Screen-shot - Pentecost Sunday - Ivy Anderson

Hymn - Thou Light of Gentile Nations - Johann Frank

 

"Thou Light of Gentile Nations"
By Johann Franck, 1618-1677

The tune - Valet will ich dir geben - is linked here.

1. Thou Light of Gentile nations,
Thou Savior from above,
Drawn by Thy Spirit's leading,
We come with joy and love
Into Thy holy temple
And wait with earnest mind
As Simeon had waited
His God and Lord to find.

2. Yea, Lord, Thy servants meet Thee,
In every holy place
Where Thy true Word has promised
That we should see Thy face.
Today Thou still dost grant us
Who gather round Thee here
In arms of faith to bear Thee
As did that aged seer.

3.Be Thou our Joy and Brightness,
Our Cheer in pain and loss,
Our Sun in darkest terror,
The Glory round our cross,
A Star for sinking spirits,
A Beacon in distress,
Physician, Friend, in sickness,
In death our Happiness.

4. Let us, O Lord, be faithful
Like Simeon to the end,
So that his prayer exultant
May from our hearts ascend:
"O Lord, now let Thy servant
Depart in peace, I pray,
Since I have seen my Savior
And here beheld His day."

5. My Savior, I behold Thee
With faith's enlightened eye;
Of Thee no foe can rob me,
His threats I can defy.
Within Thy heart abiding,
As Thou, O Lord, in me,
Death can no longer frighten
Nor part my soul from Thee.

6. Lord, here on earth Thou seemest
At times to frown on me,
And through my tears I often
Can scarce distinguish Thee;
But in the heavenly mansions
Shall nothing dim my sight;
There shall I see Thy glory
In never-changing light.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #138
Text: Luke 2:32
Author: Johann Franck, 1674
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Titled: "Herr Jesu, Licht der Heiden"
Composer: Melchior Teschner, 1613
Tune: "Valet will ich dir geben"

Hymn - The Radiant Sun Shines in the Skies

 

"The Radiant Sun Shines in the Skies"
by Nikolaus Herman, 1480-1561

The tune - Die helle Sonn' leucht't - is linked here.

1. The radiant sun shines in the skies,
With joy from sleep we now arise.
All praise to God, who through this night
Hath kept us from the devil's might.

2. Lord Jesus Christ, guide us this day;
Keep sin and shame far from our way.
Thy guardian angels to us send
And let them to our wants attend.

3. Direct our hearts to do Thy will
And for Thy Word true love instil
That we may do whate'er is right
And ever pleasing in Thy sight.

4. Crown all our labors with success,
Each one in his own calling bless.
May all we do or think or say
Exalt and praise Thee, Lord, this day!

Hymn #547
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 91:9-16
Author: Nikolaus Herman, 1560
Translated by: composite
Titled: "Die helle Sonn' leucht't jetzt herfuer"
Composer: Melchior Vulpius, 1609
Tune: "Die helle Sonn' leucht't"

Hymn - Rejoice, Rejoice Believers

"Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers"
by Laurentius Laurenti, 1660-1722
Translated by Sarah Findlater, 1823-1907

The tune - Valet will ich dir geben - is linked here.

1. Rejoice, rejoice, believers,
And let your lights appear!
The evening is advancing,
And darker night is near.
The Bridegroom is arising,
And soon He draweth nigh;
Up, pray and watch and wrestle!
At midnight comes the cry.

2. The watchers on the mountain
Proclaim the Bridegroom near;
Go meet Him as He cometh,
With hallelujahs clear.
The marriage-feast is waiting,
The gates wide open stand;
Up, up, ye heirs of glory;
The Bridegroom is at hand!

3. Ye saints, who here in patience
Your cross and sufferings bore,
Shall live and reign forever,
When sorrow is no more.
Around the throne of glory
The Lamb ye shall behold;
In triumph cast before Him
Your diadems of gold!

4. Our Hope and Expectation,
O Jesus, now appear;
Arise, Desire of nations,
O'er this benighted sphere.
With hearts and hands uplifted,
We plead, O Lord, to see
The day of earth's redemption,
That brings us unto Thee!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #72 from _The Lutheran Hymnal_
Text: Matthew 25:6
Author: Laurentius Laurenti, 1700, cento
Translated by: Sarah Findlater, 1854, alt.
Titled: "Ermuntert euch, ihr Frommen"
Composer: Melchior Teschner, 1613
Tune: "Valet will ich dir geben"

Hymn - Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty

"Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty"

by Benjamin Schmolck, 1672-1737

Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878

Tune - Neander - linked here

1. Open now Thy gates of beauty,
Zion, let me enter there,
Where my soul in joyful duty
Waits for Him who answers prayer.
Oh, how blessed is this place,
Filled with solace, light, and grace!

2. Lord, my God, I come before Thee,
Come Thou also unto me;
Where we find Thee and adore Thee,
There a heaven on earth must be.
To my heart, oh, enter Thou,
Let it be Thy temple now!

3. Here Thy praise is gladly chanted,
Here Thy seed is duly sown;
Let my soul, where it is planted,
Bring forth precious sheaves alone,
So that all I hear may be
Fruitful unto life in me.

4. Thou my faith increase and quicken,
Let me keep Thy gift divine,
Howsoe'er temptations thicken;
May Thy Word still o'er me shine
As my guiding star through life,
As my comfort in my strife.

5. Speak, O God, and I will hear Thee,
Let Thy will be done indeed;
May I undisturbed draw near Thee
While Thou dost Thy people feed.
Here of life the fountain flows,
Here is balm for all our woes.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #1
Text: Psalm 100:4
Author: Benjamin Schmolck, 1732, cento
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Titled: "Tut mir auf die schoene Pforte"
Composer: Joachim Neander, 1680
Tune: "Neander"

 Benjamin Schmolck was a German Lutheran pastor.

I Heard the Robin Call My Name

 

Norma A. Boeckler's Robin

Most of the bird feed goes on top of the garbage and recycle barrels, so birds are anxious when one barrel stays overnight on the sidewalk, and even more nervous when both "feeders" are waiting to be emptied.

Last week I had one barrel, so I was dragging it back under Sassy's supervision. When we approached the gate to the backyard, a robin dropped down on it and make some pleasant noise, as if to remind me of my feeding duty. She flew up and landed again to emphasize the message.

I found the same thing happening long ago in New Ulm. I fed the birds near the front door. If I came out the front door at any time, the robin would perch out on the end of a limb and sing to me. Given the growth of tiny birds, the soliciting was understandable and always welcome.

Blue jays called to me when I walked around our neighborhood in Midland. Maybe it was same one, or perhaps his kin. Their happy sound is bell-like, and they rang out with that when I walked to the church. Blue jays built a nest at window level in Bella Vista, so everyone got on the little step-ladder to look down on the nestlings. I delivered sunflower seeds daily to the parents, who never attacked me. They watched me dump seeds at the base of the tree - where they were watching.

 Blue bird - by Norma A. Boeckler

From Luther to Tyndale to the King James Version

 

Luther’s Publications Mortally Wounded the Church of Rome

 

              Luther and the printing press arrived so powerfully that the Church of Rome could not kill, torture, imprison, and enslave Evangelicals fast enough to stop the Reformation. The Beast of Revelation[1] was mortally wounded and never recovered its full strength in promoting error in the name of Mary, Purgatory, the Mass, and the infallibility of the pope. One part of the Reformation miracle was the built-up hunger of people for God’s love, grace, and forgiveness through the Savior. The instrument of communication was the printing press, but the energy came from Luther’s writing. An expert in early publishing stated:

Gutenberg had produced an orthodox Latin Bible and he had taken advantage of a large market of printed indulgences. Luther launched the Reformation by an attack on indulgences and he dethroned the Latin Bible from the heart of Western Christendom, but he used the printing press as no one had ever done before. Over 3,700 separate editions of books and pamphlets by Martin Luther were published in his lifetime, not including Bible translations. This is an immense number for any one author, even by today’s standards. It is an average of almost two publications a week for most of his adult life. In his time, Luther was by far the most extensively published author who had ever lived.[2]

 

Luther, Melanchthon, and the Concordists

 

            Luther attracted and worked with brilliant men who wrote in harmony with him. Melanchthon was his younger associate from the beginning, an acclaimed scholar and editor/author of the Augsburg Confession and its defense – The Apology. Fifty years after Augsburg Confession, Martin Chemnitz and others collected doctrinal confessions in the Book of Concord, which included the Formula of Concord, 1580. Chemnitz was a student of Luther and Melanchthon, with the best qualities of most men. This second Reformation generation of Biblical scholars dealt with issues about false doctrine and defended clearly the Scriptural truths of the Reformation – Justification by Faith, the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments, and the inerrancy of the Scriptures. They began with the Three Ecumenical Creeds, included vital statements by Luther and Melanchthon, and created harmony (concordia in Latin) with a variety of issues in the 1580 Formula of Concord. However, the Reformation and the Book of Concord era have been neglected and supplanted by the insights of Zwingli, Calvin, and Robert Schuller.

Zwingli and Calvin, Alienation from the Word/Spirit Connection

Zwingli first - and Calvin later - appeared to agree with Luther, but they were not charter members of the Reformation, as many imagine. Chemnitz, in his Apology of the Book of Concord, compared the Calvinists humorously to tenants who claimed everything would be fine if only the landlords would agree to their demands. The Zwinglians and Calvinists eventually conceded their departure from the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. Although they became bold in their disagreement with Luther, they became uncertain about forgiveness and salvation. For Calvin, God being sovereign meant that no one knew if the Spirit would be active in a given sermon, baptism, or Lord’s Supper. The emphasis shifted from the certainty of God’s Word in preaching, teaching, and the Sacraments (the Means of Grace) to hoping for results, shifting the responsibility to man.

Their dogma can be summed up as the rejection of the Holy Spirit and Word always at work together, not a small matter, but a breech. For instance, Zwingli mockingly stated that the Holy Spirit did not need a vehicle, like an oxcart, as his response to the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion. His rejection of the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, making them merely symbolic, caused the Anabaptists to leave and become persecuted and drowned by the Zwinglians. Calvin openly mocked the presence of Christ in both natures in Holy Communion, and he placed human reason above the Scriptures. That magisterial use of human reason was employed to judge, explain, and make the Word of God appealing. The magisterial use of reason made it man’s job to get the work done, a tragic departure from “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

1 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

 

As The Other Side of Calvinism has shown so abundantly, all five categories of the five-points of Calvinism are disputed by its theologians, either one point or another. Ironically, when Lutherans abandon Scriptural certainty and clarity, they inevitably move toward Calvinism or allegiance to Rome.

            The effect upon translations is immense and difficult to correct, once adopted and deployed in millions of Bibles, church textbooks, and devotional booklets.

Tyndale Perfected in English What Luther Created in German

---

[1] Revelation 13: 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

[2] Christopher De Hamel, The Book, A History of the Bible, p 236, 2001.

Someone Took the Time and Spent the Money For This Air and Space Museum