You can listen to the devotion here. 

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
​
Scripture
1 Peter 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Devotion based on Entrust Your Days and Burdens (LSB 754)
1.  Entrust your days and burdens
        To God's most loving hand;
            He cares for you while ruling
        The sky, the sea, the land.
     For He who guides the tempests
        Along their thund'rous ways
            Will find for you a pathway
        And guide you all your days.
 
2.  Rely on God your Savior
        And find your life secure.
            Make His work your foundation
        That your work may endure.
     No anxious thought, no worry,
        No self-tormenting care
            Can win your Father's favor;
        His heart is moved by prayer.
 
3.  Take heart, have hope, my spirit,
        And do not be dismayed;
            God helps in ev'ry trial
        And makes you unafraid.
     Await His time with patience
        Through darkest hours of night
            Until the sun you hoped for
        Delights your eager sight.
 
4.  Leave all to His direction;
        His wisdom rules for you
            In ways to rouse your wonder
        At all His love can do.
     Soon He, His promise keeping,
        With wonder-working pow'rs
            Will banish from your spirit
        What gave you troubled hours.
 
5.  O bless-ed heir of heaven,
        You'll hear the song resound
            Of endless jubilation
        When you with life are crowned.
     In your right hand your maker
        Will place the victor's palm,
            And you will thank Him gladly
        With heaven's joyful psalm.
 
6.  Our hands and feet, Lord, strengthen
        With joy our spirits bless
            Until we see the ending
        Of all our life's distress.
     And so throughout our lifetime
        Keep us within Your care
            And at our end then bring us
        To heav'n to praise You there.
 
You can listen to the hymn here. 
 
The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Jacob Sutton as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1 (edited and modified by me). 
 
Paul Gerhardt wrote many hymns that deal with the comfort, hope, and joy found in relying on God’s providential and saving care of His creation, and this is probably his best known.
Gerhardt faced much distress during his lifetime, and shows that the faith-testing troubles and temptations that fight against the sure and certain promises of God in Jesus Christ for the hearts and souls of believers also affected Gerhardt and shaped the writing of his hymns. By the time he was fourteen, both his parents had died. When he was thirty, his hometown was destroyed by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years’ War…, and in the fall of the same year, his older brother Christian died there of the plague. After writing this hymn, Gerhard would experience the death of his wife and four of his five children.

There is some evidence that the hymn may have been influenced by Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act” and a poem that Luther wrote on this verse.  As well as influences from Johann Arndt, Leonhard Hutter, and Johann Gerhard.

The hymn is used in Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental St. Matthew Passion (172; BWV 244). Bach also uses the best of Gerhardt’s passion hymns, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (LSB 449) and “Upon the Cross Extended” (LSB 453), for six different movements. But “Entrust Your Days and Burdens” is the only non-Lenten hymn by Gerhardt used in the work. A recitative from Matthew 27:7-14 concludes when Pilate asks Jesus if He hears how grave the charges being brough against Him are. But the evangelist sings, “But He gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.” Immediately thereafter, the chorus sings the first stanza of “Entrust Your Days and Burdens”.

During His trial and Passion, Jesus underwent the ultimate in “tempests” and “thunderous ways” (stanza 1), fully and perfectly committing or entrusting His pathway to His Father in heaven. His silence before Pilate tells us this, Bach seems to say. Jesus does not argue or try to avoid the charges, even though He is innocent, because His Father’s will is that He should bear the burden of the whole world’s sin (1 Peter 5:6-7, 10).  Bach uses Gerhardt’s hymn to say, in light of what our Lord has done for us, that we can now entrust our days and burdens to Him who is God, who is ruling, and who guides all things with His most loving hand, including the sky, the sea, and the land, and who has carried out His plan for the salvation of the world from sin, death, and the devil.
Since Jesus Christ, the Lord, has acted in the office of “your Savior,” the second stanza invites each singer to rely on Him. We find our lives secure on the foundation of Him and His work, and thereupon our work is able to endure (Proverbs 16:3, 9). Looking to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, for Gerhardt there is “no anxious life” (Matthew 6:27). Instead, we can look to our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9), who knows how to give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11), for “His heart is moved by prayer” (stanza 2; Luke 18:7).

As the Lord Jesus in His trail endured all things, and as God encouraged the prophet Elijah, who was pursued by His opponents (1 Kings 19), the third stanza exhorts us to “take heart, have hope…and be not dismayed.” When the dark night of sin is over, the sun for which all Christians have hoped will delight their “eager sight”(Matthew 24:44; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Revelation 22:5; Malachi 4:1-2). 

Stanza 4 implores the singer to leave all things to Him – to God the Savior. With His “wonder-working powers,” He banishes all that “gave you troubled hours.” For we know that the answers to the question “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14) can be only “With God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

“Blessed is the heir of heaven,” promises stanza 5, who has been crowned with the crown of eternal life (Revelation 2:10; 3:11; James 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:7-8). God Himself “will place the victor’s palm” (see Revelation 7:9) into the right hands of those who have endured and trusted in Christ. Then a new song will be sung, for “heaven’s joyful psalm” will replace one that merely calls on singers to hope and trust, because the singers will see the Lamb face to face on His throne (Revelation 7:9-12).
In Gerhardt’s original last stanza, the singer cries out, “Make an end, O Lord, make an end to all our distress.” Until we reach the endless jubilation of heaven, which is the “ending of all our life’s distress”, we pray for the Lord to strengthen our hands and feet and to keep us within His care. Gerhardt’s original stanza brings back the idea of the road or way from Psalm 37:5 and the beginning of the hymn so as we go our way to heaven to praise Him there, we ask Him whose “heart is moved by prayer” (stanza 2) to keep the faithful secure in and entrusted to Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6; Luke 18:7-8).

Collect
Lord Jesus Christ, help us to entrust our days, our burdens, all our anxieties and cares into Your most loving hands. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
Colossians 3:12-17
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Devotion based on With the Lord Begin Your Task (LSB 869)
1 With the Lord begin your task;
    Jesus will direct it.
For His aid and counsel ask;
    Jesus will perfect it.
Ev’ry morn with Jesus rise,
    And when day is ended,
In His name then close your eyes;
    Be to Him commended.

2 Let each day begin with prayer,
    Praise, and adoration.
On the Lord cast ev’ry care;
    He is your salvation.
Morning, evening, and at night
    Jesus will be near you,
Save you from the tempter’s might,
    With His presence cheer you.

3 With your Savior at your side,
    Foes need not alarm you;
In His promises confide,
    And no ill can harm you.
All your trust and hope repose
    In the mighty Master,
Who in wisdom truly knows
    How to stem disaster.

4 If your task be thus begun
    With the Savior’s blessing,
Safely then your course will run,
    Toward the promise pressing.
Good will follow ev’rywhere
    While you here must wander;
You at last the joy will share
    In the mansions yonder.

5 Thus, Lord Jesus, ev’ry task
    Be to You commended;
May Your will be done, I ask,
    Until life is ended.
Jesus, in Your name begun
    Be the day’s endeavor;
Grant that it may well be done
    To Your praise forever.

You can listen to the hymn here.

I just became familiar with this hymn recently and I thought it was a perfect hymn to begin our week with.  The passage from Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” is perfectly reflected in this hymn.  It is good hymn to come back to as you get ready for a work week or workday.

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Robert Mayes as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 
This hymn was written in Waldenburg, Germany around 1732. Unlike many older hymns in common use today, this one did not enjoy wide circulation during the nineteenth century. Waldenburg, though, has a special connection to Missouri Synod, for it was in a small village near there where both father and the grandfather of C.F.W. Walther, the synod’s first president, served as pastor. Though evidence is lacking, it is not inconceivable that this connection caused Walther to include the hymn in the synod’s first hymnal.
“With the Lord Begin Your Work” invokes the Lord’s blessing on the Christian’s vocation at the start of each day. In the Synod’s nineteenth-century German hymnal, this hymn was placed in the category of “Estate and Vocation Hymns.”

In the first stanza, Christians are encouraged to begin their day with Jesus. This is a routine to be followed every day, like the morning devotion in the Small Catechism, after which Luther instructs, “go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest.” Stanza 1 says, “Every morn with Jesus rise, and when day is ended, in His name then close your eyes.” Scripture often connects death and sleep (see Matthew 9:24; 27:52; 1 Corinthians 15:20), and the Christian’s daily going to sleep at night and rising again in the morning has a parallel in one’s daily remembrance of Baptism, in which Christians die to sin and rise with Christ to newness of life.

Daily prayer is emphasized in stanza 2 (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Psalm 5:3). We can cast every care on the Lord, for we are directed to do so in 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” Prayer is effective not in a therapeutic sense, simply because it is done, but because it is directed to a God who hears and answers it. As Bernhard Albrecht, a pastor in Augsburg wrote in 1618, prayer should be “the most precious and best treasure of the love of Christianity, the highest comfort in all needs, the strongest defense in all danger, the certain medicine in sickness.”

Stanzas 3 and 4 speak of the Christian’s daily protection with Jesus. Neither enemies, sickness, disaster, nor daily events can undo the Savior’s blessing: “Good will follow everywhere while you here must wander” (stanza 4). The last stanza summarizes the hymn and directs that every task be subject to Jesus’ blessing as we pray that His will be done this day and for the rest of our lives.

Collect
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
1 Peter 1:6-9
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Devotion Based on Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me (LSB 756)
1 Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near
With His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God's Son
For me won
When His life was given?

2 When life's troubles rise to meet me,
Though their weight
May be great,
They will not defeat me.
God, my loving Savior, sends them;
He who knows
All my woes
Knows how best to end them.

3 God gives me my days of gladness,
And I will
Trust Him still
When He send me sadness.
God is good;
His love attends me
Day by day,
Come what may,
Guides me and defends me.

4 From God’s joy can nothing sever,
For I am
His dear lamb,
He, my Shepherd ever
I am His
Because he gave me
His own blood
For my good,
By His death to save me.
 
5 Now in Christ, death cannot slay me,
Though it might,
Day and night,
Trouble and dismay me.
Christ has made my death a portal
From the strife
Of this life
To His joy immortal!
 
You can listen to the hymn here.

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Richard Resch as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 
 
This hymn by Paul Gerhardt, originally in twelve stanzas, is a treasure of comfort. These words even comforted the author on his deathbed, for he spoke the final stanza used in the Lutheran Service Book as his dying prayer.

Many of Gerhardt’s hymns present the theology of the cross as sung poetry, though he is not the first to articulate this theology. Martin Luther spike of the theology of the cross in his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518. The place of trials (tentatio) in teaching the student of theology becomes a common theme in the Reformer’s writings from then on. We learn from him that the more we abide in God’s Word, the more the devil will afflict us. We can count on it. But such afflictions are good in that they cause us to seek and to love God’s Word all the more. Then, in 1539, Luther even gave thanks for the “pummeling, pressing, and terrifying” of the papists toward him, for he said that they helped to make him a decent theologian.
 
The background of Gerhardt’s hymn writing is a trial (tentatio) of a different kind; namely the ravages of the Thirty Years’ War, being surrounded by death for most of his life, and being removed from his call as pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Berlin for remaining faithful to his ordination vows. While Luther was able to see a blessed road in the persecution he suffered at the hands of papists, Gerhardt was able to confidently say, “Why should cross and trial grieve me? Christ is near with His cheer; never will He leave me.” As a result of Gerhardt’s crosses, the saints have hymns to sing about that unique, beautiful, and blessed road even as they suffer crosses of all types.

This is a sung sermon in which the singer learns the difficult lessons of how our Lord chastens, refines, and builds up the ones He loves. Here the baptized are catechized in the ways of their Father’s kingdom. Gerhardt does this teaching by asking and answering five questions in his original twelve-stanza text:
 

1. “Why should cross and trial grieve me?” Answer: Since Christ is near with the promise that He will never leave me, I therefore have all I need, and there is no reason for me to grieve.
2. “Who can robe me of the heaven that God’s Son” won for me when He gave His life? Answer: The answer is revealed in the question. Since heaven was won for me by the death of God’s Son, no one can rob me of heaven.
3. “Though a heavy cross I’m bearing and my heart feels the smart, shall I be despairing?” Answer: No, we are not to despair or be defeated, for our loving God has sent the cross for our good. He knows every single woe also knows how best to end them. We are not left alone in our crosses and trials.
4. “God oft gives me days of gladness; shall I grieve if He give seasons, too, of sadness?” Answer: God defends and guides us day by day, moment by moment, as His love attends us. What more could we want or need?
5. “What is all this life possesses?” Answer: A hand full of sand that only causes distress. Instead, the saints of Christ have a life filled with noble gifts that will sustain them safely through this pilgrimage on to the next life.

 
These questions and their answers are more or less preserved in the five stanzas in the Lutheran Service Book. But the answers are not easy ones to hear or live, for they reveal the often puzzling ways of God’s kingdom. Yet they have to be answered again and again for the faithful, because the world’s answers to these questions lead only to despair. Worldly answers can do no other, because they are outside of God’s beautiful plan for His children.
 
Collect
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in Your divine wisdom and fatherly goodness makes Your children to bear the cross, and sends diverse afflictions upon us to subdue the flesh, and quicken our hearts unto faith, hope and unceasing prayer: We beseech You to have mercy upon us, and graciously deliver us out of our trials and afflictions, so that we may perceive Your grace and fatherly help, and with all saints forever praise and worship You; through Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen.
 

You can listen to the devotion here.

Rather than focusing on a particular hymn today, I thought it might be helpful to have a devotion focused on the importance of hymns and music in the life of the Christian and the church.
​
Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
​
Psalm 98:1-3
Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.  All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Devotion
“In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide which direction it was coming…Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself….it was the most beautiful noise he had ever heard…” That quote is from The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis. Both Lewis and Tolkien in their mythologies picture God singing the world into creation.

I really love this image and it may not be that far off.  The Bible does depict God as singing – even singing over us.  And in Job 38:7 the Lord speaks to Job about how little he knows concerning creation including the angels singing at it: “…when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

The Lutheran Study Bible has this helpful note on the verse: Chemnitz says: “He adds this regard to the angels” (LTh 1:165). Angels sang festively at creation. They rejoiced again at re-creation, which began at the incarnation of Jesus and culminated in Christ’s resurrection and ascension. There was celestial joy at the beginning of time, and there will be joy at the end of the world (Rv 19:1–3). The preeminent Morning Star is Jesus Himself (Rv 22:16).

It is entirely plausible that the angels joined in the singing of the Father and the Son at creation.

God sings, and He tells us to sing as well.  The Bible tells us to sing a new song and we sing a new song about the fullness of what Christ has done for us.

Let’s look briefly at music and why it’s important for us as Christians.

Music is a Divine gift.  Luther said this about the gift of music: “Here it must suffice to discuss the benefit of this great art.4 But even that transcends the greatest eloquence of the most eloquent, because of the infinite variety of its forms and benefits. We can mention only one point (which experience confirms), namely, that next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. She is a mistress and governess of those human emotions—to pass over the animals—which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them. No greater commendation than this can be found—at least not by us. For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate—and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men to evil or good?—what more effective means than music could you find? The Holy Ghost himself honors her as an instrument for his proper work when in his Holy Scriptures he asserts that through her his gifts were instilled in the prophets, namely, the inclination to all virtues, as can be seen in Elisha [2 Kings 3:15]. On the other hand, she serves to cast out Satan, the instigator of all sins, as is shown in Saul, the king of Israel [1 Sam. 16:23].”

Music is a gift in which all angels and heavenly hosts join us without ceasing. Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! (Psalm 148) We confess this every Sunday as we hear, “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying,” and then we sing with the angels!

Music is ordained for use by the church.  We are told over and over again in the Bible to sing in the gathered assembly. For example, Psalm 149, “Sing to the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints!” Whether it is the Old Testament or New Testament, the Church sings.

Music teaches doctrine to the church. As we hear in Colossians 3: 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Singing teaches – sometimes more powerfully than anything else. People often forget the sermon, but it is much harder to forget a hymn that is stuck in your head.

Music carries the confession of the faithful. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. (Ps. 145:4) Music helps the memory of the church in rehearsing what God has done. It is an integral, powerful part of the church’s proclamation. I have written before about how powerful hymns were in spreading the teaching of the Lutheran Reformation. That is still the case today.

Music is to be a full-throated response of praise and thanksgiving to God. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! (Ps. 98:4) And, Let the high praises of God be in their throats (149:6) The object of our praise is always God: for who He is and what He has done for us.

Music heals, soothes, and drives away the devil.  We see this most clearly with David and Saul. David would play the harp for Saul and the distressing spirit would depart from Saul. We see this as Paul and Silas sang as they sat in a dark, damp dungeon. Good hymns have always strengthened the saints in times of trial.

There’s a lot more that could be said about music and hymns, but I hope this has laid a sufficient foundation for now.

We must sing. We were dead in trespasses and sins, the wrath of God was upon us, and then we were forgiven all our sins and brought from death to life. Christ Jesus lived, suffered, and died for us and our salvation. How could we not sing? Not just with our mouths but with our hearts. Not timidly, not half-heartedly, or begrudgingly, but with joy over what the Lord has done and is doing for us. In our churches and in our homes, our joy overflows into singing – it cannot help itself. Faith sings. Just like a young person in love who goes around humming and singing over the joy they have found.

It should be clear by now, but what we sing in church matters.  Not only should our hymns reflect what we believe and confess, they actually shape what we believe and confess. So, we should sing those hymns that reflect what Scripture and our Confessions teach.

In several places in Scripture it is confessed about our Lord that, “He is my strength, and my song, and He has become my salvation.” (see Ex. 15:2, Psalm 118, Isa 12) Jesus Christ is our strength, our song, and our salvation. So, we sing. And we believe and confess that God Himself rejoices and sings over us out of His great love for us.

Collect
Gracious and Merciful God, we thank you for the gift of music and that you have handed down to us so many marvelous hymns.  We thank and praise you that Christ Jesus is our strength, our song, and our salvation. Bless, keep, and preserve us in the one true faith; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

 Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:54-57
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
       “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55    “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotion Based on the Hymn At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing 633
1 At the Lamb's high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious King,
Who has washed us in the tide
Flowing from His piercèd side.
Alleluia!

2 Praise we Him, whose love divine
Gives His sacred blood for wine,
Gives His Body for the feast--
Christ the victim, Christ the priest.
Alleluia!

3 Where the paschal blood is poured,
Death's dread angel sheathes the sword;
Israel's hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.
Alleluia!

4 Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed,
Paschal victim, paschal bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we manna from above.
Alleluia!

5 Mighty Victim from the sky,
Hell's fierce pow'rs beneath You lie;
You have conquered in the fight,
You have brought us life and light.
Alleluia!

6 Now no more can death appall,
Now no more the grave enthrall;
You have opened paradise,
And Your saints in You shall rise.
Alleluia!

7 Easter triumph, Easter joy!
This alone can sin destroy;
From sin's pow'r, Lord, set us free,
Newborn souls in You to be.
Alleluia!

8 Father, who the crown shall give,
Savior, by whose death we live,
Spirit, guide through all our days;
Three in One, Your name we praise.
Alleluia!

You can listen to the hymn here.

I have really missed singing this hymn this Easter season. It is one of my favorite hymns to sing (and hear sung) during Easter.  It is so full of joy and excitement over the heavenly feast of the Lord’s Supper, and it is rich in Biblical imagery and theology. I read about 5 stanzas to the confirmation class on Thursday and thought, that should be the next hymn for our devotions. 

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Richard Serina Jr. as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

This hymn reflects the ancient Christian observance of the catechumenate. After a period of catechesis(teaching), converts joined the Church in the waning darkness of Easter dawn. Following Baptism, the neophytes were clothed with clean white garments, representing their new found righteousness in Christ, and were ushered in the earliest hours of the morning assembly of believers to receive the Eucharist. 

The hymn begins by calling attention to the One who presides at His table: it is the Lamb’s high feast, His royal banquet, His supper table, His body and blood given with bread and wine, so it is to Him that the Church offers her praises. The baptismal nature of this hymn appears in stanza 1: by referring to our victorious King as the one “who has washed us in the tide flowing from His pierced side,” the truth is suggested that in the waters of the font, Christ lavishly bestows His blood-bought salvation purchased on the cross.

The second stanza continues the eucharistic theme as Christ, who has washed His Church with His blood, now grants the Church that same blood in the sacramental wine and His own body in the sacramental bread. Christ is characterized as both victim and priest: a victim upon the cross for sins (Isaiah 53:4-9) and a priest offering Himself to the Father in place of sinners (Hebrews 4:14). This victim and priest now stands as host at His own table (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

Stanza 3 calls to mind the Passover of Israel and her rescue from death through the blood of a slain animal, a foreshadowing of the Passover sacrifice of our Easter Lamb, Jesus Christ; the power of His shed blood to cover sin is available to all who are washed in His name at the font. Death passes over them as it did the firstborn males of Israel, and they pass through those waters of Holy Baptism as Israel did through the Red Sea, with the foes of sin, death, and the devil drowned therein. Like the early catechumens, then, the Church returns to the table in stanza 4, offering her praises to the Christ who gives true manna from above in His true flesh present in the Sacrament.

The next three stanzas locate this hymn in the Church’s Easter worship. The mighty Victim from the sky, the Son of God incarnate, now treads over hell’s fierce powers. On account of Jesus’ resurrection, no longer can death appall or the grave enthrall, for the baptized die in the expectation that they shall rise. Stanza 7 returns to the catechumenate, where not just the neophytes but all the Christians are “newborn souls” through the Easter victory of Jesus, which alone can destroy sin. A doxology closes the hymn.

Collect
My Lord Christ, I have fallen and would like to be strong. And for this reason, You instituted this Sacrament, that by it we might kindle and strengthen our faith and so be helped. Therefore I desire and intend to receive it. Lord, behold there is the Word; here is my deficiency and sickness. And You Yourself said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened; I will refresh you.” Therefore I will come and allow myself to be helped. Amen. (Luther as found in the Lutheran Prayer Companion #310.)



 

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture
Proverbs 1:1-8
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2    To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3    to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4    to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth--
5    Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6    to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8    Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
 
Devotion
We have had several of Paul Gerhardt’s hymns as the basis of our devotions. I thought this letter would be good for us to reflect on – especially as so many of us are reevaluating priorities and what life should look like after this pandemic is over.

Paul Gerhardt’s Testimony to his only surviving son in the Spring of 1676:

Now that I have reached the 70th year of my life and also have the joyful hope that my dear, holy God will soon rescue me out of this world and lead me into a better life than I have had until now on earth, I thank Him especially for all His kindness and faithfulness which, from my mother’s womb until the present hour, He has shown me in body and soul and in all that He has given me. Besides this, I ask Him from the bottom of my heart that when my hour comes He would grant me a happy departure, take my soul into His fatherly hands, and give my body a peaceful rest in the ground until the dear Last Day, when I, with all of my [family] who have been before me and also may remain after me, will reawake and behold my dear Lord Jesus Christ face to face, in whom I have believed but have not yet seen. To my only son whom I am leaving behind I leave few earthly goods, but with them I leave him an honorable name of which he will not have to be ashamed.
My son knows that from his tender childhood I have given him to the Lord my God as His possession, that he is to become a servant and preacher of His holy Word. He is to remain now in this and not turn away from it, even if he has only few good days in it. For the good Lord knows how to handle it and how sufficiently to replace external troubles with internal happiness of the heart and joy of the spirit.

Study holy theology in pure schools and at unfalsified universities and beware of the syncretists [those who mix religions or confessions], for they seek what is temporal and are faithful to neither God nor men. In your common life do not follow evil company but rather the will and command of your God. Especially: (1) Do nothing evil in the hope that it will remain secret, for nothing is spun so small that it is not seen in the light of day. (2) Outside of your office and vocation do not become angry. If you notice that anger has heated you up, remain still and speak not so much as a word until you have first prayed the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed silently. (3) Be ashamed of the lusts of the flesh, and when you one day come to the years in which you can marry, then marry with God and with the good advice of pious, faithful, and sensible people. (4) Do good to people even if they have nothing with which to repay you, for the Creator of heaven and earth has long since repaid what humans cannot repay: when He created you, when He gave you His beloved Son, and when He accepted you in Holy Baptism as His child and heir. (5) Flee from greed as from hell. Be satisfied with what you have earned with honor and a good conscience, even if it is not all too much. But if the good Lord gives you something more, ask Him to preserve you from the burdensome misuse of temporal goods.

In summary: Pray diligently, study something honorable, live peacefully, serve honestly, and remain unmoved in your faith and confessing. If you do this, you too will one day die and depart from this world willingly, joyfully, and blessedly. Amen.
​
Collect
O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who has given us Your holy word, and has bountifully provided for all our temporal wants, we confess that we are unworthy of all these mercies, and that we have rather deserved punishment: But we beseech You, forgive us our sins, and prosper and bless us in our several callings, that by Your strength we may be sustained and defended, now and forever, and so praise and glorify You eternally, You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

I picked this text and hymn for our devotion for today because this will be the hymn we sing this Sunday and I will be preaching on Lamentations 3 as well.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
Lamentations 3:22-26
22  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23    they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24    “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25    The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26    It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
 
Devotion based on Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing 737
1 Rejoice, my heart, be glad and sing,
A cheerful trust maintain;
For God, the source of ev'rything,
Your portion shall remain.

2 He is your treasure, He your joy,
Your life and light and Lord,
Your Counselor when doubts annoy,
Your shield and great reward.

3 Why spend the day in blank despair,
In restless thought the night?
On your Creator cast your care;
He makes your burdens light.

4 Did not His love and truth and pow'r
Guard ev'ry childhood day?
And did He not in threat'ning hour
Turn dreaded ills away?

5 He only will with patience chide,
His rod falls gently down;
And all your sins He casts aside
In ocean depths to drown.

6 His wisdom never plans in vain
Nor falters nor mistakes.
All that His counsels may ordain
A blessed ending makes.

7 Upon your lips, then, lay your hand,
And trust His guiding love;
Then like a rock thy peace shall stand
Here and in heav'n above.

You can listen to the hymn here.

Today’s commentary on the hymn comes from Pastor Richard Resch as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

There are those who cannot believe that a pastor would write a hymn asking them to rejoice during trials and testing. These saints will have a difficult time with the seven stanzas of this hymn by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676).

It is one thing for the faithful to understand and trust that God, in His infinite wisdom, needs to chasten them from time to time. But it is quite another thing for them to rejoice, be glad, and sing about it while enduring the chastening. Without help, very few rejoice and sing in such times. Yet hymns give Christians a voice and provide the words that lead them to do just that. There may be tears, but the muffled singing still confesses a confident hope and trust in the One who sent a form of testing – for their good.

This is how Paul Gerhardt becomes the master teacher of the theology of the cross, for he teaches the unthinkable. He teaches joy through tears, a heart to be glad when it is breaking, a cheerful trust when it appears that one is forsaken and alone. Gerhardt frequently experienced such trials and knew what he was talking about. Yet he saw a blessed road, one that also gives us rejoicing and gladness. His pastoral advice is for us to sing that Jesus Christ is a treasure, a shield, a reward, a counselor, a light, and the Lord in contexts that extraordinary and filled with despair, extreme suffering, and severe crosses. Gerhardt nevertheless has us sing that Christ is our song. Only in Him could rejoicing be on our lips in such times (Habakkuk 3:17-19). Such unique singing baffles the world and sends Satan running.

Collect
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in Your divine wisdom and fatherly goodness makes Your children to bear the cross, and sends diverse afflictions upon us to subdue the flesh, and quicken our hearts unto faith, hope and unceasing prayer: We beseech You to have mercy upon us, and graciously deliver us out of our trials and afflictions, so that we may perceive Your grace and fatherly help, and with all saints forever praise and worship You; through Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
Psalm 91
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2    to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3    to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4    For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5    How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6    The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7    that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
       they are doomed to destruction forever;
8        but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9    For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
10    But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
11    My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12    The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13    They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14    They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15    to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
 
Devotion based on the hymn All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night 883
All praise to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light!
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-ful day.

Oh may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Larry Peters as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

The echo of Psalm 92:1-2 is found throughout the hymn: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” Psalm 91 is an even greater influence on the hymn, and verses 1 and 4 are clearly referenced in the final two lines of stanza 1: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge.”

Stanza 2 reminds us that our rest is tied to a clear conscience. It is a confession of sins and a prayer that God forgive the sins of the day and enable to singer to sleep at peace with all things (Mark 9:50b; Job 22:21; Psalm 4:8).

Psalm 90:12 prays that we might be taught to number our days and apply them wisely. In the same way, the third stanza asks that we live as a child of God in a fallen world, set apart by Him for a new day of eternal life. Sleep is an oft-used description of death (John 11:11-12; Matthew 9:24). Here the Christian sees death as a sleep from which we are awakened by Jesus Christ to resurrection and eternal life. Note that in the last line, the Day of Judgment is an awe-filled day and not an awful, terrible day.

The fourth stanza is a prayer that we may rest our hopes and fears in the Lord so that we are prepared better to serve Him with all our strength and will in the morning.
Stanza 5 acknowledges the difficulty in sleeping when the burdens of this mortal life press upon us, asking that our thoughts may be of heaven and not of earth, of hope and not of fear. Often the themes for evening hymns seem somewhat out of place in a modern world where the work does not end with the daylight and where the night sky consists more of manufactured light than of a darkness pierced only by moon and stars – the idea in stanza 5 of being molested by the powers of darkness, for example.

The hymn ends with the stanza often called the “common doxology” (LSB 805), probably the best-known and most frequently sung hymn in Christendom. It was in these hymns that Ken wrote for morning and evening and midnight that the stanza originated.

Collect
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture 
Colossians 2:8-15
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
 
Devotion
Awake, My Heart, with Gladness by Paul Gerhardt is one of my favorite Easter Hymns. It perfectly captures the joy and the meaning of Easter. I am going to read the whole hymn but then I want to focus in on a couple stanzas that really grabbed my attention as I sung this (10x) on Easter – especially since they so beautifully capture the end of what I just read from Colossians 2.

1 Awake, my heart, with gladness,
See what today is done;
Now, after gloom and sadness,
Comes forth the glorious sun.
My Savior there was laid
Where our bed must be made
When to the realms of light
Our spirit wings its flight.

2 The foe in triumph shouted
When Christ lay in the tomb;
But lo, he now is routed,
His boast is turned to gloom.
For Christ again is free;
In glorious victory
He who is strong to save
Has triumphed o'er the grave.

3 This is a sight that gladdens--
What peace it doth impart!
Now nothing ever saddens
The joy within my heart.
No gloom shall ever shake,
No foe shall ever take
The hope which God's own Son
In love for me hath won.

4 Now hell, its prince, the devil,
Of all their pow'r are shorn;
Now I am safe from evil,
And sin I laugh to scorn.
Grim death with all his might
Cannot my soul affright;
It is a pow'rless form,
Howe'er it rave and storm.

5 The world against me rages,
Its fury I disdain;
Though bitter war it wages,
Its work is all in vain.
My heart from care is free,
No trouble troubles me.
Misfortune now is play,
And night is bright as day.

6 Now I will cling forever
To Christ, my Savior true;
My Lord will leave me never,
Whate'er He passes through.
He rends death's iron chain;
He breaks through sin and pain;
He shatters hell's dark thrall;
I follow Him through all.

7 He brings me to the portal
That leads to bliss untold,
Whereon this rhyme immortal
Is found in script of gold:
"Who there My cross has shared
Finds here a crown prepared;
Who there with Me has died
Shall here be glorified."
​
I want to focus in on stanzas 4 and 5.  One of the things Good Friday and Easter mean for us as Christians is that hell and the devil have been stripped of their power over us. Hell, death, and the devil are powerless because Christ has conquered them. So, we joyously sing, “Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn!” We can laugh at sin and death because even with all its might, no matter how much it raves and storms, grim death cannot scare us because Christ is risen from the dead. Where is our hope as the world cowers in fear in the face of pandemics and economic uncertainty? Our hope is in the crucified and risen Christ  who is strong to save and in glorious victory has triumphed over the grave.

I love how Athanasius talks about this in On the Incarnation: But if a man is gone down even to Hades and stands in awe of the heroes who have descended there, regarding them as gods, yet he may see the fact of Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. He may infer that among them also Christ alone is true God and Lord. For the Lord touched all parts of creation and freed and undeceived all of them from every illusion. As Paul says, “Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he triumphed on the cross”; that no one might by any possibility be any longer deceived but everywhere might find the true Word of God.

The stanza that caught my attention even more than stanza 4 was stanza 5. It is not only the devil that is out to get Christians, it is also the sinful world that is against Christians. It too, like grim death, rages against us but its fury we disdain and hold in contempt – as our Lord does in Psalm 2. All its efforts against the Christian are in vain! So, our hearts can be free from all care and anxiety.  No trouble needs to weigh us down and trouble us. Because of this we sing, “Misfortune now is play, And night is bright as day.”  That is a confession that we can make in faith because of Christ’s victory over death and the grave.

Collect
Gracious Father, I thank you that because You have made me Your child in baptism that I have been united to Christ’s victory over sin, death, hell, the devil, and the sinful world.  Grant me the grace and faith I need to always cling to Him for my salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

You can now listen to the devotions at the church's podcast.  You can find this devotion here.

​Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Scripture 
Lamentations 3:19-26

      19       Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
      the wormwood and the gall!
            20       My soul continually remembers it
      and is bowed down within me.
            21       But this I call to mind,
      and therefore I have hope:

            22       The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
      his mercies never come to an end;
            23       they are new every morning;
      great is your faithfulness.
            24       “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
      “therefore I will hope in him.”

            25       The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
      to the soul who seeks him.
            26       It is good that one should wait quietly
      for the salvation of the LORD.


Devotion based on the Hymn What God Ordains Is Always Good

1 What God ordains is always good:
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed
In ev'ry need
Knows well how He will shield me;
To Him, then, I will yield me.

2 What God ordains is always good:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me in His righteous way,
And never will He leave me.
I take content
What He has sent;
His hand that sends me sadness
Will turn my tears to gladness.

3 What God ordains is always good:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my physician sends me.
My God is true;
Each morning new
I trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

4 What God ordains is always good:
He is my friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm
Though many storms may gather.
Now I may know
Both joy and woe;
Some day I shall see clearly
That He has loved me dearly.

5 What God ordains is always good:
Though I the cup am drinking
Which savors now of bitterness,
I take it without shrinking.
For after grief
God gives relief,
My heart with comfort filling
And all my sorrow stilling.

6 What God ordains is always good:
This truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm,
For with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
So to my God I yield me. 
 
Our devotion commentary for today comes from Pastor Sean Daenzer as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

Rodigast begins each stanza with the confession that "what God ordains is always good." The final thought of the first and last stanzas is the same: "so to my God I yield me." This simple confession and response is expounded upon throughout the hymn. The confession of God's work as "good" and His corresponding will for humanity as "just and holy" comes not by observation, but by His Word. The world observes the works of the "hidden God" and passes judgment on Him - God is thought unfair, cruel, or perhaps not really in control. The Christian, however, lives by faith and not by sight, trusting the Word of God; namely, that God works all things together for the good of the Christian (Romans 8:28) and that God is a just and righteous God of truth with no iniquity (Deuteronomy 32:4).  

These promises and truths are made evident in the crucifixion of Christ. His death is an offense to the world, but it is salvation to those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:18). Faith contents itself with the promises of God. Even in the face of sufferings and crosses that might suggest God's abandonment or punishment, the Christian holds fast to what He sends as a good gift and sign of His favor. Rodigast's hymn confesses this worldly foolishness, this theology of the cross; for this reason, it continues to be included in what was formerly titled the "Cross and Comfort" section. 

Luther paraphrases Isaiah 5:20 in insisting that the theologian of the cross "calls the thing what it is." Likewise, this hymn does not deny suffering, sorrow, need, and death, nor pretend that they are not so bad; rather, it admits the reality of suffering and confesses that it comes precisely from God. The strength of Lutheran comfort is its honesty about sin, death, and suffering, while trusting wholly and only in the promises of the Word. Stanza 3 is especially potent: that Christ is our physician, who may prescribe bitter medicine for our health and well-being. The reference to Lamentations 3:22-23 ("His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning") shows this hymn to be true Christian lament; not merely venting about troubles and sorrows, it holds God to His promises to deliver and preserve. 

Stanza 5 is also especially comforting. In it, Rodigast connects the suffering of the singer to the Passion of Christ, who prayed in the garden, "Remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Whether God will remove the cup from the Christian this side of eternity is unknown. Rather, the promise of His truth and faithfulness enables one to face and endure suffering as long as God sends it, for this Savior remains with the Christian now and in eternity, when all sorrows will be stilled forever. 

Some may wonder if this hymn's doctrine comes close to a Calvinist understanding of God's sovereignty - that because God rules and ordains everything, Christians should be content with whatever happens.  What is different about this hymn, though, is that it places contentedness not merely in a god who is powerful and in control, but in God's promises that He works, rules, and controls in mercy for the good of the Christian. The hymn does not profess its commitment to a god who is in charge whether he elects some to damnation or to salvation, but to the God who pours out His wrath upon HIs Son that the world might be saved. Only a God of promise and mercy is a God to be feared, just as the table prayer says, "The LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love." (Psalm 136:1, 25; 147:9-11)


Collect
Heavenly Father, what You ordain is always good. Help us to see this - especially when things look the very opposite of what we would call good.  Fix our eyes on our Lord Jesus Christ and help us to trust that You work, rule, and control all things in mercy for our good and salvation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.