500. An Upside-Down 'Stabat Mater'

Remember my upside-down Dies irae? Well, I decided to make the last addition to Bountiful Hymns a similar "upside-down" recasting of the Stabat mater, a medieval hymn looking at Jesus' passion through the point of view of the Virgin Mary, which has some good points but, I think, pulls focus off Christ's atoning work. I also suspect it of having an influence on the later development of Catholic spirituality in ways that double-underline my previous concern. In the book I'm using the modifier "anti-" instead of "upside-down," but less in the sense of "opposed to" than "a suggested substitute." The author of the original Stabat apparently took his departure from Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2:35, but I take mine from 1 Timothy 2:5-6. Unlike the Dies parody, this one isn't a stanza-by-stanza, point-by-point recasting of the original, but more a case of starting over at the point where I think it went wrong and taking it from there. I also couldn't resist taking a snide poke at "Were you there when they crucified my Lord." The tune, appropriately, is the same STABAT MATER that I used for this hymn.

Jesus, though the crowd stood scorning,
Mary, John and others mourning,
Fought the fight, and He alone.

Samson of the world's salvation,
He in bonds and degradation
Wide His arms reached to atone.

Naked, scourged, distended, bleeding,
For His slayers' pardon pleading,
Powerless He might have seemed.

Yet for sacrifice He suffered;
More than mankind owed, He offered;
Fallen Adam raised, redeemed.

Divination, necromancy,
Pious vapor, wish, and fancy
Take us not to where He died.

No, we did not see Him dying,
All our trembling naught supplying
That His blood does not provide.

Nor may we, pierced through our spirit,
Claim thereby the slightest merit,
Lest the gift of Christ be lost.

Not the sympathetic mother,
Nor the grief of any other,
Adds a straw's worth to the cross.

If you must the scene envision,
See instead the crowd's derision,
Desperation, yea, despair.

Paint yourself not loving, grieving,
Understanding or believing,
But the need that puts you there.

Look upon what Christ is doing,
Adam's walk with God renewing,
His heel on the serpent's head.

He dies, Eve's mistake reversing;
Lives again, new life dispersing,
Even unto those long dead.

To a gracious God He leads us;
Heav'nly food on earth He feeds us;
Dresses us in garments pure.

His baptism anew begins us;
His word's lively action wins us
Both to follow and endure.

He the keys of heaven gives us
And through chosen men forgives us,
Lest we falter on the way.

He breathes out on us His Spirit,
Guiding us till we inherit
Heaven's kingdom on that Day.

When your conscience you chastises,
God not merely sympathizes;
For Christ's sake He calls You clean.

Let no fear of condemnation
Hide from you this consolation,
Glowing through that Passion scene.

Seek no other mediator;
Let Christ be the sole translator
At God's throne of your desires.

Honor to none other render;
Christ remains the lone Contender
That the hard-pressed heart requires.

P.S.: To be frank, I don't seriosuly expect anyone to sing this. But I think folks could profit from it as a devotion, especially alongside the original Stabat. And to be even more frank, the idea to write this came about because I needed a hymn to fill a blank page in the book, required by another hymn that otherwise would have had a page-turn in it.

499. Proper 29 (Series C)

Egads, what a milestone! This is not only the final installment of my exhausting three-year-lectionary hymn project, but also (counting "Hymn 0" as this blog numbers them) my 500th original hymn. The lessons for this Sunday (Nov. 20-26) are Malachi 3:13-18, Colossians 1:13-20 and Luke 23:27-43. The tune is LAMMAS by Arthur H. Brown (1889), which LHy and ELHy employ for a perversely tedious, 10-stanza version of "Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord" (which, I think, goes down much easier in five four-line stanzas, thanks). However, with a briefer hymn in view, I thought it might make a nice period at the end of this sequence of hymns.

Jesus, alas! What evil days are nigh!
Such was the green wood; how much more the dry!

When You were seen, men spurned You to Your face;
Piercing the hand that holds the door of grace.

Still more they kick as mule against the goad,
Breaking Your yoke, they slip Your doctrine's load.

Topple the mountains; let the oceans churn;
Darken the skies, that men may fear and turn.

Come, while yet faith endures upon the earth;
Come! All creation cries in throes of birth.

Your kingdom come, if be Your will, O Christ,
That we may swiftly enter Paradise!

NOTE: There is still much work to be done on the book-in-progress, Bountiful Hymns, whose bounty will mostly pertain to this series of liturgical hymns. I have a Scripture index in progress, keyed to all three books of my original hymns; I have at least one more hymn in mind to add to the current collection; and of course, some proofing and publishing work to do. And I already have another project or two waiting in the wings. But neither of them is as intensive as this has been; and boy, do I look forward to going back to reading books and doing other normal "me-time" things!

498. Proper 28 (Series C)

The lessons for this Sunday (Nov. 13-19) are Malachi 4:1-6, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (optional 1-5) and Luke 21:5-28 (optional 29-36). The tune is FREUT EUCH, IHR LIEBEN CHRISTEN ALL by Bartholomäus Gesius (1605), not to be confused with the 1587 tune FREUT EUCH, IHR LIEBEN by Leonhard Schröter (cf. "Hail to the Lord's Anointed" in eight hymnals I know of and "Preserve your Word O Savior" in two), nor yet with FREUET EUCH, IHR CHRISTEN by Andreas Hammerschmidt ("O rejoice, ye Christians loudly" in several books). Keeping chorales straight is a professional-grade job, see. This tune, which anglophone Lutheranism doesn't seem to know about, was paired in the SELK hymnal with a hymn whose first line is the same as its title.

Behold, the Day will come with pow'r:
As fire a stubbled field may scour,
The proud like chaff it will devour,
And those who sin from root to flow'r.

Yet to the godly, comfort springs:
The Sun, with healing in His wings,
Strength to tread down the devil brings
And to withstand temptation's slings.

A more than Moses is at hand,
Who bore for us the Law's demand
And, marked by sacrificial brand,
Precedes us to our fatherland.

Fear not when wars and plagues arise,
Which mock the end with false disguise;
But when Christ shakes the earth and skies,
Lift up your heads with hopeful eyes.

When Christ with glory will appear,
Joy will transform your every tear.
Take heart, therefore, with pious fear,
For your deliverance is near.

497. Proper 27 (Series C)

The lessons for this Sunday (Nov. 6-12) are Exodus 3:1-15, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 skipping to 13-17 and Luke 20:27-40. The tune is MARBURG, credited to Johann Crüger by way of adaptation by L. Herman Ilse (1910), which ELHB paired with "When I survey the wondrous cross." In my tune index I have a snippy note (from myself) saying, "One wonders how much credit Ilse gets for the effectiveness of this melody. Probably about as much credit as Lowell Mason deserves for HAMBURG. This is the better tune."

Brethren, stand firm, though dark the time;
Be not soon shaken in your mind,
Knowing the Day will be constrained
Till Satan's fury comes unchained.

His lawlessness already works
Even within the holy church;
Yet Christ restrains him till that Day
When Satan's works are swept away.

With wondrous signs and works of pow'r
He will dupe many in this hour;
A strong delusion God will send
On them who wickedness befriend.

But you, rejoice that God so chose
You to endure the world's last throes,
That you His glory may display
As you withstand the evil day.

For you by grace are His elect,
Whom by the truth He will perfect.
Hold fast the doctrine you received,
Whereby in Christ you have believed.

Now you, till earth's last tomb is breached,
Take through His written word or preached
An everlasting hope and peace,
Built to withstand till struggles cease.

496. Proper 26 (Series C)

The lessons for this Sunday (Oct. 30-Nov. 5) are Isaiah 1:10-18, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5 skipping to 11-12 (optional 6-10) and Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zacchaeus, which I also covered in this children's hymn. The tune is WITTENBERG by L. Herman Ilse (1910), which ELHB paired with "I do not come because my soul." All right, it's not a great chorale, but it's better than most of the alternatives in the same meter – the one truly great tune of which, KOMMT HER ZU MIR, just seemed to heavy for the purpose.

Zacchaeus in the sycamore
Climbed up as Jesus passed before,
To see Him o'er the crowd.
When Christ looked up and bade him, "Come,
For I would sojourn in your home,"
The town complained aloud.

"He has become a sinner's Guest,"
The people cried, at which protest
Zacchaeus told the Lord:
"Half will I give unto the poor,
And if I've pilfered aught before,
I'll pay it back fourfold."

Then Christ, who came to seek and save
The lost, unto Zacchaeus gave
The hand of fellowship:
For in Him had salvation come,
Against whose peace the law is dumb,
Hell of its spoils is stripped.

When I am small, through my own fault,
Let not my enemy exult;
O Lord, my eyes lift up.
Let me Your smiling visage see;
In grace and mercy, summon me
With You, on You to sup.

Forgive my sins, and prove still more
Your love, that gladly I'd restore
Whate'er by graft I gain.
Call me at last to be Your guest
On high, where feasting of the best,
The least with You shall reign.

495. Proper 25 (Series C)

The lessons for this Sunday (Oct. 23-29) are Genesis 4:1-15, 2 Timothy 4:6-18 (skipping verses 9-15) and Luke 18:9-17, part of which is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, about which I previously wrote this hymn. The tune is LYONS, adapted from J. Michael Haydn (†1806), Papa Joseph's brother; it has seen use in anglophone Lutheranism alongside the hymns "Delay not, delay not, O sinner, draw near," "O worship the King, all-glorious above" and "Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim." It's also the tune that, along with HANOVER, makes "Identify this tune within five notes" a trick question on your Hymnology 101 drop-the-needle test.

Have mercy on me, the sinner, O God!
Look not on my works but on Jesus' blood.
I gaze not on heaven with self-righteous eye,
But humbly repenting, for grace I apply.

I dare not my guilt to others' compare,
Nor on any good in me base my prayer.
Were I on my fasting or tithes to depend,
My pretense to goodness itself would offend.

But lo, I will plead no virtues or charms,
But cast me on You, a babe in Your arms:
Though little I've served You in deed or in thought,
Permit me to enter the kindgom of God!

And if I now stand unstained in Your eyes,
What doubt dare I hold o'er them You baptize?
If children more fondly than all You would bless,
I'll count not on what I but You, Lord, profess.

Count me, then, with those You hold on Your knee!
Lay hands on my mind; form me inwardly.
Teach me from a free heart Your footsteps to trace,
A sinner by nature, a saint by Your grace.

494. Proper 24 (Series C)

The lessons for this Sunday (Oct. 16-22) are Genesis 32:22-30, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 and Luke 18:1-8. The Old Testament lesson, Jacob wrestling with God, is one I've already built a hymn around. The tune is KLEINIG, which I wrote in 2018 for a hymn by John Kleinig (cf. Edifying Hymns). Which, by the way, was reprinted with Dr. Kleinig's permission, along with another hymn of his, both of which were featured in his Concordia Commentary on Hebrews.

Spirit, Who breathed Holy Scripture for teaching,
By it make us wise, yea, fully assured,
Unto salvation through faith in its preaching,
Which Jesus the Word incarnate secured.

By it reprove and correct our behavior;
Instruct us, equip us in righteousness,
Till the appearing of our Judge and Savior,
When living and dead His name shall confess.

Let it be preached in defiance of season;
Convict and rebuke; with patience exhort.
When ears are tuned to men's feelings or reason,
Watch over Your word; uphold us, dear Lord!