396. Epiphany 3 (Series B)

The lessons for this service are Jonah 3:1-5 and 10, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (optional 32-35) and Mark 1:14-20. The tune is OXENFORD by yours truly (1998), which I wrote for a translation of a Paul Gerhardt hymn ("I know that my Redeemer lives") whose tune in Lutheran Hymnary (ADORATION by G.W. Torrance) I didn't think was very good at that time. If I need another tune in this meter, I expect to develop a new appreciation for Torrance's tune. But for now, I'm reusing my own.

Lord, who bade Galilee repent,
The good news to believe,
Grant even now that men be sent;
Call them their nets to leave,
To learn and teach Your word of truth
Both to the aged and to youth,
Discipling every nation!

When Zebedee's and Jona's sons
You called to fish for men,
A bath more powerful than John's
You put in play through them.
Rough men began Your realm to seize,
Led by the word that sinners frees;
Lo, Satan fell like lightning.

Though Jonah, caught by fish of old,
Your calling grudged and fled,
At last Your word of doom he told,
And Nineveh, in dread,
Said, "Every soul and beast, repent!
Who knows if God will not relent?"
And so his preaching saved them.

Your kingdom's word, Lord, has such pow'r
That when it cries, "Repent!"
More than Your Law's indictment sour,
Yea, sweetest grace is meant.
Make haste, therefore, to call from net,
Desk, plow, store, workshop, mine, while yet
Your fields for harvest whiten!