Danish: Hvorledes skal jeg møde
German: Wie soll ich dich empfangen
Norwegian: Hvorledes skal jeg møte
Text: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676). Tune: Johann Crüger (1592-1662)
1. O Lord, how shall I meet thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
All nations long to greet Thee,
My hope, my heart’s delight!
O kindle, dearest Jesus,
Thy lamp within my breast,
That I may know what pleases
Thee, Lord, my heavenly Guest.
2. Thy Zion strews before Thee
Green boughs and fairest palms,
And I, too, will adore Thee
With sweetest songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For Thee with praises new,
And from Thy name shall never
Without the honor due.
3. What hast thou left ungranted
To give me glad relief?
When soul and body panted
In utmost depth of grief,
In deepest degradation,
Devoid of joy and peace,
Then, thou my soul’s salvation
Didst come to bring relief.
4. I lay in fetters groaning,
Thou camst to set me free;
I stood, my shame bemoaning,
Thou camst to honor me;
A glory thou dost give me,
A treasure safe on high,
Thou wilt not fail or leave me
As earthly riches fly!
5. Naught, naught, dear Lord, could move Thee
To leave Thy rightful place
Save love, for which I love Thee;
A love that could embrace
A world where sorrow dwelleth,
Which sin and suffering fill,
More than the tongue e’er telleth;--
Yet thou couldst love it still.
6. Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o’er joys departed,
And tremble at your doom:
Despair not, he is near you,
Yes, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you,
And bid you weep no more.
7. No care nor effort either
Is needed day or night,
How ye may draw Him hither
In your own strength and might.
He comes, He comes with gladness,
Moved by His love alone,
To calm your fear and sadness,
Which unto Him are known.
8. Sin’s debt, that fearful burden,
Let not your souls distress;
Your guilt the Lord will pardon
And cover with His grace.
He comes, he comes procuring
The peace of sin forgiv’n
To all God’s sons securing
Their part and lot in heav’n.
9. Why should the wicked move you?
Heed not their craft and spite!
Your Savior who doth love you,
Will scatter all their might.
He comes, a King most glorious,
And all His earthly foes
In vain His course victorious
Endeavor to oppose.
10. He comes to judge the nations,
A terror to His foes,
A light of consolations
And blessed hope to those
Who love the Lord’s appearing.
O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth Thy beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home!
Tr. Composite
REFLECTION
The lectionary committee of the 1970s eschewed the traditional Palm Sunday text of Jesus entering Jerusalem for other, more eschatological texts, like the one for today, in which Jesus prophesies great suffering and terror. This has made Advent a more penitential time than a time of joyful preparation for his coming as this most Lutheran hymn by Paul Gerhardt has it.
On the whole, the old Lutheran Advent hymns are filled with joyful expectancy, even in the midst of our suffering and sin. Christ comes to free us: "A world where sorrow dwelleth,Which sin and suffering fill, More than the tongue e’er telleth;--Yet thou couldst love it still.”
So instead of praying that he will come—which he most certainly will—according to the text for next Sunday, Gerhardt has us praying that we will be ready--Prepared to meet our Savior.
Martin Luther also addresses this in his explanation to the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism, the third petition, Thy Kingdom come. His explanation is burned into my memory from year of learning it: “The kingdom of God comes indeed of itself, but we pray in this petition that it will also come among us.”
Here are the words to sing as we pray Christ will bring in his kingdom also among us this Advent. “Rejoice, then, ye sad hearted who sit in deepest gloom.” “He comes, he comes with gladness/Moved by his love alone.” Indeed, rejoice!
HYMN INFO
This hymn is very long so I had to use an old translation to get the entire hymn in English, but people had more time to sing and meditate on their hymns then! It was likely written in 1653 while Gerhardt was working with Johann Crüger, the musician at Nicolai church in Berlin. Gerhardt lived through the entire Thirty Years War when times were extremely difficult. At the time of this hymn, five years after the Peace of Westphalia, he was serving the congregation in Mittenwald, not far from Berlin, where in 1651 he had been appointed head pastor. Gerhardt was not yet married; he would marry Anna Maria, the daughter in the home where he was tutor, in 1655. They were happily married, but five of their six children died in infancy and Anna died in 1668 after a long illness. Only one child survived his father.
Crüger included this hymn in his 1653 version of Praxis Pietatis Melica. Later others would use the tune "Valet will ich dir geben." Bach used the first stanza of this text for his Christmas Oratorio, with another tune.
LINKS
The Augustana Choirs/Sioux Falls
Wind Symphony Concordia River Forest Illinois
Danish with Ingolf Olsen singing
Organ version by Paul Manz
German jazz version
German congregation
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio opens with the first stanza of the hymn https://youtu.be/cjEU_6OY88c
NB: Jesus the Harmony would make a nice Christmas present. It can be read devotionally over the entire year, one poem for every day.
"With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." --Jill Baumgartner, Poetry Editor, Christian Century, and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College
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