by the Rev. Richard C. Resch

During my vicarage, I was called to the deathbed of a 101-year-old man. Each breath he drew was a painful effort. I started to speak, but he raised his finger to silence me. He then began to minister to himself and to me in such a profoundly beautiful way that I shall never forget it. With incredible effort, he recited in a raspy, barely audible voice one verse from a hymn. It took him ten minutes to utter the 77 words of the verse. I have heard this verse set by all of the composers I admire most, and yet this was the most beautiful rendering of it that I had ever heard. The man had memorized the words as a child; now, almost 100 years later, they were his last words on earth.

Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abram’s bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And then from death awaken me
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
My Savior and my Fount of Grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend . . .
And I will praise Thee without end.
(TLH, 429, st. 3)

Some may ask: "What does a text written in German in 1567 and memorized by someone over a century ago have to do with us today? Are we not in a very different time and culture?" We are, indeed, which leads to this important question: What will today’s children have memorized that will comfort them on their deathbeds? These questions reveal a tension existing today between the Lutheran hymn practice of the past and of the present.

The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Worship give us the riches of the past. They are collections of outstanding texts and tunes that have withstood the test of time, while thousands upon thousands of others have been left behind. Why have these endured? Through the ages, God has bestowed extraordinary gifts on certain poets, theologians, and musicians. Surely a Paul Gerhardt is a gift from God to the church. Listen to this text of his: "Then, we come before God’s throne,/ This little lamb shall lead us;/ His righteousness shall be our crown,/ His innocence precede us" (LW 111, st. 4).

Over the centuries, from Martin Luther to Martin Franzmann and beyond, hundreds of Lutheran pastors and laypeople have written hymn texts that are fully in accord with our Confessions, that speak to human needs, and that voice wonderfully our adoration of God. This is our heritage, and it is a unique heritage.

But when looking at the past and its relevance for today, we must realize that our hymnals reach back much farther than 16^th-century Germany. Hymnals unite us with the worship of the Old Testament by giving us in chant and hymnic form the hymnal of the Old Testament—the Psalter. We are united with the New Testament church through the canticles, which also appear in chant and hymnic form. We join the early church when we sing hymns from those first centuries (composed originally in Greek) such as "Shepherd of Tender Youth" and "Lord Jesus Think on Me."

In addition to these hymns, we have also inherited a large body of Latin hymnody. "Of the Father’s Love Begotten," "Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain," and "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" come readily to mind. These texts still speak to us, as do the hymns of Scandinavia: "On My Heart Imprint Thine Image," All Who Believe and Are Baptized," "Behold a Host Arrayed in White." And hymns from England: "A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing" and "For All the Saints."

The needs of a 101-year-old man on his deathbed today are no different from those of a dying believer in any age. Through the hymnists of our confession, God has enriched our adoration. His gifts in the past still preach and teach in our time. We are the richer, not the poorer, for it.

God has given us gifts in the past that allow us to glimpse our future—where we will adore the Lamb without ceasing, for that is all we will want to do.

The   Rev. Richard C. Resch   is Kantor at Concordia Theological Seminary and at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Reprinted with permission from the May 1990 issue of the Lutheran Witness.

From Volume 4, Issue 3, August, 2000