428. Proper 13 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during July 31-Aug. 6, are Exodus 16:2-15, Ephesians 4:1-16 and John 6:22-35 – the first installment of a three-week break from Mark's gospel, all from John chapter 6. The tune is AYNHOE by James Nares (†1783) – not the squared-off version which appeared twice in TLH ("Lord of the harvest, hear" and "Soldiers of Christ, arise") but the (I think) more original, triple-time version LHy used with "Soldiers of Christ."

Jesus, the Bread of life
On Whom the faithful feed,
Give us Yourself that we may thrive,
From thirst and hunger freed.

Show us the work of God,
That we in You believe:
Not of our deeds or pious laud,
This freely we receive.

Manna is Yours to give,
Lord Jesus, from above
Sent down that we below may live
In sacrificial love.

This bread, which is Yourself,
Builds in our flesh your realm.
With You in us our daily Help,
No need can overwhelm.

For You now all things fill;
Captivity is bound.
In You, ascended Savior, still
All gifts to men are found.

Thus, let no storm of words
Cast doubt upon Your bread
Where, by the pow'r Your word affords,
The world on You is fed.

Put our complaints away;
From sin so set us free
That all Your gifts may have full play
Till we Your glory see.

427. Proper 12 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during July 24-30, are Genesis 9:8-17, Ephesians 3:14-21 and Mark 6:45-56. The tune is ST. BERNARD from Tochter Sion of Köln, 1741. I've found it in six different one-off (or in one case, two-off) text-tune pairings across five anglphone Lutheran hymnals, including ELHB, CSB, TLH, SBH and Australia's LH.

To God, in whom the saints are named,
We bow the knee in prayer
That hearts to faith may be inflamed,
That love be rooted there.

From Christ, who shows us with the saints
The height and width and length,
The love surpassing all restraints,
We draw the Spirit's strength.

To Him whose power far exceeds
All that we ask or think,
Let us entrust our cares and needs
And of His wisdom drink.

Let us behold His mystery
Bound up in promised sign,
And so His unseen nature see,
His age-deep treasures mine:

From rainbow's promise lest a flood
Should drown the world again
To His last testament of blood
Poured out to ransom men.

Oh, breadth that gathers in our race!
Oh, length of trusty bond!
Oh, depth of sacrificial grace!
Oh, height all worlds beyond!—

Oh, Christ to grasp, and to be filled
With knowledge from on high!
Oh, but to taste His truth distilled,
From floods of sin kept dry!

Kneel, heart! Lie prostrate, little mind!
Bless Him whose touch makes well.
In Him your sheltered harbor find,
Who walks unscorched through hell.

And though the floods against you rise,
Your foe at court rise up,
Trust Him whose bow stands in the skies;
Taste His acquitting cup!

426. Proper 11 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during July 17-23, are Jeremiah 23:1-6, Ephesians 2:11-22 and Mark 6:30-44. The tune is THANKSGIVING by John Bacchus Dykes (c.1889), not to be confused with a tune of the same name by yours truly. It has appeared in one-off pairings with at least five different hymns in at least three different American Lutheran hymnals (ELHB, CSB and SBH).

In Your compassion, gracious Lord,
You looked upon the multitude
As sheep in want of One to herd,
And teaching them, gave heav'nly food.

Us also, Jesus, we beseech,
Regard with loving-kindness. Give
A shepherd, faithful, apt to teach,
That we on You may feed and live.

Such Shepherd's love at eve You showed
That earthly food You then dispensed,
Till scant supply far overflowed
The hunger it was set against.

Us also, Jesus, we implore,
Give sustenance none can exhaust:
A bread whose eaters die no more,
Whereof You only know the cost.

Command the shepherds in Your charge
Likewise to teach us many things,
For though the flock grow wondrous large,
More boundless still Your mercy springs.

425. Proper 10 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during July 10-16, are Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 1:3-14 (the first of eight consecutive readings from that epistle) and Mark 6:14-29. The tune is THEOCTISTUS by John B. Calkin (1872), which the Lutheran Hymnary paired with "Jesus, name all names above."

Faithful witnesses, take heart
From the baptist's portion,
Who bore well the martyr's part,
Preached without distortion
Though his prophecy was hated,
Though a headsman's sword awaited:
Help us stand, Lord, in such wise
When our hour to speak may rise.

Some our teaching will perplex,
Though they hear with gladness;
Others it will sorely vex,
Moving them to madness.
Though His word may bring upheaval,
Jesus' ends are never evil:
Savior, let Your will be done,
Even when our course is run.

Let this age's daughters dance
And her sons lie drunken;
Let its haughty princes prance,
While in prisons sunken
Languish those whose good confession
Meets with malice and oppression:
Spirit, arm us for the fray,
Steeled against the evil day.

Triune God, uphold our cry,
Lest Your word keep silence,
Lest Your kingdom we deny
While it suffers violence!
Hearten those who, You professing,
Hasten to obtain the blessing
That Your mercy holds in store
Where the saints live evermore.

424. Proper 9 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during July 3-9, are Ezekiel 2:1-5, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (the end of a six-week series of selections from that epistle) and Mark 6:1-13. The tune is OP, THI DAGEN NU FREMBRYDER by Ludvig M. Lindeman (†1887), set to Freylinghausen's beautiful Advent/Christmas hymn "Wake, the welcome day appeareth" in Lutheran Hymnary and Ev. Lutheran Hymnary, each stanza of which ends with a double Hallelujah. And yes, I've noticed that I'm a big fan of Lindeman's tunes. Aren't you?

Preach, you messengers of Jesus!
Preach His word, though it displease us;
Preach without regard for gain;
Preach in poverty and pain;
Preach, defying mortal reason;
Preach in season, out of season:
Let all the people say Amen!

Christ is He who sends the preacher,
Christ to share with ev'ry creature;
Christ who lifts our guilty stain;
Christ who breaks the captive's chain;
Christ the Victim crushed and gory;
Christ our only pride and glory:
Let all the people say Amen!

Go, then: follow the apostles,
Sent by Christ with news colossal.
Sow the word, that tiny grain;
Spread the Savior's mighty reign.
Though affliction sorely tries you,
Surely will His grace suffice you:
Let all the people say Amen!

423. Proper 8 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, a Sunday after Trinity during June 26-July 2, are Lamentations 3:22-33, 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 skipping to 13-15, and Mark 5:21-43, the raising of Jairus's daughter and the healing of the woman with the flow of blood. I've previously alluded to Jairus's daughter in hymns here and here. The tune is OLD 107TH from Clément Marot's 30 Pseaumes de David, a Calvinistic psalter of 1541; it was paired with "Your hand, O Lord, in days of old" in LBW and LW and, again in LBW, with "The Lord will come and not be slow." To paraphrase a saying attributed to Martin Luther, "Must the Calvinists have all the good tunes?" Or even some of them, all to themselves? (Fun fact: John Adams, not the president but the composer, used Luther's alleged epigram as the title of a piano concerto.)

Wait on the Lord! For ev'ry morn
His mercies are renewed.
With calm hope let your lot be borne;
Your yoke, with fortitude.
Though you be made to kiss the dust,
Though your tormentor scoff,
In God's compassion put your trust:
He will not cast you off.

He does not willingly give grief;
That the believer knows.
Yet pain may exercise belief,
As Jairus' daughter shows:
Her father was obliged to wait
While Christ another healed.
They seemed to reach her bed too late;
Yet death its spoils would yield.

The woman suffered full twelve years,
Her patience tested much,
Till her uncleanness disappeared
At Christ's unwitting touch.
God's power through His garment flowed,
While He, caught unawares,
All honor on her faith bestowed;
Will He not hear your prayers?

Can death make futile Christ's return?
Can distance or late hour
Or laughter or loud wails concern
The Author of such power?
A little word brings death undone;
A light touch stops a bleed.
Wait, therefore, on God's saving Son;
Entrust to Him your need.

422. Proper 7 (Series B)

The lessons for this service, for the very likely occurrence of a Sunday after Trinity during June 19-25, are Job 38:1-11, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41. Challenges facing us from the non-repetition standpoint include the Old Testament lesson overlapping with that of Series A Proper 14, and the fact that I previously wrote a hymn based on Matthew's parallel account of Jesus stilling the storm. The tune is the Swedish traditional melody GAA NU HEN OG GRAV MIN GRAV, which the Lutheran Hymnary paired with "Go, and let my grave be made" as well as "Jesus, Master! at Thy word." The arrangment is LHy's minus some distracting frou-frou, not the first substraction of its kind I've considered necessary.

"Peace, be still!" Christ Jesus said,
And the wind and waves fell quiet.
Nature seemed to knew its Head,
Word that tempered Chaos' riot:
Order ordered on the scene,
Stormy seas became serene.

"Who can this be?" cried His men,
"See, the wind and sea obey Him!"
Might they not His nature ken,
Hearing chastened imps betray Him?
Had they not His works observed
When so oft the sick He served?

"Why so fearful?" He replied.
"Are you still so unbelieving?"
Yea, the storm went on inside,
Otherness fresh trouble leaving.
Wondrous though His signs may be,
Who can stand the Lord to see?

Fear Him, then, but also trust
Him, who all your ways is keeping;
Know His love, which guards the just,
Though He outwardly be sleeping.
Come what tumult may impend,
Jesus grants a peaceful end.