Catechesis Warm-Up Songs, Part 2

Part 2 of this youth catechesis hymn project coincides with the second chief part of Luther's Small Catechism: the Creed, broken up into three articles. So here's my stab at a warm-up song for each unit in that series of lessons. Art: An illuminated, 14th century Bible manuscript depicting the attibuton of the Apostles' Creed to the Twelve, public domain.

569. The Father and Creation (Article 1)
Tune: ZEUCH MEINEN GEIST, a.k.a. ST. GREGORY, J. B. König’s Choralbuch, 1738
(cf. "O God of Love, O King of Peace" in Common Service Book and Service Book and Hymnal; also "Great God! we sing that mighty Hand" in CSB)

In God the Father I believe:
The God who has created me
And all things, from Whom I receive
All that I need, abundantly.

My soul and body, mind and heart
Are His to give and to preserve;
Rich daily gifts does He impart,
Regardless of what I deserve.

My flesh from danger does He shield,
My soul from evil saves and wards:
All thanks and praise to God I yield
For all His Father-love affords.

570. The Son and Redemption (Article 2)
Tune: HERRNHUT by Bartholomäus Gesius, †1613
(cf. "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness" in SBH, Lutheran Hymnary and Ev. Lutheran Hymnary)

I trust in God's eternal Son,
True God, true Man by Mary's womb,
Who on the cross redemption won
And rose victorious from the tomb.

I have been purchased, not with gold
Or silver, but with priceless blood,
When Jesus into death was sold,
My evil covering with good.

So I rejoice to be His own
And offer Him my everything,
Here and before His glorious throne—
My slain and ever living King!

571. The Spirit and the Church (Article 3)
Tune: RATISBON, Leipzig, 1815
(cf. "Christ, whose glory fills the skies")

Not by reason, nor by will,
Nor by sentimental thrill,
Nor from any power in me
Came the faith that set me free;
But the Holy Spirit's light
Turned my blindness into sight.

You and I, believers all,
Owe it to the Spirit's call,
Gath'ring us around the Word
That plants faith where it is heard,
With baptism and sacrament
Working Jesus' kind intent.

Those now to salvation wise
God the Spirit sanctifies,
Giving everything we lack,
Proofing us from each attack
Of the world, our flesh, our foe,
Till He bids us heav'nward go.

Catechesis Warm-Up Songs, Part 1

I've had a new brainwave for a series of hymns, to set me up for another section of the upcoming book, Profitable Hymns. I'd like to think of them as warm-up songs for a youth catechism class, with each piece designed to be brief, simple, straight-to-the-point and (hopefully) catchy, if I can come up with appropriate tunes to go with them. To start, here are some ditties to open lessons on each of the Ten Commandments (adding them as I write them), as explained in Luther's Small Catechism. Note: If you're going to have a problem with how I number the Ten Commandments, take it up with Martin Luther. A second note: the numbering of the songs is only meant to maintain the continuity of the numbering (from zero) of the original hymns as I've posted them on this blog.

558. No Other God (1st Commandment)
Tune: YOU ONLY by yours truly, just now

You only, God, You only
Are the true and living Lord,
All worthy, yea, all worthy
To be worshiped and adored.

You rightly, God, are jealous
Of the race You raised from dust:
So help us, God, be zealous
In Your fear and love and trust.

559. God's Holy Name (2nd Commandment)
Tune: WALDER by Johann J. Walder, 1788
(cf. "How precious is the Book divine")

We thank You, Lord, for every gift
Pledged in Your holy name.
Help us with fear and love to lift
It up, Your word proclaim.

Hold back the tongue that would profane
Your word with craven lies,
That pries in mystery's domain
And Your plain truth denies.

Hold back the idle tongue, that we
May not call out in vain,
But glorify Your majesty
And all we ask, obtain.

560. The Lord's Day (3rd Commandment)
Tune: POSTDAM by J.S. Bach, †1750
(cf. "'Tis good, Lord, to be here")

Dear God, You chose the hour
To shoulder all our strife:
We hear You speak with saving power
That turns our death to life.

Oh, where is such a word,
For sinners such a rest?
Grant that Your holy day, O Lord,
May unto us be blest!

Help us to count this time
No longer ours but Yours,
Devoted to the grace sublime
That from Christ Jesus pours.

561. Honoring Your Parents (4th Commandment)
Tune: PAA SIT KORS by Hartnack O.K. Zinck, 1801
(cf. "Zion, to thy Savior singing" in the old Lutheran Hymnary)

Father, You have placed above us
Those who care for us and love us:
So grant that we may with joy
Serve them, faithfully subjected,
And when chided or corrected,
Humble deference employ.

As at home, in church and nation,
In our studies and vocation,
May we not provoke their ire.
Help us recognize You working
Through their office, never shirking
From the duty they require.

562. Do Not Murder (5th Commandment)
Tune: FRANCONIA, German, 1720
(cf. "Within the Father's house," etc.)

God, who on Adam's clay
Your lively image stamped,
Protect his offspring, who this day
See death against us camped.

Give us a heart that burns
With love for all his seed,
And that from hate and anger turns
To serve each other's need.

Grant us the will to care
For all with life and breath,
And willingly their burden bear
Till Christ makes spoil of death.

563. Sexual Purity (6th Commandment)
Tune: LIGHT DIVINE, a.k.a. SONG 13 by Orlando Gibbons, †1625
(cf. "Holy Spirit, Light divine")

Dearest Jesus, pure and true,
Form me more and more like You:
By the Holy Spirit's fire
Cleanse me of corrupt desire.

Grant, like Jacob, that I wait
For one choice and cherished mate,
Lest like Esau, my birthright
I'd exchange for brief delight.

Keep my words and dealings chaste;
Shield me from degrading taste,
For I know, dear Lord, to You
Undivided love is due.

564. Do Not Steal (7th Commandment)
Tune: DUNDEE, Scottish Psalter, 1615
(cf. "God moves in a mysterious way," etc.)

Providing God, with more than food
You keep all flesh alive:
Shall I, therefore, of any good
My neighbor now deprive?

No, Lord! But rather would I lift
Their hands to hold secure,
Yea, even multiply Your gift,
Resisting greed's allure.

For every trust is Yours to lend
And Yours to take away,
Till Christ steals in to make an end
Of need in that great day.

565. Testifying Truly (8th Commandment)
Tune: ANGELUS, Heilige Seelenlust, Breslau, 1657
(cf. "At even, ere the sun was set," etc.)

Faithful are You in all You say:
Guard then, O Lord, my fickle tongue,
So sharp to cut, to lead astray,
With words to do my neighbor wrong.

With You, the Word is more than fact:
Eternally begotten Son,
Uniting speech with potent act,
You ever live, with God are One.

I shall then let my yea be yea,
My no be no, my witness true,
And good things of my neighbor say
Before all men, and unto You.

566. Mind Your Desires (9th Commandment)
Tune: KOMM, O KOMM, DU GEIST DES LEBENS, Meiningen, 1693
(cf. "Come, O come, Thou quickening Spirit")

Lord, what wanting, plotting, scheming
Dwells within my selfish heart,
Which by fraud, yet upright seeming,
Seeks to grasp my neighbor's part!
Though the deed I never do,
Such desire is sin to You.

I am guilty, just as surely
As if thought won its effect.
Inwardly, yea, wholly, purely,
Your law bids me be correct.
So betraying You within,
How can I be free from sin?

Jesus, graciously forgiving,
Your desire for me is pure.
Live in me the life I'm living
And be my pollution's cure,
That my neighbor's rightful part
I may cherish in my heart.

567. Mind Your Vocation (10th Commandment)
Tune: CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN by Melchior Vulpius, 1609
(cf. "For me to live is Jesus")

Lord, thank You for my station
At home and everywhere,
For blessing each relation
Entrusted to my care.

Let angel hosts attend me;
Help me to deal aright.
From enviers defend me;
Subdue their guile and spite.

Let none by arts beguiling
Estrange those in my care;
Though menacing or smiling,
An evil thing they dare.

Keep me, as well, from seeking
To take my neighbor's place.
May I, when of him speaking,
His interest embrace.

Wherever I have lusted,
O God, my sin forgive!
For as You have entrusted
To each, so shall he live.

568. Summary of the Commandments (Exodus 20:5-6)
Tune: YOU ONLY (again; cf. 558)

You only, God, are worthy
Of all fear and love and trust,
Both heavenly and earthy,
Even ours, though we are dust.

You threaten to repay them
Who would answer You with hate;
You promise to array them
In Your grace, who on You wait.

Make us such heirs of blessing!
Grant to us a hearing heart,
Into Your kingdom pressing
As Your people, set apart.

ART: The tablets of The Ten Commandments, in a still from the film by that name, public domain.

557. Good Friday Exhortation

O benighted generation,
Groping, stumbling, short of sight,
Raise your heads! For now salvation,
Once for all, is brought to light.
Christ is publicly presented
As the Lamb who bears all sin:
On Him solely oriented,
Eyes of faith shall drink Him in.

All you deaf and hard of hearing,
Stammering or slow of tongue,
Raise your heads! For tidings cheering
Shall henceforth be told and sung.
Hark, your Shepherd's voice is calling
Each by name to rich repast.
Hear Him: spurn the false, enthralling
Babble of the age at last!

Lame and limping pilgrims, straying
From God's hard and narrow way,
Raise your heads! See Christ displaying
Nail-scarred feet, your debt to pay.
Freed from sin, make haste to follow
Him whose tread subdues the sea.
Turn aside from byways hollow;
Let His cross your polestar be.

All you poor, you brokenhearted,
Captives, outcast, and unclean,
Raise your heads! The veil is parted;
Now God's Mercy-Seat is seen.
Pain and woe last but a season;
Death is made a blessed sleep,
And the hope of life our reason
That a prayerful watch we keep.

ART: Andrey Mironov, free to use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Three Movie Reviews

Over the weekend, I saw three movies – one a little old, two brand new.

First there was the film adaptation of Andy Weir's novel Project Hail Mary, which I really enjoyed. Upon reviewing my review of the book, I see that I've been salivating over this movie since last September. Oh, cruel, cruel Hollywood, holding out on a really decent movie for so long!

So, at the risk of repeating what I said in my book review, the story is about a guy named Grace who wakes up from an induced coma with no memory whatsoever. By a combination of science and a slow drip of returning memory, he gradually works out that he's on a mission to Tau Ceti, something like 12 light years from Earth, because it's smack in the middle of a cluster of stars – including our sun – that are dying due to an interstellar plague of energy-eating microbes; and yet it (Tau Ceti) doesn't seem to be affected. He was apparently one of three astronauts sent in a ship propelled by these astrophage ("they toot, they scoot") to find out what Tau Ceti got that they ain't got and, for some reason, he's now the only one left alive. Soon after he gets to Tau Ceti, he encounters a representative of a completely non-anthropomorphic alien race who is also there for the same reason and, tragically, also the only surviving member of his crew. The fate of both their worlds depends on them figuring out what is keeping Tau Ceti peppy and how to send that home.

Rocky, the alien from 40 Eridani, is a surprise in the book but no effort was expended on keeping him a surprise for the movie. It works well for what it's billed as: a heartwarming, thought-provoking, near-future sci-fi buddy comedy featuring a lone human and a puppet (not CGI) alien. Alien who somehow conveys a distinct personality and a whole range of moods without having a face, or really almost any other recognizable characteristic of people as we know them. He eventually gets a voice, thanks to a computer subroutine that Grace programs to translate his complex language of musical tones. And the two of them develop a beautiful friendship that makes it possible for an audience to sit throughout a more than two-and-a-half-hour movie without complaining. Meanwhile, they're laughing, crying, feeling all kinds of emotions, and while the flashbacks do keep it from being altogether a one-man show, Ryan Gosling's acting as Grace deserves a lot of the credit for that.

Besides Gosling, the cast also includes academy award nominee Sandra Hüller (Zone of Interest) as the head of the Hail Mary Project, who dragoons Grace into sacrificing his future to save humanity; James Ortiz as the voice and lead puppeteer of Rocky; Ken Leung (Lost) as one of Grace's ill-fated crewmates; Lionel Boyce (The Bear) as a sympathetic security guard; and a one-line voice cameo by Meryl Streep. The screenplay is by Drew Goddard, who also wrote the screenplay for Weir's The Martian; directors are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, directors of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 and 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, and writers/producers of the Spider-Verse movies. So, a quality team there! And the results are a tremendously successful movie that, for just this moment, seems to be restoring audiences' faith in the possibility of really good movies. And by really good movie, I mean one that I've already seen not once but twice, at full theater price, with no regret whatsoever.

Three Scenes that Made It For Me: (1) Rocky's first hug, awkward in so many ways, all of them just right. (2) The dangerous mission to scoop "taumoeba" out of the atmosphere of the planet Adrian (just try to guess where that name came from) and all of the thrilling and devastating ways it goes wrong. (3) Hüller's karaoke scene, which (according to an excerpt from an interview that I saw online the other night) she apparently refused to do unless the song could be Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times." In the context of the story, it was a haunting choice.

The second film of the weekend was a streaming-on-TV presentation of The Ride from 2018. It's a fictionalized biography of BMX champion John Buultjens, starring rapper Ludacris and Rizzoli & Isles alum Sasha Alexander as his adoptive parents. Very fictionalized, it turns out. You actually see the guy himself at the end of the film, and there's no way the technology used by the teenaged version of his character existed when he was that age. Apparently he's from Scotland as well, while the kid in the movie seems to be from the L.A. area. But regardless of all that, it's an emotionally stirring story about a kid brought up in an abusive, racist home who, after a spell in juvenile detention (he stabs his dad to protect his mom), gets a chance to experience a loving family ... from an interracial couple. And also, despite never having learned to ride a bike, he goes on to win a big BMX championship.

I'm not going to belabor the synopsis. The kid is troubled. He's trouble. He gets a hard start in life and, by the time his teens hit, he's a hard young man. He's slow to accept a black man as his foster (and eventually adoptive) dad. He has a tendency to get into trouble. He's a fighter – a survivor. And as his attitudes change and his goals come into focus, he faces an old threat in a new form: the skinhead gang his father belonged to, and that his older brother still belongs to.

Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) The young bookworm, who has never gotten on half so well with people as with books, wins over the prettiest girl in history class by giving her a hint based on his knowledge of ancient Greek heroes. (2) After some behavioral hiccups reveal his longing to learn how to do BMX bike tricks, young John accepts some help from his foster-dad. (3) The tough older brother comes to the rescue when the Aryan Brotherhood targets John and his new family.

Finally, yesterday's matinee was The Pout-Pout Fish, based on the children's book by Deborah Diesen and featuring the voices of Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Miranda Otto (Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings), Jordin Sparks (2007 winner of American Idol), Amy Sedaris (BoJack Horseman), and Remy Hii (Crazy Rich Asians). Unlike Project Hail Mary, which I've been waiting to see since last September, I'd never heard of this movie until the day I saw it. It was part of the appeal, to tell the truth.

The part-American, part-Australian movie tells the story of a grumpy blue fish with a perpetual frown, who likes to keep to himself. A young sea dragon named Pip disturbs his tranquility, and after a mishap destroys both of their homes, they go on a quest to find a legendary, wish-granting fish known as Shimmer. Meanwhile, a cuttlefish whose habitat is becoming uninhabitable due to a kelp infestation, sets off to seek the same source of magical help. Their paths cross multiple times, colliding as well with dolphins, sharks, whales, jellyfish, gossipy starfish and all kinds of other denizens of the deep in a series of adventures that range from funny to thrilling to scary and a little sad. Of course everybody learns lessons and they all come together at the end to solve the problems that threaten everybody's way of life in this diverse little corner of the ocean.

I thought it was an adorable movie, with a tender heart, a sharp sense of humor and gorgeous imagery. So I'll get right to Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) a trio of bedazzled, but very carnivorous, dolphins menaces the hero pair. (2) The cuttlefish use their power to hypnotize all the fish on the reef in their dastardly plan to redevelop it as their own habitat. (3) Mr. Fish (I love the name) remembers why he believes in Shimmer.

556. Doctors of the Church Hymn

I had been toying with the idea of adding a "Doctors of the Church" hymn to my ongoing hymnal project, based on the commemorations of Dr. Martin Luther (Feb. 18), C.F.W. Walther (May 7) and the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (June 25), which were among the propers in Lutheran Worship (predecessor to Lutheran Service Book) under "Minor Festivals." I didn't get any traction until I spotted the tune SALUS MORTALIUM (Erfurt, 1663) while working on a different project, and it caught my fancy. Here's what it looks like, with the first stanza of the hymn and some performance instructions that speak for themselves, I think:

And here's the full text:

Christ, who the doctors did astound,
In latter days, by grace profound,
You deigned the gospel to propound—
Alleluia!—
Through learned men of spirit sound.

Martin Luther:
2. We praise Your providential hand
For nerving Martin's "Here I stand,"
Whose witness, like a glowing brand—
Alleluia!—
Stirred faith to flame in many a land.

3. Grant in these latter days such nerve
That from Your word will never swerve.
Equip us with men apt to serve;
Alleluia!
Your faithful church through them preserve.

C.F.W. Walther:
2. We thank You for the prudent mind
That You to Ferdinand assigned,
Which Law and Gospel's limits lined—
Alleluia!—
And that with pastor's care entwined!

3. Lord, from Your word's well-ordered stores,
Feed us on these as other shores!
Unclose to us salvation's doors;
Alleluia!
Help us use rightly what is Yours!

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession:
2. We thank You for the noble men,
With Philipp's perspicacious pen,
Who spoke a unified Amen—
Alleluia!—
And trained the church on Christ again.

3. Still by their witness, Savior, bless
The church, that we Your name confess,
Keep what is good, avoid excess—
Alleluia!—
And gain the crown of righteousness!

Concluding stanza:
4. Propitiator for our race,
Bless all who Your appearing trace,
That many may the truth embrace—
Alleluia!—
Your pledge of justifying grace!

555. For a Chastened Church

Christ, who with braided cords
The temple purified,
Purge us as well of seeming lords
That turn our steps aside.

Cleanse all our aims and means
Of what beguiles our eyes;
Dispel the sentiment that leans
On that which in us lies.

Make ours a fellowship
That on Your nurture thrives;
Let no drop slip twixt cup and lip
Which faith and love revives.

If it must be with pain
Your discipline we feel,
Give us provisions that sustain
Our hearts with pious zeal.

On You, O Savior, fix
Our eyes, our doctrine plumb;
Deliver us from Satan's tricks
And strike our grumbling dumb.

For by sure word and sign
You work Your gracious will:
Let us therefore these treasures mine
And spread Your kingdom still.

TUNE: I'm thinking about SWABIA by J.M. Spiess (†1772), which has been variously paired with such hymns as "Forever with the Lord" (Ev. Lutheran Hymnary), "Jesus, my Truth, My Way" (Ev. Lutheran Hymn-Book, The Lutheran Hymnal), "Praise we the Lord this day" (TLH) and "How wide the love of Christ" (Lutheran Service Book). A nice, modest, sturdy tune that hasn't been overexposed, I think. ART: Bernardino Mei (†1676), Christ cleansing the temple, public domain.

The Bride!

Last night I traveled an hour in each direction to see either this movie or EPiC (Baz Luhrman's documentary/concert film about Elvis) and at the moment of stepping up to the cashier, I plumped for this movie, primarily because it had an earlier showtime. Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed this loose adaptation of Bride of Frankenstein, featuring presumptive soon-to-be Oscar winner for best actress Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) in the title role and Christian Bale as a Frankenstein's Monster who comes to Chicago sometime in the 1930s to ask a reanimator, played by Annette Bening, to jump-start a dead woman for him because he is perishing of loneliness. The corpse they happen to dig up is that of Ida, a mobster's moll who was possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelley when she took a fatal tumble down a flight of stairs, but the Bride doesn't remember any of that. She comes to vivid, shocking life, engaging in scandalous behavior, leading "Frank" on an interstate crime spree, and you know, trying to live out Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's dictum that "well-behaved women seldom make history."

It's a take on Bride of Frankenstein that takes its departure from the idea of Shelley as a woman of revolutionary talent who was robbed of her opportunity to push her mother's feminist ideology by her own early death from brain cancer. The ghost, manifesting through Ida/the Bride (sometimes going as Penny) in fits of British-accented literary wordplay, wants to get the story out so badly that it costs the girl her life. Kind of. She was also, kind of, rubbed out by the gangsters she ran with, including a revolting fellow named Lupino who collects the tongues of people he had silenced and who, in one scene, blithely shoots one of his stooges between the eyes, wipes a splash of blood off his cheek, and carries on eating lunch entirely undisturbed. But now, as the Bride, she has become the more flamboyant half of a cross-country murder spree duo, trailed by a none-too-diligent detective (Peter Sarsgaard) and his sharp-as-a-tack secretary (Penélope Cruz), who have spotted a pattern: The killings go wherever movies starring a certain smiling crooner and dancer (played in a bunch of movies-within-the-movie by Jake Gyllenhaal) are playing. Because, as you know, Frankenstein's monster is a big fan of musical comedy. Joking aside, there's a tender spot here that furnishes one of the film's tragic themes.

So, enough synopsis. Trust me, the paragraphs above don't come close to doing justice to this movie's storyline. It's just a taster of an astoundingly weird movie. It's definitely an original, if you'll pardon the contradiction with the plain fact that it's adapted from previous work. It's so unlike what I am accustomed to seeing at the movies that I frankly couldn't tell while I was seeing it, and still don't know, whether I liked it or not. It's either a brilliant movie despite significant flaws or a disaster with flashes of brilliance in it. Frank and the Bride each reveal facets of themesleves that touch me deeply, striking right to the heart. They also do some awful things and get involved in some icky scenes, at both ends of the high-low class spectrum. They can't seem to stop making horrific mistakes, bringing to mind the proverb, "No matter where you go, there you are." But they keep doing surprising things, too, like ... well, let's get to that in ...

Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) The monster couple crashes a tuxedos-and-champagne affair while dodging cops in New York City. Frank finds himself standing before Ronnie Reed, the movie star he is not very ambiguously in love with, declaring his feelings and experiencing soul-crushing rejection. In one scene, the movie shows its full range of tone, from the monster's heartbreaking vulnerability to an outrageous "brain attack" dance in which the reanimated couple leads a ballroom full of unwilling participants before concluding in a tense, armed standoff with police and a violent escape. (2) Frank tells the Bride the story of how he proposed to her. He's lying, of course. But it's the lie she desperately wants to hear because she has no memory of her life before "the accident." Her need is so touching, and his lies are so clever and entertaining, that you can almost but not quite dismiss the niggling note of doom that buzzes through the scene. (3) In a later scene that forms a matching pair with No. 2, Frank admits the truth to the Bride and actually proposes marriage to her in a moment that brings the tragedy of their romance to a shattering height.

It's a strange, strange movie. A lot of it is improbable to the point of absurdity. Some of it comes close to feeling like a hallucination. It has a fat streak of revolutionary feminist wish-fulfillment running through it (the "brain attack" spreads, you know), turning the corner into an alternate history where anything can happen and you just have to live with it. The monsters become the latest rage. The movies become a lifeline for a creature who, on one hand, has apparently lived for over a century and, on the other hand, really seems capable of dying of loneliness. It has Annette Bening playing a genius who can only be talked into violating every covenant of scientific ethics by the appeal, "I thought you were a mad scientist." It has Jake G. as an actor who, upon hearing that his cheerful screen persona saved a man from oblivion, laughs it off with a cruel put-down. It has a heavily accented Penélope Cruz as a character whose name, Myrna Malloy, is perhaps the most preposterous thing said aloud during the entire film. And all kinds of other stuff the surprise of which I wouldn't spoil for all the world. Still not sure whether I think it's a good movie or a bad movie, it's definitely a movie I'll be thinking about for some time to come.