HYMN: I Put My Trust in You, O God

Another day, another substitute teaching opportunity, another text drafted. I ended up with two free periods today somehow, and that gave me the opportunity to do some writing. I have to say, the longer the Psalm, the more difficult I find it to make it metrical. 

This is Psalm 7, the one I skipped over on Tuesday. I've chosen the tune WAS MEIN GOTT WILL (Isorhythmic), which is used for "The Will of God Is Always Best" (hymn 758) in LSB, The rhyme scheme works best with the Isorhythmic tune. 

Feedback is love.

I Put My Trust in You, O God

1. I put my trust in You, O God.

Deliver me and save me.

Preserve me from the vicious rod

Of those who would enslave me.

They tear my flesh like lion's prey

And rend my very body.

For no one comes to save, they say,

In voices cruel and haughty.

2. Yet if I sin, O Lord my God,

If with my hands I blunder,

If I meet peace with flaming sword,

If I should idly plunder,

Then give my enemies delight

To chase and overtake me.

And let them conquer in the fight.

Let honor then forsake me.

3. Arise, O Lord, in righteous wrath.

Arise for my salvation.

Let all who walk the wicked path

Receive due condemnation.

My righteous God, my sure defense,

Arise, O Lord, and test me.

Your life, O Christ, without offense,

The gift by which You blessed me.

4. Bring all the wicked to an end

And lift the just with favor.

Our hearts and minds on You depend.

Lord, help us never waver.

Oh, judge me for integrity

And raise the humble, lowly.

The grace Your Spirit gives to me

Will save those You make holy.

5. Our God is just, the Judge unswayed.

The wicked face His fury.

Unless His mighty wrath is stayed,

He brings their death most surely.

He has made ready fiery darts,

His bow and sword preparing,

To pierce the false and evil hearts

With awesome wrath unsparing.

6. The wicked wallow in their sin,

Their grave a pit of anguish.

Lo, they will end as they begin.

In death the evil languish.

But I will praise the righteous Lord

Who showers me with blessing.

Saints sing His praise with one accord,

His holy name addressing.

87 87D

WAS MEIN GOTT WILL (Isorhythmic) (LSB 758)

Psalm 7

HYMN: How Excellent Your Name, O Lord

I skipped Psalm 7 by accident, It's not that I necessarily have to go in order, especially since I've written other hymns based on later-numbered Psalms. But I do so like to do things in an orderly fashion, to impose some sort of control upon the chaos that seems to run roughshod on my life.

So I worked on a metrical text for Psalm 8. This reminds me of the day I baptized the twins. The pastor of the church we were attending thought it would be good for the congregation to use The Message for the psalmody/introit during worship. If you haven't heard of it, the Message is a paraphrase of the Bible assembled by Eugene Peterson. Peterson has done a lot of good; the Message is so awful that I believe it all but offsets the good Peterson has done. Psalm 8 begins with the grand claim, "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!” The Message treats God's name with entirely too much familiarity and much less majesty: "GOD, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name." I was and remain unimpressed. 

(I remember sitting in on a Bible study class where the pastor was translating on the fly from the Greek, and one of the attendees had the audacity to hold up her copy of the Message and tell the pastor, "That's not what the Bible says," as if her paraphrase of Scripture was more accurate andd desirable than the original language and a literal translation. But I digress.)

Here's my Psalm 8 text. I wrote it with the tune KOMMT HER ZU MIR in mind, which is the tune for "O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe" (LSB 666). But I also like the way it sounds with MERIBAH, the tune for "May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfill" (LSB 698). 

As always, feedback is love. 

How Excellent Your Name, O Lord

1. How excellent Your name, O Lord,

By all in heav'n and earth adored.

Your glory overflows.

And mouths of nursing babes will raise

The bold confession of Your praise

To silence all Your foes.

2. On moon and stars I meditate

And think of all You did create:

The wonders of Your hands.

So what is man that You pay heed,

For he is only dust indeed;

Why meet his great demands?

3. Man's honor nears the angel host's,

And of Your mindfulness he boasts.

With glory he is crowned.

And mighty grace have You displayed.

You name him lord of all You made.

To him all things are bound.

∆ 4. How excellent Your name, O Lord,

By all in heav'n and earth adored.

The people whom You claim

Will praise the God of whom we boast,

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

All glory to Your name.

886 886

KOMMT HER ZU MIR (LSB 666) or MERIBAH (LSB 698)

Psalm 8

HYMN: Lord Jesus, Son Who Sets Us Free

A blessed Festival of the Reformation to you and yours.

I had a rare Sunday off this morning, so there is no sermon to post today. However, while I was listening to Pastor Anderson at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, something he said sparked an idea for a hymn text. I'd written a text for the Reformation before, but it wasn't my best work, and I'd always hoped that something better would come to me eventually. Today it did.

Built mostly on John 8:31-36, which is the Gospel appointed for the Festival of the Reformation, and with a nod to the boasting mentioned in the Romans 3 reading for today, this is a hymn of praise to Christ, the Son who sets us free from our slavery to sin. The tune is ALL EHR UND LOB, which is the tune for the hymn "All Glory Be to God Alone (LSB 948). 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, feedback is love.

Lord Jesus, Son Who Sets Us Free

1. Lord Jesus, Son who sets us free

From sin, our chains of slavery,

Who by His cross did overthrow

The devil, tyrant, evil foe:

To You, O Christ, for all our days

Be honor, glory, might, and praise. 

2. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word. 

Let not Your children fear the sword,

For Your disciples we would be

And know the truth that sets us free. 

For we, who once to sin were slaves,

Rejoice in Christ, the Son who saves.

3. Not by descent from Abraham,

But by Your blood, O Christ the Lamb,

Are we as God’s own children made,

And through that blood are unafraid

To name Your Father as our own

And boldly stand before the throne. 

∆ 4. In sparkling-bright baptismal dress,

With boldness grant that we confess

And boast alone in Jesus Christ,

Who for our sin was sacrificed. 

O Father, Son, and Spirit, One:

All thanks while endless ages run.

88 88 88

ALL EHR UND LOB (LSB 948)

Reformation; John 8:31-36

HYMN: Your Righteous Wrath, O Lord, Restrain

The Psalter project continues, apparently, as substitute teaching seems to be good for my writing productivity. Maybe I should work on a novel or the non-fiction work that's popcorning around my brain. Or maybe a sermon or two. In due time, perhaps. But I don't preach this Sunday, so that need isn't as urgent either.

But I digress. The more I work on the Psalter, the more I recognize that I spend a lot of time crying out to the Lord. Or maybe I don't spend enough time crying out to the Lord. Probably there's an argument to be made for both. In honor of the first, or maybe to address the second, here is a metric version of Psalm 6. I'm still working on a more Christological approach, but for now, this treats the text fairly faithfully. The suggested tune is ES IST GEWISSLICH, the tune for LSB 508. "The Day Is Surely Drawing Near."

Feedback is love.

Your Righteous Wrath, O Lord, Restrain

1. Your righteous wrath, O Lord, restrain.

Hold back Your hot displeasure.

Have mercy, for my powers wane,

My woes too deep too measure.

My spirit groans most bitterly.

Return, O Lord! Deliver me!

In Your great mercy save me.

2. Who, Lord, will thank You from the grave?

In death, who will remember?

My foe attacks me--wretched knave!

My grief, a burning ember.

Each night I flood my bed with tears.

My eyes grow weak, for nothing cheers,

And naught can still my mourning.

3. Yet God has heard my anguished cry.

He hears my supplication.

I raise my prayer to Him on high.

He calms my souls frustration.

All those who work iniquity,

They can no longer trouble me.

My foes in shame must perish.  

87 87 887

ES IST GEWISSLICH (LSB 508)

Psalm 6

HYMN: My God and King, Do Not Delay

Once again my substitute teaching experience has proved to be fruitful for writing. During my free period yesterday morning, I took at look at Psalm 5, and a bit of an idea popped into my head. This is just a first draft, but sharing it means there's a possibility of feedback to help me strengthen it.

The meter is Common Meter Double (CMD--86 86 86 86), and there are few CMD tunes in LSB, fewer that are quality tunes, and even fewer still that are in the public domain. I'm afraid I lean to heavily on KINGSFOLD, but it's the best one (along with ALL SAINTS NEW), and it best fits the feel of the text. We'll see if I can come up with something original.

As always, feedback is love.
 

My God and King, Do Not Delay

 1. My God and King, do not delay.
Oh, hear me when I cry.
Give ear, O Lord; to You I pray
Receive my groaning sigh.
I furnish in my deep distress
A morning sacrifice.
You take no joy in wickedness
Nor dwell with any vice.

2.The boastful wither in Your eyes.
The vicious You defeat.
You ruin those who deal in lies
And all who speak deceit.
But through Your steadfast love I stand
Within Your dwelling place.
I bow before Your altar grand
In fear before Your face. 

3. Oh, lead me in Your holiness
Upon Your narrow way,
And gird me in baptismal dress
To face the deadly fray.
For foes who flatter speak but lies,
Their mouths an open grace.
They seek my downfall as their prize.
They doubt Your pow'r to save. 

4. So make them bear their guilt, O God,
Who seek Your overthrow;
And be their deeds the heavy rod
That bring the evil low.
But all rejoice and praise Your name
Who put their trust in You
Who shelters them from guilt and shame
With grace forever new. 

 
CMD (86 86 86 86)
Temporary Tune: KINGSFOLD (LSB 444)
Psalm 5