is what Christ does for us and not what we do for Him that is the center of the Church’s life and mission? Does it make clear that sanctification is as much by faith alone as is justification? 8) Has the hymn been properly tested and tried by the Lutheran Church? 9) Does the hymn inspire in us a hunger and thirst for the things of Christ Jesus and His Kingdom that is coming? 10) Does the hymn drive you clearly, unerringly to the sound doctrine of Christ Jesus rather than merely let you free associate it’s words with sound teaching? 11) Does the tune bear repeated singing? That is, could you sing it twenty times in a row and not feel sick to your stomach? 12) Is it a hymn that the congregation knows or can sing with some choir support?
If we used the criteria listed above to apply a modicum of discernment for what we sing on a Sunday morning, we would have far fewer disagreements on theological matters than currently plague our beloved synod. Why do I say that? It’s simple: because we would singing our one clear confession of faith and with one clear voice and not with as many confessions as there are voices as there are personal preferences.
And, so ya’ll don’t think I’m just picking on the music led by your praise bands and such, this criteria works just fine with choirs leading our sung confession as well! Don’t think that just because a congregation employs a choir that they are immune to singing goofy songs that should never be sung within the walls of a Lutheran sanctuary. The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of consultant provided guides being used in Lutheran circles that recommend that we use pop culture songs to make the unchurched seeker more comfortable in the name of evangelism. I know we paid some consultants a good penny or two for evangelism advice but chances are that if the song was popular on top 40 radio it ain’t gonna pass even one of the criteria listed above and doesn't need to sung from the balcony by our choirs or the pews by the congregations. The same thing goes for last week’s top ten list over at K-Love which takes vapid and adds a dash of the eww that’s kinda creepy factor with songs that seem to favor effeminate or romantic language that is more appropriate with ones spouse than the risen Christ! Nope, nonsense like that fails our simple evaluation big time and is best left off the rotation of regular hymns.
As to the question of who should test the hymns, the pastor with the input of a layperson with some theological training on staff or who has volunteered to run the music program works nicely. It’s important that both the pastor and the congregation work together in picking hymns to be sung within the Divine Service. The laity should rely on the pastor’s theological knowledge to ensure that no errors are present in the hymns and that the hymn is appropriate or a particular Sunday’s pericope as well as hold that pastor to account should he err (and he will err from time to time as he is a poor miserable sinner like the rest of us) and choose hymns that do not meet the a standard we all should hope for. It should never be an either or situation that has the pastor or laity subservient to the other as we are all slaves to Christ.
I’ve been criticized on more than one occasion, usually by my evangelical friends but also by Lutheran folk, for just not being emotive enough on a Sunday morning while singing hymns. How anybody can tell that I’m not getting emotional enough by looking at a list of the hymns we sing in a bulletin without actually standing next me in the pew and monitoring my facial expressions, body language, and lacrimation output is beyond me.
Well, to all those folk who think that my attachment to good catechetical and historical hymns has left me unable to be emotional or incapable of singing along with praise team leader and not feel the words that I’m singing, let me once and for all put your mind at ease.
The embedded video is a praise song from the Crazy Praize Volume 3 CD. The CD is described thusly:
The third volume in this very popular series of wacky praise songs for kids features ten new songs, with equally silly motions guaranteed to produce giggles and guffaws every time. Great for kids worship times, or anytime, these songs are not only fun, but they're loaded with scriptural truth to reinforce the message of God's love and grace in the hearts of children- young and old. In addition to the hilarious songs on the recording, there is a companion DVD available that teaches 7 of the amusing titles motions(notated in the song list by an *), and a DVD with lyrics and moving images for background use for every song.
I think it’s safe for me to say, without any reservation whatsoever, that if I sang the song in the video, on a Sunday morning, in my church, I would get very, very emotional. Really. No joke.
In spite of this month being one of the busiest I’ve experienced in years, I took a friend up on her offer to participate in a discussion where a commenter on her site was trying to make the case that songs of the contemporary Christian music variety’s focus on the “personal relationship” was no different that that of the personal nature of the Palms. Wrote the commenter:
As for the “personal relationship” aspect of new hymns, read the psalms, the hymnbook in our bible, and it is so personal, you can’t escape the first person, personal expression, speaking out to God, crying out to God aspect of it. Three kinds of psalms – mad, glad or sad. All personal. So many traditional Lutheran hymns are just loaded with secondary discourse – you can sing them and keep your distance and stay far away as you doze off, waiting for them to be done soon.
And later:
As for expediency, I just find it is way easier to reach people in worship using modern contemporary sounding music whether it is amazing grace with guitar, A Mighty Fortress on Guitar, or something being written today. I’ve heard they have Luther’s original chart of A Mighty Fortress, arranged on… guitar. Lutherans broke the mold with indigenous contemporary worship but, for the most part, have let the evangelicals pave the way, the Lutherans sticking to what was familiar to them. We are not doing what Luther did. We stay comfortable rather than reach new people. We prefer insider language and music. Seems different to me than what Jesus would have done. Didn’t he leave everything to reach those far from God? If contemporary worship music helps us reach new people, and traditional hymnody honestly just scares many people away, are we sticking with our traditions at the expense of the great commission?
Boy howdy, talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight! Those two hundred and thirty eight words have enough fodder for a month’s worth of posts!
First, the statement "Lutherans broke the mold with indigenous contemporary worship" is simply untrue even if it is repeated entirely too often. It was many, many years before the reformers even moved the Divine Service from Latin to the vernacular German. In the Augsburg Confession (ACXXIV) the Lutheran reformers went so far as to confess that they preserved the order of the mass, save the parts sung in Latin and the hymns which were in German to “to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ].” Again, what was that about teaching being “secondary”? No sir, teaching in traditional Lutheran hymnody was always a primary function of these hymns and not something “secondary” or something to “doze off” to.
The most elementary look at church history would find that singing by the congregations had almost disappeared by the time of the reformation. By the sixteenth century most of the singing was entrusted only to professional choirs or musicians. It was the reformers who brought back sung confessions of the church catholic to the laity in the Greek, Latin, and yes, German hymnody (and by Greek and Latin I mean the style of the hymns and not the languages) so that these hymns would strengthen Christ’s church.
To think that the hymns of saints whom have fallen asleep no longer have anything to offer us today is as theologically uninformed as it is arrogant. Traditional Lutherans sing the hymns they do because of their theological depth and their clear confession of Christ and His work and not because they are trying to use “insider language and music” and keep to themselves. A singing, confessing church is a proclaiming church and in doing so she is in fact carrying out the Great Commission. A singing, confessing church uses her hymnody to make disciples by teaching all that her Lord has given her in song as well as by the Word.
But what of the Psalms? Do they show us that we need to follow the contemporary Christian music’s trend to make the “personal relationship” the material principle of our sung confession and not follow the reformation tradition of hymn as a catechetical device?
I take issue with the Psalms being perceived as personalized in the same way that the majority of modern Christian music accomplishes its personalization. The easiest way to test contemporary Christian music is to simply look at the grammar: scrutinizing who the song about by looking at who is the subject of the verbs. If we, or our feelings, or our works, or our actions are the subject of the song, it is about us and is not about us the work and person of Jesus. Using the Psalms as a baseline is actually a pretty good idea in that our hymnody should at least measure up to the various psalmists in both proclamation as well as theological content. When put side by side with the Psalms, the vast majority of contemporary Christian music simply doesn’t measure up as it’s clichéd and vapid with it’s banality guaranteeing it’s proper place in the pile of forgotten one hit wonders currently playing on K-LOVE.
Yep, I’ll be happy to use the Psalms as a “traditional” benchmark any day of the week!
Back on June 26, Dr. T. David Gordon, author of Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal was on my favorite radio program Issues, Etc. Today’s Issues, Etc. Today's Issues, Etc. soundbite of the day is from that interview and has Dr. Gordon making the case that there are some children's hymns that have more depth theologically than contemporary worship songs.
An evangelical friend of mine, who I had not talked with for some time, called me Saturday evening on her way home. She said that since it was such a long drive she thought she would give me and the missus a shout as she had a few hours to burn.
When she asked me “guess what I did this morning?” I gave my usual random off the wall quirky answer “uh, you killed yerself a couple of possums?” Usually when people ask me a question to which I know I’m not going to even be in the right ballpark I’ll throw out the color blue as the reply and just wait for the look of muted confusion. I get that a lot even when I don’t try goofy words or phrases for some reason… I wonder why?
Anyhoo, the appropriate answer to my friend’s question was that she had used the Lutheran Service Book that I sent to her a few years back. I sent her a copy so that if I was ever asked lead a morning devotion, as I’ve been asked to do on occasion, I would have a copy of the Order of Matins to start us off. For what it’s worth, if I’m not attending a morning service that offers the Eucharist I would much rather follow the Order of Matins instead of one of our regular Divine Services whether it’s setting I or III as is the norm in my congregation.
My friend told me she followed the morning prayers, jumped around a little bit and ended up meditating on the one my favorite hymns: O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken by Johann Heermann. She stated that it was “a dark hymn but sometimes we’ve got to go there”. And that got me thinking…
For those of us that follow the historical church’s liturgical calendar we are now almost through the season of Lent. Lent traditionally is viewed as a more somber or penitential season of the Church year which has the hymnody and the passages of Scripture focusing intently on Jesus’ turning His face toward Jerusalem and ultimately His cross to atone for the sins of all the world.
While the most popular voices of Americanized Christianity have eliminated any talk of the cross and Christ’s suffering on that cursed tree in our stead for a false assurance relying of their own good works and intentions as well as changing the world with visioned purpose, Lent for the more liturgically minded is a time of looking to the cross with confidence and through the eyes of faith; seeing God’s love on full display in that all the Father’s wrath has been propitiated through the sacrifice of the Son.
Lent for me has never really been a somber time of the year. It has however been a chance to stop (or at least turn down a bit) my own sinful narcissism and look, as we are called to do, to Jesus and what He did and continues to do for us each and every day. This is especially pertinent when we gather together in His name to hear the Word preached faithfully and receive the Sacraments rightfully administered.
Any season, week, or day of the liturgical church year that is able to focus our eyes back on the Crucified and Risen Savior is not a somber occasion but rather a joyous one. Yes, the depths of our sins become more apparent as the blameless one takes all our sins upon Himself at Golgotha to reconcile us with the God the Father but that is the tremendous depth of our Lord’s grace and love for His wayward children. The wonderful thing about Lenten hymnody, whether it’s from the pen of Heermann, Gerhardt, or any of a multitude of fine church musicians, is that what at first glance appears to be dark or somber, when seen through the eyes of faith, is really a proper understanding of how far a merciful Lord will go to redeem those who He loves. That salvific love hidden in the form of a cross is joy to Christian, even in the season of Lent.
For our opening hymn on Sunday we sang O God, Thou faithful God by Johann Heerman which can be found on page 696 of the Lutheran Service Book. What a great hymn! While not in Lenten section (we are in Lent ya know!) of the hymnal what a terrific hymn to sing this time of the year.
What struck me more than anything else was the last two stanzas in that they confess that which we hope for; the bodily resurrection after we pass through this life’s final portal. Take a look:
Let me depart this life Confiding in my Savior; Do Thou my soul receive That it may live forever; And let my body have A quiet resting place Within a Christian grave; And let it sleep in peace.
And on that solemn day When all the dead are waking, Stretch o’er my grave Thy hand, Thyself my slumbers breaking. Then let me hear Thy voice, Change Thou this earthly frame, And bid me aye rejoice With those who love Thy Name.
Maybe those stanzas stood out because this week marks a two year anniversery of the death of one of my oldest and dearest friends. Maybe it was because of the class I’m currently teaching in Sunday school where I remind the students over and over that our faith is, as the writer to the Hebrews states, a faith in things hoped for and not seen even as we study the historicity of the Bible.
Either way, the last two stanzas brought me comfort as I sung them with the assurance and confidence that no more does death have its sting thanks to Christ’s work on the cross.
Here is the hymn in its entirety:
O God, Thou faithful God, Thou fountain ever flowing, Without whom nothing is, All perfect gifts bestowing, Grant me a healthy frame, And give me, Lord, within, A conscience free from blame, A soul unhurt by gain.
And grant me, Lord, to do, With ready heart and willing, Whate’er Thou shalt command, My calling here fulfilling; And do it when I ought, With zeal and joyfulness, And bless the work I’ve wrought, For Thou must give success.
Oh, let me never speak What bounds of truth exceedeth; Grant that no idle word From out my mouth proceedeth; And then, when in my place I must and ought to speak, My words grant power and grace Lest I offend the weak.
If dangers gather round, Still keep me calm and fearless; Help me to bear the cross When life is dark and cheerless, To overcome my foe With words and actions kind; When counsel I would know, Good counsel let me find.
And let me with all men, As far as in me lieth, In peace and friendship live, And if Thy gift supplieth Great wealth and honor fair, Then this refuse me not, That naught be mingled there Of goods unjustly got. If Thou a longer life Hast here on earth decreed me;
If Thou through many ills To age at length wilt lead me, Thy patience on me shed. Avert all sin and shame And crown my hoary head With honor free from blame.
Let me depart this life Confiding in my Savior; Do Thou my soul receive That it may live forever; And let my body have A quiet resting place Within a Christian grave; And let it sleep in peace.
And on that solemn day When all the dead are waking, Stretch o’er my grave Thy hand, Thyself my slumbers breaking. Then let me hear Thy voice, Change Thou this earthly frame, And bid me aye rejoice With those who love Thy Name
This soundbite is a quite a bit late as my windows based laptop that I had most of my files on had a pretty serious problem (hey, what windows based machine doesn’t haven’t problems…) and had to be carted off to be fixed. Well, the laptop is back and almost all my files are back where they are supposed to be. With that said…
Today’s soundbite is from the same segment that gave us the last soundbite of the day and gives us Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwisch of Emmaus Lutheran Church-South Bend, IN answering the question “are old hymns outdated and can they still be relevant in today’s church?”
For today’s soundbite Dr. Stuckwisch responds to hosts Todd Wilken’s questions concerning what makes good hymns good and then later what makes bad hymns bad.
I’m a few days behind on listening to my podcasts so it took me a few days to get to…
The Rev. Dr. Arthur A. Just Jr. of Concordia Theological Seminary was a guest last Friday on Issues, Etc. and had the opportunity to look at a relativity new hymn that offers both catechesis and proper praise of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.
Too often folks like myself are accused, yes accused, of not appreciating or even tolerating any hymnody that isn’t from the sixteenth or prior centuries. This simply isn’t the case at all. What people like myself require of our hymnody is that the hymn be a sung confession that speaks both what Jesus did for us and continues to do for us today.
Praise The One Who Breaks the Darkness is one of those hymns that speaks beautifully of the salvific work of Jesus who breaks into our world of sin and darkness and rescues his fallen creatures by offering up Himself as a sacrifice. This simple yet sublime hymn was written by Rusty Edwards only a few years ago and I’m sure will stand the same test of time that the church catholic has put to many of the Greek, Latin, and reformation era hymns that we joyfully sing today.
In the embedded clip, Dr. Just walks us through this wonderful hymn and discusses the Biblical themes of salvation that our Lord so graciously offers. Here is the text of this great hymn:
Praise the one who breaks the darkness with a liberating light. Praise the one who frees the prisoners, turning blindness into sight. Praise the one who preached the Gospel, healing every dread disease, calming storms and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace. Praise the one who blessed the children with a strong yet gentle word. Praise the one who drove out demons with a piercing two-edged sword. Praise the one who brings cool water to the desert's burning sand. From this well comes living water, quenching thirst in every land. Praise the one true love incarnate: Christ who suffered in our place. Jesus died and rose for many that we may know God by grace. Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our God has done. Praise the one redeeming glory, praise the One who makes us one.
There are few things better than a hymn that confesses our hope in the last day when all things of this world will pass away and our Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth for our resurrected bodies. I loves me my hymns of the eschaton.
Now, some may view the embedded video and think that I’m just gonna have a field day and only make fun of this “Breakfast Son”; that is not the case. Nope, mocking such a video is for angry bloggers and as we all know, I’m about the most cheerful chap you’d ever want to meet.
I actually like the darned thing because of the hope it confesses. Sure, some may lament that there may or may not be bacon and oatmeal in heaven but I think there is something deeper going on here. First, the bacon in the song is clearly a metaphor for the curse of the Law that will pass away. Second, all things must pass away and we should sing joyfully of this great truth!
And most importantly, even if there is no eggs benedict or French toast in heaven, then at least we have the comfort that the scourge of both the Advent and Lenten dinners hosted by men’s fellowship’ groups all across the country wont be there either, that’s right folks; pancakes.
I love both the penitential seasons of the Advent and Lent and the dinners that precede the midweek services almost as much. But, why somebody hasn’t just come right out and said that inflicting pancakes filled with M&Ms and raisins on the congregations of our beloved synod year after year after year is just plain wrong and simply beyond me.
So if we can sing of the joy to come; a heaven without pancakes thrust upon us for dinner because nobody want to upset the oldsters, then this Breakfast Song is a song of joy that I will gladly sing during the seasons of Advent and Lent. Whether there is bacon in heaven matters not as long as our songs sing of an eternity without pancakes.
Now, who do I call to get this song put in the LSB supplement?
In a comment on a recent post I was asked by someone new to POTF to give my thoughts on a particular song. I think this song would qualify as a praise song as I’ve heard similar lyrics sung in Sunday worship services of friends of mine who do not share my traditional Lutheran sensibilities. I’ve always taken requests here at POTF so there was no reason at all to not accepted the challenge.
Since “What a friend I've found” isn’t a traditional hymn I’ll be using a shorter but succinct method that I use to judge not only hymnody but sermons as well: the Wilken Diagnostic. The Wilken Diagnostic is a three step evaluation popularized on my favorite radio program Issues, Etc. by host Pr. Todd Wilken that goes like this:
1. How often is Jesus mentioned?
2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs? Is Jesus the one who acts, or are you?
3. What are the verbs? What has Jesus done and what is He doing?
Now, keeping the Wilken Diagnostic in the back of our minds as we read “What a friend I've found” written by Martin Smith; here’s the lyrics:
What a friend I've found, Closer than a brother
I have felt your touch,More intimate than lovers
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, friend forever
What a hope I've found, More faithful than a mother
It would break my heart,To ever lose each otherchorus repeat until end
So, using the Wilken Diagnostic, let’s start answering the questions.
1. How often is Jesus mentioned? Well, Jesus does get mentioned in the chorus and that’s a lot more than some songs I’ve heard that purport to be Christian. It’s true that Jesus is our friend and that will indeed last an eternity but He’s a bit more than that, isn’t He. I just think “Jesus, friend forever” leaves out nearly everything about who Jesus is and what he does which is a nice segue into our next diagnostic question.
2. Is Jesus the subject of the verbs? Is Jesus the one who acts, or are you? This question is a crucial one because if Jesus isn’t doing the doing, He’s not doing anything at all. The first line the song seems to fail this particular test. Do we as poor sinful creatures really find Jesus? Are we capable of coming to know anything about Jesus on our own? Let’s see what Scripture says about our own ability; let’s look at what St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:1-8;
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
So, we are indeed dead in our sins and can only receive faith as a gift from God. In the above text, who is running the verbs? It’s God ain’t it? Yep, and thanks be to God that by grace He does this even though we don’t deserve it. The Lord looks at us and sees, not fallen creatures, but His only begotten Son’s blood drenched robes and declares us righteous on the account of Christ. All that sin that we carry with us is atoned for at Calvary. If we are to be honest about it, we could say we had a part only in the fact that it was our sin that caused Him to be nailed to the cursed tree.
Now let’s also look at the words of Jesus in John 15:1-6;
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
The key phrase here is Jesus saying “for apart from me you can do nothing.” Here Jesus reminds us that everything is dependent on God’s grace, even the good works that bear fruit are gifts from the Spirit! All the doing is God doing the doing. All our lives, whether we talk of faith or works it is God running the verbs.
So can we “find” Jesus? Not on our own we can’t. To say or even think that we run the verbs goes against what Scripture proclaims! The song “What a friend I've found” doesn’t have Jesus doing the doing but rather it has us and what we do and what we think and what we feel as the subject of the verbs.
This brings to our last question;
3. What are the verbs? What has Jesus done and what is He doing? If Jesus isn’t the subject of the verbs, this question must simply be left blank. Not much more to say than that other than to lament the fact that the song fails to mention what Jesus did out of love for all His poor miserable creature! The story of Jesus’ work at the cross is called good news for a reason! If I’m gonna sing about Jesus, I sorta want to sing about the evangel, the good news. If that wonderful story isn’t at the center of your song… I really don’t feel comfortable singing it because it doesn't say anything that offers me any hope for the sin which infects all of us to core; Jesus’ atonement on the cross which allows me, through no work of my own, be declared righteous before the Lord God almighty.
Lastly, while this thought doesn’t fall under the Wilken Diagnostic, I still feel it needs to be said; I would be really uncomfortable singing the first stanza with a line like “I have felt your touch, More intimate than lovers” in any setting. We often speak of Christ as the Bridegroom and His Church as the bride but in the last few years there has been an explosion of songs that seem to use erotic language when referring to our Lord. I fail to see how Christ’s Church is edified with such language.
It’s true that the Song of Songs has some imagery that describes a very intimate relationship (this book of Scripture in particular is often sited as an excuses for the sexualization of both hymnody and preaching) but texts of this sort do not give us license to turn our songs into soft core porn ditties that resemble hits(?) sung by so many over sexualized pop stars seen on stations that still play music videos. Sorry, but I still get creeped out every time I hear a song that requires me to constantly remind myself it supposed to be about our Lord!
Ask yourself this; if you scratched out the name Jesus and wrote in either the name Andy or Andrea into the chorus, does the song still work if you sing it as a love song to your respective boyfriend or girlfriend? If you answer in the affirmative, I fail to see how anybody can enjoy singing such a song.
I’m afraid I can’t give my approval to the song “What a friend I've found”. With so many good hymns out there, both ancient and modern, that are able to speak of Christ’s salvific work and even our response, why sing a song that falls so short of confessing how God expresses love and our response?
Today’s Issues, Etc. soundbite of the day is from an interview on July 17 with Dr. Paul Grime. Dr. Grime is an Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions and Dean of the Chapel at Concordia Theological Seminary up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In today’s soundbite Dr. Grime debunks the myth that Luther brought in bar tunes into the church.
I’ve heard this urban legend being used on more than one occasion to justify the sneaking in of popular culture’s music through the portals of our sanctuaries. The thinking is this; that if we make church sound more like the culture we’ll attract more people and thereby grow Christ’s Church. I’ve even seen an evangelism “suggestion” saying if we just play a Randy Newman or John Fogerty song as “bumper music” the people will feel more comfortable and not scared away by too much of that scary church music.
The fact of the matter is; is that if we make our sacred places look and sound like the culture they cease to be sacred spaces. Christianity has always been countercultural and has never conformed to what was going on outside the walls of our sanctuaries.
Dr. Grime’s comments tearing down the falsehood that Luther would take songs sung in taverns and make hymns out of them by explaining what a bar form is just, well, it’s just music to my ears and is today’s Issues, Etc. soundbite of the day.
It’s no secret for anyone who reads my drivel on a regular basis that I love the great old hymns of the historic church. There is really something to be said for hymns that stood the test of time (and with time a good bit of theological scrutiny) and made it into the hymnals which we use today.
I am sometimes wrongly accused, usually by my evangelical brothers in the faith, of not recognizing that hymns are being written and sung today that meet the same standards as the old Greek and Latin hymns I love so much. This is simply an incorrect assumption. There are indeed great hymns being written today and I can say with certainty that more great hymns that confess or proclaim Jesus will be written as long as our Lord tarries.
One of the hymns that I believe will stand the test of time is Pastor Steven Starke’s “The Tree of Life” which was reviewed on Issues, Etc. last week. Pastor Starke’s hymn wonderfully takes us from the Tree of Life to man’s fall (in chapter 3 of Genesis) by Adam’s sin of eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then to God’s plan of salvation for his disobedient children through another tree; Christ’s cross at Calvary. Just as man’s story starts with Tree of life; Starke ends the hymn with an eschatological look forward to eternity. Starke ends the hymn with us looking to eat once more of the Tree of Life in God’s presence as He intended (Rev 2:7 and 22:2).
This beautiful hymn’s walks us through the biblical story of man’s fall and God’s salvation by Grace in the work and person of Jesus as good as any solid Bible study. This great new hymn can be found on page 561 of the Lutheran Service Book.
Here’s the text of the Tree of Life;
1. The tree of life with ev'ry good In Eden's holy orchard stood, And of its fruit so pure and sweet God let the man and women eat. Yet in this garden also grew Another tree, of which they knew; Its lovely limbs with fruit adorned Against whose eating God had warned.
2. The stillness of that sacred grove Was broken, as the serpent strove With tempting voice Eve to beguile And Adam too by sin defile. O day of sadness when the breath Of fear and darkness, doubt and death, Its awful poison first displayed Within the world so newly made.
3. What mercy God showed to our race, A plan of rescue by His grace: In sending One from woman's seed, The One to fill our greatest need-- For on tree uplifted high His only Son for sin would die, Would drink the cup of scorn and dread To crush the ancient serpent's head!
4. Now from that tree of Jesus' shame Flows life eternal in His name; For all who trust and will believe, Salvation's living fruit receive. And of its fruit so pure and sweet The Lord invites the world to eat, To find within this cross of wood The tree of life with ev'ry good.
And here is the segment of Issues, Etc. with Pastor Steven Starke discussing the same:
Do you know why there I’ll never sing any hymns of terror on a Sunday morning? The reason for this is that the hymns that my congregation sing will always proclaim the joy of the Gospel. That’s not to say that the terror of the consequences of not keeping God’s righteous and perfect Law isn’t in our hymns, but the law simply can not comfort the right minded Christian (we like our hymns to be about Jesus doing the doing). A good hymn is simply a sung confession of the Gospel proclamation that repeats back what we given in God’s Holy Word.
I would argue that there is no better hymn that walks us through our problem of sin and the work of Christ to propitiate God’s wrath and bring us back into communion with Him after we fell into sin than reformation era hymn Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice by Dr. Luther.
This was our sermon hymn and it has always been one of my favorites. I guess my reasoning is that the hymn really mirrors my own experience of looking inward and to my own works and the result of that self made hell as well as the joy of hearing that it was the work of Christ on the cross that I should take comfort in.
1. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, With exultation springing, And, with united heart and voice, And holy rapture singing, Proclaim the wonders God hath done, How His right arm the victory won; Right dearly it hath cost him.
2. Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay. Death brooded darkly o'er me. Sin was my torment night and day. In sin my mother bore me. Yea, deep and deeper still I fell. Life had become a living hell, So firmly sin possessed me.
3. My own good works availed me naught, No merit they attaining. Free will against God's judgment fought, Dead to all good remaining. My fears increased till sheer despair Left naught but death to be my share. The pains of hell I suffered.
4. But God beheld my wretched state Before the world's foundation. And, mindful of His mercies great, He planned my soul's salvation. A father's heart He turned to me, Sought my redemption fervently. He gave His dearest Treasure.
5. He spoke to His beloved Son: 'Tis time to have compassion. Then go, bright Jewel of My crown, And bring to man salvation; From sin and sorrow set him free. Slay bitter death for him that he May live with Thee forever.
6. This Son obeyed His Father's will, Was born of virgin mother. And God's good pleasure to fulfil, He came to be my Brother. No garb of pomp or power He wore, A servant's form, like mine, He bore, To lead the devil captive.
7. To me He spake: Hold fast to Me, I am thy Rock and Castle; Thy ransom I Myself will be, For thee I strive and wrestle; For I am with thess, I am thine, And evermore thou shalt be mine. The foe shall not divide us.
8. The foe shall shed my precious blood, Me of My life bereaving. All this I suffer for thy good Be steadfast and believing. Life shall from death the victory win. My innocence shall bear thy sin; So art thou blest forever.
9. Now to My Father I depart, The Holy Spirit sending And heavenly wisdom to impart My help to thee extending. He shall in trouble comfort thee, Teach thee to know and follow Me, And in all truth shall guide thee.
10. What I have done and taught, teach thou, My ways forsake thou never. So shall My kingdom flourish now And God be praised forever. Take heed lest men with base alloy The heavenly treasure should destroy. This counsel I bequeath thee.
My pastor pointed out something in his sermon a few weeks ago that caught me a bit off guard;
“And this is how the disciples respond to the Resurrection, to seeing Christ return in the flesh—with terror and fear. Now, I know the hymnal fairly well. There are lots of hymns for Easter about “Easter triumph, Easter joy. But I haven’t found the hymn yet on “Easter Terror, Easter Fear”.”
Huh? Never thought about that? Never sang an Easter terror hymn either, did ya? Don’t worry, neither have I and I don’t expect to any time soon.
If I’m honest here I’d have to say that I think I’ve been jumping over too quickly how terrified the disciples truly were following Good Friday. Let’s take a quick look at what Scripture says concerning the disciples fearful state:
Matthew 28:1-8 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
Mark 16:1-8 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Luke 24:1-8 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”And they remembered His words.
Our Gospel reading for this past Sunday was John 20:19-23
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
I’ve never blamed the disciples (or thought twice about it if I’m being honest here) for being afraid as that guy that they had been following around for three years, who claimed that He was actually God in human flesh, had just been crucified, died, and was placed in a tomb. At the end of the day they were justified in being afraid because as Jesus’ disciples they had just as big a bull’s-eye on their backs as their Lord and Master.
The caveat here is that Jesus not only claimed that he was God; He proved that He was God by raising Himself from the dead!
After the resurrection Jesus appears to His disciples not as a ghost or phantom but rather physically with a body that still bears the evidence of His crucifixion. His body can be touched and can even eat broiled fish on a beach. Go ahead and tell me that you wouldn’t be a little apprehensive if you were in the disciples sandals, I dare ya. I double dog dare ya!
But our Lord declares that they will, by His Word, have peace and need not worry or fear about those who might do them harm. If Jesus says you have peace, then you have that peace which passes all understanding.
Getting back to my pastor’s point in the sermon, I think he’s right and there are no hymns that sing, or at least start off singing about the real terror that the disciples experienced until Jesus appears and puts them at ease.
I’ve always said that hymnody should reflect the pericope of the day but in lieu of a new hymnal supplement I guess we’ll continue singing our Easter joy hymns. And at the end of the day, I’m really ok with that…
What the heck is with the peppy musical settings of Palm Sunday hymnody?
Great hymns like Ride On, Ride On in Majesty certainly reflect the pericope or Scripture reading of the day (which is one of the tests with which we measure our hymnody here at POTF) but is such an upbeat musical setting really appropriate? Here is our Gospel reading for the day:
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”
So they went their way, and found the[b] colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”
And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“ Hosanna!
‘ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
And here is the text of our opening hymn All Glory, Laud, and Honor found in the LSB on page 442:
Refrain: All glory, laud, and honor, to thee, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
1. Thou art the King of Israel, thou David's royal Son, who in the Lord's name comest, the King and Blessed One. (Refrain)
2. The company of angels are praising thee on high, and we with all creation in chorus make reply. (Refrain)
3. The people of the Hebrews with psalms before thee went; our prayer and praise and anthems before thee we present. (Refrain)
4. To thee, before thy passion, they sang their hymns of praise; to thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise. (Refrain)
5. Thou didst accept their praises; accept the prayers we bring, who in all good delightest, thou good and gracious King. (Refrain)
Yes the hymn is repeating back (confessing) the Gospel story that is going to be read but what is with the almost joyful musical setting? Don’t these people know how the story turns out? Don’t the people who write the music for these hymns know that in less than a week these same people cheering for Jesus are going to be the same ones calling for his crucifixion? Don’t they know the ending of the story? Don’t they know that in a few short days, that on Good Friday, Jesus is going be beaten, stripped naked, and nailed to a piece of wood to die? Again, what is with this almost cheerful music? Why, when it is sung, does it sound like a victory parade if we know it ends with death?
Simply put, it’s a victory parade because it ends in death.
In Christ’s work on the cross, we are given victory over sin, death, and the devil himself. In Christ’s work on the cross, all our sins are placed on Him who committed no sin and an atonement; a reconciliation, between God and man is made. In Christ’s work on the cross, we see the magnitude of God’s love; sending His Son as a propitiation for the very creatures who rebelled against him.
The music is joyful precisely because we do know the ending of the story. We know that our story begins and ends at the cross and we sing accordingly. Thanks be to God that we know our Lord and our King rides into Jerusalem to redeem the fallen human race. Thanks be to God that we have great hymns to sing of all the glory, laud, and honor our Savior earned and won at Calvary.
Every now and then during Lent, the penitential time of the liturgical church year, I find myself enjoying a hymn that would seem to go against the standard that I’ve set up as a guide for judging hymnody. I’ve said both in private as well as publicly on this blog that a hymn should always reflect the scripture readings. Is it possible though to have a good or even a great hymn that doesn’t just reflect ten to twenty verses of a given Gospel but an entire theme of a particular season? I’d have to say yes, absolutely yes.
One of my favorite hymn writers for the season of Lent is Paul Gerhardt. The thing I love about most of Herr Gerhardt’s hymns is how well he rightly focuses us on our utter depravity and need for the salvific work of Jesus’ cross at Calvary. Gerhardt’s hymns have a beautiful way of holding up the mirror that shows us the ugly side of sin that will only bring death deserved by the sin we all inherited from our father Adam. The other side to the great Gerhardt hymns is the certainty that we will end our journey at the foot of the cross that is our very salvation. Whether it’s willingly or whether it be kicking and screaming, we all wind up at Jesus’ cross.
Gerhardt’s hymn “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining” is one of those lovely hymns that we sing during Lent that encompasses not one or two verses of Scripture but rather Christ’s entire journey, heavy laden with the sins of all the whole world, to His cross where He will offer himself up as an atoning sacrifice and our propitiation. Nailed to the cursed tree, He who created all that is, dies in our stead so that we might wear His righteousness as our own. What better story could we sing than that?
Here’s the text for Gerhardt’s beautiful and sublime hymn from page 438 of the Lutheran Service Book:
"A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth"
1. A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, The guilt of all sinners bearing; And laden with the sins of earth, None else the burden sharing! Goes patient on, grow weak and faint, To slaughter led without complaint, That spotless life to offer; He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, The mockery and yet replies, "All this I gladly suffer."
2. This Lamb is Christ, the soul's great Friend, The Lamb of God, our Savior; Whom God the Father chose to send To gain for us His favor. "Go forth, My Son," the Father said, "And free my children from their dread Of guilt and condemnation. The wrath and stripes are hard to bear, But by your Passion they will share The fruit of Your salvation."
3. "Yes, Father, yes, most willingly I'll bear what You command Me; My will conforms to Your decree, I do what have asked of Me” O wondrous Love, what have You done! The Father offers up His Son! Desiring our salvation O Love, how strong You are to save! You lay the One into the grave Who built the world’s foundations.
4. Lord, when Your glory I shall see And taste Your kingdom's pleasure, Your blood my royal robe shall be, My joy beyond all measure. When I appear before Your throne, Your righteousness shall be my crown; With these I need not hide me. And there, in garments richly wrought As Your own bride, shall we be brought To stand in joy beside You.
