By Rev. Timothy Sandeno
St. Johns Lutheran Church and School
The past couple of decades have brought forth a number of television singing competitions. One such show is The Voice. It is not limited to our country or even just English viewing. It is has spread to more than 70 countries and regions with some 150 global commissions and spinoffs. Music can be powerful. Often times it is more than just a beautiful or powerful voice. We can recognize that lyrics and music can carry power, even majesty.
When the Gospel is exclaimed clearly and paired with appropriate music, it can be moving, compelling, even convincing. I wish to share with you a few stanzas of two hymns that speak of God’s truth in such way that they engage our entire being.
“My Song is Love Unknown” might be a strange choice for a Lutheran, but this 17th century hymn penned by an Englishman (Samuel Crossman) and set to a tune by an Englishman (John Ireland), engages us at the ear as well as at the heart. I cannot share the tune, “Love Unknown,” with you here, but you will be able to find it an internet search if it is not familiar to you. Here is the first stanza:
“My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?”
How ingenious to portray the Gospel as a song, but so it is, a song of God’s love. In Jesus Christ, to the loveless, the sinner.
It is a hymn that focuses on the Passion of Christ (His death for mankind), and so, the seventh stanza speaks of the eternal praise of those who, in faith, rest upon the atonement made for their sins:
“Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine!
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my friend,
In whose sweat praise
I all my days
Could gladly spend!”
There is no story other than the Biblical story of Jesus Christ, crucified for the redemption of sinful man, and raised to life for man’s justification, that shall engage me and enthrall me to sing all my days, both now and for eternity.
And in this post-resurrection season, I wish to leave you with a song of victory that confirms the hope that is within us. Another Englishman, Francis Pott, in 19th century, translated an earlier hymn called “The Strife Is O’er, the Battle Done,” which is set to a tune called “Victory.”
“The stride is o’er, the
battle done;
Now is the victor’s
triumph won;
Now be the song of praise begun. Alleluia!”
Song always has a wonderful sound when it speaks of victory. How much more when it speaks of an eternal victory over sin, death, and the devil!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
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