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Hymn Source = The Hymnal and Order of Service (1925), The Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod

Paraphrase (1924) of Psalm 139:23 and 24 by Claus August Wendell (1866-1950)

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Search me, God, and know my heart,

Lord of truth and mercy;

Try me, Thou who from afar

Knowest all my secrets;

And if any wicked way

Should be found within me,

Blessed Saviour, lead Thou me

In the way eternal.

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The Service Book and Hymnal (immediate predecessors of the American Lutheran Church [1960] and the Lutheran Church in America [1962], 1958) also contains the above text verbatim.

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The Lutheran Book of Worship (immediate predecessors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [1987], 1978) modernizes the text and makes it the second verse of a composite hymn, with a new first verse (beginning with “Wondrous are your ways, O God!”) by Joel W. Lundeen.  The modernized version of the text by Wendell follows:

Search me, God, and know my heart,

Lord of truth and mercy.

From afar, O Lord, you know

All my thoughts and secrets.

And if any wicked way

Should be found within me,

Cleanse, forgive me by your grace;

Grant me life eternal.

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Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, 1993) also modernizes the Wendell text and uses it as the second verse of a composite hymn.  However, this hymn book alters the Lundeen text.

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The text by Wendell is absent from the current Lutheran  denominational hymnals in my collection:

1. Ambassador Hymnal for Lutheran Worship (The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, 1994),
2. Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (The Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, 1996),
3. Worship Supplement 2000 (Church of the Lutheran Confession, 2000),
4. Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 2006), and
5. Lutheran Service Book (The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, 2006).

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KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 11, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BARNABAS THE APOSTLE, COWORKER OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

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