400. Epiphany 7 (Series B)

The lessons for this service are Isaiah 43:18-25, 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 and Mark 2:1-12. The tune is FRED TIL BOD, a.k.a. PEACE TO SOOTHE, a.k.a. PEACE OF GOD, a.k.a. HARTMANN by Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann (1852), and is not to be confused with the tune by the same name by Ludvig M. Lindeman (popularly sung to "Hallelujah! Jesus lives" and "For the beauty of the earth"). Hartmann's tune has been (like Lindeman's) frequently paired with the hymn "Peace to soothe our bitter woes," which I highly recommend if you don't know it. In various hymnals it has also been set to "Father, who the light this day," "God of mercy, God of grace" and "What our Father does is well" – though, other than SBH (1958) and ELHy (1996) it seems to have faded from anglophone Lutherans' memory since the mid-20th century.

You, Lord, even You are He
Who blots out iniquity,
Who for Your own sake forgets
Every sin the heart regrets.
For this new thing that You do,
Lord I name You, even You.

You are He who faith commends
In the paralytic's friends;
Even He who calls him "son"
And his sins appraise as none.
Can this act blaspheme the Lord
Who gives power to Your word?

You are He by whom men see
What God works invisibly.
For which word is idle talk:
"I forgive" or "Rise and walk"?
That men may believe the one,
Lo, the other thing is done.

You are He whose daring word
Palsied limb at once restored.
Loose as well the locked-in mind,
Powerless Your grace to find!
Let men by this wonder see
Your forgiveness, bold and free.

You are He, Lord, even You,
Who unto the end was true,
Sealing sinners with Your blood
To establish us in God.
In our hearts as guarantee,
Says the Spirit: You are He.