Image in the Public Domain

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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Above:  Apotheosis of War, by Vasily Vereshchagin

Image in the Public Domain

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This is a hymn for use in time of war.  Sadly, we human beings keep acting is ways which keep the sentiments of the hymn current.

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This is one of those great Anglican contributions to English-language hymnody.

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PART THE FIRST:  THE BEGINNING

The story begins with Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808-1872), a Quaker-born novelist, playwright, libretticist, and literary and music critic in London, England, the United Kingdom.  In 1842 he published a hymn, “God, the All-Terrible! Thou Who Ordainest.”  My sources identified the the publication as having occurred in Part Music (1842), by John Pike Hullah (1812-1884).  A search at hymnary.org led me to my reprint of the Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes (Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York, 1855), where I found these verses:

1.  God, the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest

Thunder Thy clarion, and lightning Thy sword;

Show forth Thy pity on high where Thou reignest,

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

2.  God, the Omnipotent! mighty Avenger,

Watching invisible, judging unheard;

Save us in mercy, O save us from danger,

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

3.  God, the all-merciful! earth hath forsaken

Thy ways all holy, and slighted Thy word;

But not Thy wrath in its terror awaken,

Give to us pardon and peace, O Lord.

4.  So will Thy people with thankful devotion,

Praise Him who saved them from peril and sword;

Shouting in chorus, from ocean to ocean,

Peace to the nations, and praise to the Lord.

(Hymn #1101)

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PART THE SECOND:  UNITARIANS DURING THE CIVIL WAR

Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association, 1864), included an abbreviated and different version of the text, starting with the second stanza.  Thus the hymn became “God, the Omnipotent! Mighty Avenger!”  The context of the U.S. Civil War was evident:

1.  God the Omnipotent! mighty Avenger!

Watching invisible, judging unheard!

Save Thou our land in the hour of her danger,

Give to us peace in Thy time, O Lord!

2.  Thunder and lightnings Thy judgment have sounded;

Letters of flame have recorded Thy word,

‘Only in righteousness true peace is founded’:

Give us that peace in Thy time, O Lord!

3.  So shall the people, with thankful devotion,

Praise Him who saved them from peril and sword;

Shouting in chorus, from ocean to ocean,–

‘Peace to the nation, and praise to the Lord!’

(Hymn #262)

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PART THE THIRD:  ENTER JOHN ELLERTON

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), John Ellerton (1826-1893), a priest of The Church of England and author of no fewer than 86 hymns, wrote “God the Almighty One, Wisely Ordaining,” based on Chorley’s hymn.  The text debuted in Robert Brown-Borthwick’s Select Hymns for Church and Home (The Church of England, 1871).  I found the original version of that hymn via Google Books.

1.  God the Almighty One, wisely ordaining

Judgments unsearchable, famine and sword;

Over the tumult of war Thou are reigning;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

2.  God the All-righteous One! man hath defied Thee;

Yet to eternity standeth Thy word;

Falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside Thee;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

3.  God the All-pitiful, is it not crying,

Blood of the guiltless like water outpoured?

Look on the anguish, the sorrow, the sighing;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

4.  God, the All-wise! by the fire of Thy chastening

Earth shall to freedom and truth be restored;

Through the thick darkness Thy kingdom is hast’ning,

Thou wilt give peace in Thy time, O Lord!

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PART THE FOURTH:  THE JOINING AND SUBSEQUENT VARIATIONS AND ALTERATIONS

The first joining of the Chorley and Ellerton texts occurred in the 1874 revision of Church Hymns (The Church of England, 1871), as one can read for oneself by following the hyperlink and seeking hymn #262.  Since then many hymnals have contained various composites of the Chorley and Ellerton texts, frequently with alterations to them.  The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) contained the hymn, but listed it as “God, Lord of Sabaoth, Thou Who Ordainest.”  The hymn was “God the All-Merciful! Earth Hath Forsaken” in the Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917) but “God the Omnipotent! King, Who Ordainest” in the Service Book and Hymnal (1958).  The influential Hymnal (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1895) and its successor from 1911 listed the hymn as “God, the All-Terrible,” but The Hymnal (1933) changed the title to “God the Omnipotent.”  Among more conservative Presbyterians (especially in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America) who use either the 1961 or the 1990 versions of the Trinity Hymnal, God remains “All-terrible.”  God was “All-terrible” in The Methodist Hymnal (Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1905), but “Omnipotent” in The Methodist Hymnal of 1935 (Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South; later The Methodist Church, 1939-1968).  As late as The Hymnal of 1918 (Episcopal Church, authorized in 1916) God was “All-Terrible,” but the deity was “Omnipotent” instead in The Hymnal 1940 (published in 1943).  The consensus among hymnal committees is that God is “Omnipotent,” not “All-terrible.”

The variation on the hymn in The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal Church, 1985) contains four stanzas–two from Chorley, two from Ellerton, and all of them altered.  This is the version I sing in church:

1.  God the Omnipotent! King, who ordainest

thunder thy clarion, the lightning thy sword;

show forth thy pity on high where thou reignest:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

2.  God the All-merciful! earth hath forsaken

thy ways all holy, and slighted thy word;

bid not thy wrath in its terrors awaken:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

3.  God, the All-righteous One! earth hath defied thee;

yet eternity standeth thy word,

falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside thee:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

4.  God the All-provident! earth by thy chastening

yet shall to freedom and truth be restored;

through the thick darkness thy kingdom is hastening:

thou wilt give peace in thy time, O Lord.

Hymn writer Brian Wren (1936-) wrote of hymns in Praying Twice:  The Music and Words of Congregational Song (Louisville, KY:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2000, page 297):

I have shown that congregational songs are communal.  Though they usually originate from particular authors, their primary purpose is to give shared expression to shared experience, not parade the author’s personality.  Because they are communal a faith community may, in principle amend them.

The story of “God the Omnipotent!” fits that statement well.

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PART THE FIFTH:  DROPPING THE HYMN

Denominations revise their official hymnals from time to time.  In so doing they add some texts and remove others.  Here is a partial list of denominations which have removed “God the Omnipotent!” (however they have listed it) from their official hymnody as of 2015, based on hymnals of which I own physical copies:

1. the American Baptist Churches U.S.A., during their transition from the Hymnbook for Christian Worship (1970) to no official hymnal;
2. the Anglican Church of Canada, during the transition from The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971) to Common Praise (1998);
3. the Evangelical Covenant Church of America, during the transition from The Covenant Hymnal (1973) to The Covenant Hymnal:  A Worshipbook (1996);
4. the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, during the transition from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006);
5. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod, during the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996);
6. the Free Methodist Church of North America and the Wesleyan Church, during their transition from Hymns of Faith and Life (1976) to no official hymnal;
7. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, during its transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to Lutheran Worship (1982) and the Lutheran Service Book (2006);
8. the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), by way of its predecessors, the Presbyterian Church in the United States and The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., during the transition from The Hymnbook (1955) to The Worshipbook–Services and Hymns (1972);
9. the Reformed Church in America, during its transition from Rejoice in the Lord:  A Hymn Companion to the Scriptures (1985) to Lift Up Your Hearts:  Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (2013);
10. the Southern Baptist Convention, during the transition from Baptist Hymnal (1956) to Baptist Hymnal (1975); the text is absent even from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship‘s Celebrating Grace Hymnal (2010);
11. the Unitarian Universalist Association, sometime after Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association, 1864) and before Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association and Universalist Church of America, 1937);
12. The United Methodist Church, during its transition from The Hymnal of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (1957) and The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966) to The United Methodist Hymnal:  Book of United Methodist Worship (1992); and
13. the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, during the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal (1993); neither is the hymn present in Christian Worship:  Supplement (2008).

That list covers a wide theological range.  So does the list of denominations which have retained it–from The Episcopal Church to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to the United Church of Christ to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America.  The list of denominations which have never added it to their official hymnody is also diverse, ranging from the Christian Reformed Church of North America to the Church of Nazarene.  Sometimes the presence or absence of the hymn indicates more about tastes in hymnody and worship style than about theology.

Another piece of supporting evidence for that conclusion comes from two non-denominational Evangelical hymnals Tom Fettke edited:  The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration (1986) and The Celebration Hymnal:  Songs and Hymns for Worship (1997).  The former contains the hymn which is the subject of this post, but the latter does not.  A Victorian hymn set to the majestic former Russian national anthem does not fit with contemporary worship, with its seven-eleven songs, does it?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 21, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF J. B. PHILLIPS, BIBLE TRANSLATOR AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

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Above:  Fourteenth International Sunday School Convention, Chicago, Illinois, 1914

Copyright Claimant = Kaufmann, Weimer & Fabry Co.

J193838–U.S. Copyright Office

Image Source = Library of Congress

Prayer Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

Philip H. Pfatteicher, Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship:  Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990) informs me that someone wrote this prayer for the Lutheran Book of Worship.

I think about this prayer now, as I prepare to become a Sunday School teacher again.

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O God of wisdom, in your goodness you provide faithful teachers for your Church.

By your Holy Spirit give all teachers insight into your Word,

holy lives as examples to us all,

and the courage to know and do the truth;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Above:  The $10,000 Bill 1934

Image in the Public Domain

$10,000 (1934) = $174,000 (2013)

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Prayers Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

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The Proper Use of Wealth

Almighty God, all that we possess is from your loving hand.

Give us grace that we may honor you with all we own,

always remembering the account we must one day

give to Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

–Derived from the English Prayer Book tradition

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Dangers of Abundance

O God, in your love you have given gifts

which our forebears neither knew or dreamed of.

Mercifully grant that we may not be so occupied with material things

that we forget the things which are spiritual and thus,

even though we have gained the whole world, lose our souls;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

–Eric Milner-White (1884-1963), Daily Prayer (1941)

Above:  Diocesan Confirmation, the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, December 14, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

Original German Words (1657) by Johann Scheffler (1624-1677)

English Translation (1739) by John Wesley (1703-1791)

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1.  Thee will I love, my strength, my tow’r;

Thee will I love, my joy, my crown!

Thee will I love with all my pow’r,

In all thy works, and thee alone;

Thee will I love, till the pure fire

Fills all my soul with chaste desire.

2.  I thank thee, uncreated sun,

That thy bright beams on me have shined;

I thank thee, who has overthrown

My foes and healed my wounded mind;

I thank thee, whose enliv’ning voice

Bids my freed heart in thee rejoice.

3.  Uphold me in the doubted race,

Nor suffer me again to stray;

Strengthen my feet with steady pace

Still to press forward in thy way,

That all my pow’rs, with all their might,

In thy sole glory may unite.

4.  Thee will I love, my joy, my crown;

Thee will I love, my Lord, my God!

Thee will I love, beneath thy frown

Or smile, thy scepter or thy rod.

What though my flesh and heart decay?

Thee shall I love in endless day!

Above:  Part of the Hymn, from Glory to God:  The Presbyterian Hymnal (2013)

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Silent Night (Stille Nacht in the original German) is the great Christmas hymn by Father Franz Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), dating to 1816 and published in 1818.  The note in Glory to God:  The Presbyterian Hymnal (2013) mentions the 1816 date, which means that Mohr had the text sitting around long before the Christmas Eve service of 1818.  This fact overturns the part of the traditional story which had the priest writing the text in 1818.

There are English translations of the German text, but the most famous one is that of John Freeman Young (1820-1885), from 1863.  He served as the Episcopal Bishop of Florida from 1867 to 1885.  The most common variations over time in his text explain the difference between

Silent night! Holy night!

and

Silent night, holy night!

The Young text, as reprinted in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996), follows:

1.  Silent night! Holy night!

All is calm, all is bright,

Round yon Virgin mother and Child.

Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

2.  Silent night! Holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight.

Glories stream from heaven afar;

Heav’nly hosts sing, Alleluia;

Christ the Savior is born!

Christ the Savior is born!

3.  Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Marilyn Kay Stulken, in the Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia, PA:  Fortress Press, 1981), tells me that the above lyrics were anonymous until 1957.  This is consistent with my survey of old hymnals in my collection.  And I have one hymnal published in 1994 which continues to list the author of these lyrics as anonymous.

These words, the John Freeman Young lyrics, remain unaltered (except for the discrepancy between a comma and an exclamation point) in most contemporary hymnals.  Even The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s Lutheran Worship (1982), which turns My Faith Looks Up to Thee into My Faith Looks Trustingly, leaves Silent Night as it was.  Yet The New Century Hymnal (1995), United Church of Christ, which contains rewrites of almost all hymns therein, changes the third verse so that

Son of God

becomes

Child of God

and

thy

becomes

your.

I started thinking about the lyrics of Silent Night late last night, when I picked up my copy of Concordia:  A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1917) and flipped through its Christmas section.  There I found different lyrics, which The Lutheran Hymnary (1935) replicates.  These words follow:

1.  Holy night! peaceful night!

Through the darkness beams a light,

Yonder, where they sweet vigils keep

O’er the Babe who in silent sleep,

Rests in heavenly peace,

Rests in heavenly peace.

2.  Silent night! holiest night!

Darkness flies, and all is light!

Shepherds hear the angels sing:

Jesus the Savior is here!

Jesus the Savior is here!

3.  Silent night! holiest night!

Guiding Star, O lend thy light!

See the eastern wise men bring

Gifts and homage to our King!

Jesus the Savior is here!

Jesus the Savior is here!

4.  Silent night! holiest night!

Wondrous Star, O lend thy light!

With the angels let us sing,

Hallelujah to our King!

Jesus our Savior is here!

Jesus our Savior is here!

I have seen this fourth stanza accompany the Young lyrics in modern hymnals.  Sometimes these volumes attribute the final verse to Bishop Young, sometimes to Anonymous, and to Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817-1878) on other occasions.  I do not know how many other stanzas she translated, but I know that she deserves the credit for the first verse of the version of the hymn from The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.:

1.  Silent night! holy night!

All is dark, save the light

Yonder, where they sweet vigil keep

O’er the Babe who in silent sleep

Rests in heavenly peace,

Rests in heavenly peace.

2.  Peaceful night! holiest night!

Darkness flies, all is light;

Shepherds hear the angels sing:

“Alleluia! hail the King!

Christ the Saviour is here!

Christ the Saviour is here!”

3.  Silent night! holiest night!

Child of heaven, O how bright

Thou didst smile on us when Thou wast born!

Blest indeed that happy morn,

Full of heavenly joy!

Full of heavenly joy!

I have found various composite versions in The Evangelical Hymnal (1921) and The Methodist Hymnal (1935), both forebears of The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), as well as in the American Lutheran Hymnal (1930).  The latter volume contains the John Freeman Young version then an alternative rendering, a composite which includes the second Young verse.  The first and third stanzas of that composite version follow:

1.  Silent night, holy night!

Golden stars shed their light.

While yon virgin tenderly wakes

At the manger till morning breaks

O’er the heavenly Child,

O’er the heavenly Child.

3.  Silent night, holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light

Shines so sweetly out of Thine eyes;

‘Tis the light of salvation we prize,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

In 1881 Stopford Brooke (1832-1916), an Irish Anglican clergyman who had converted recently to Unitarianism, published Christian Hymns, reissued twelve years later.  This book included his translation of the Mohr text:

1.  Still the night, holy the night!

Sleeps the world! yet the light

Shines where Mary watches there,

Her child Jesus loved and fair.

Sleeping in heavenly rest;

Sleeping in heavenly rest.

2.  Still the night, holy the night!

Shepherds first told aright

How the Angel of the star

Sang so clear from near and far–

Jesus, a Saviour, is born;

Jesus, a Saviour, is born.

3.  Still the night, holy the night!

Little child, O how bright

Love is smiling from thy face!

Now strikes sweet the hour of grace;

Jesus, our Master, is here,

Jesus, our Master, is here.

The Church Hymnary (1927), Presbyterian, contains a related translation based on the Brooke version:

1.  Still the night, holy the night!

Sleeps the world; hid from sight,

Mary and Joseph in stable bare

Watch o’er the Child beloved and fair,

Sleeping in heavenly rest,

Sleeping in heavenly rest.

2.  Still the night, holy the night!

Shepherds first saw the light,

Heard resounding clear and long,

Far and near, the angel-song,

“Christ the Redeemer is here!

Christ the Redeemer is here!”

3.  Still the night, holy the night!

Son of God,O how bright

Love is smiling from Thy face!

Strikes for us now the hour of grace,

Saviour, since Thou art born!

Saviour, since Thou art born!

I wonder how many other English-language versions I will find.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT COLUMBAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SAINT CLEMENT OF ROME, BISHOP

THE FEAST OF MIGUEL AGUSTIN PRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

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Above:  The Right Reverend Robert Christopher Wright, Bishop of Atlanta, at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Greensboro, Georgia, March 25, 2013

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

Words by George Wallace Briggs (1875-1959)

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1.  Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest;

Nay, let us be thy guests; the feast is thine.

Thyself at thine own board make manifest

In thine own sacrament of bread and wine.

2.  We meet, as in that Upper Room they met.

Thou at the table, blessing, yet dost stand.

“This is my body;” so thou givest yet;

Faith still receives the cup as from thy hand.

3.  One body we, one body who partake,

One Church united in communion blest,

One name we bear, one bread of life we break,

With all thy saints on earth and saints at rest.

4.  One with each other, Lord, for one in thee,

Who art one Savior and one living bread.

Then open thou our eyes, that we may see;

Be known to us in breaking of the bread.

Above:  St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Dunwoody, Georgia, Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

Words by George Hugh Bourne (1840-1925), a priest of The Church of England

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1.  Lord, enthroned in heav’nly splendor,

First begotten from the dead,

You alone, our strong defender,

Lifting up your people’s head.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus, true and living bread!

Jesus, true and living bread!

2.  Though the lowliest form now veil you

As of old in Bethlehem,

Here as there your angels hail you,

Branch and flow’r of Jesse’s stem.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

We in worship join with them;

We in worship join with them.

3.  Paschal Lamb, your off’ring finished

Once for all when you were slain,

In its fullness undiminished

Shall forevermore remain.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Cleansing souls from ev’ry stain;

Cleansing souls from ev’ry stain.

4.  Life imparting heav’nly manna,

Stricken rock with streaming side,

Heav’n and earth with loud hosanna

Worship you, the Lamb who died,

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Ris’n, ascended, glorified!

Risn’n, ascended, glorifed!

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This is post #1000 of this weblog.

KRT

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Eucharistic Adoration

Image Source = Shark96z

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eucharistic_adoration_(lutheran).jpg)

Prayer Source = Common Service Book (1917), of the predecessor bodies of the United Lutheran Church in America (1918-1962), itself an ancestor of the Lutheran Church in America (1962-1987) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1987-)

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We give thanks to Thee, Almighty God, that Thou hast refreshed us with this Thy salutary gift; and we beseech Thee, of Thy mercy, to strengthen us through the same in faith toward Thee, and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.  Amen.

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This prayer is quite common in Lutheran hymnals and service books of North American origin across generations.  I have found in the 1930 American Lutheran Hymnal, the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal, and the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal.  And I have found updated variations of it in the 1993 Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal, the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, the 1982 Lutheran Worship, the 2006 Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and the 2006 Lutheran Service Book.

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Here is the version from the Lutheran Service Book (2006), of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod:

We give thanks to You, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us through this salutary gift,

and we implore You that of Your mercy

You would strengthen us through the same

in faith in You and fervent love toward one another;

through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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Here is the version from Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal (1993), of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod:

We give thanks, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us with this holy supper.

We pray that through it you will strengthen our faith in you

and increase our love for one another.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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Here is the version from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

We give you thanks, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us through the healing power of this gift of life.

In your mercy, strengthen us through this gift,

in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another;

for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Icon of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), of predecessor bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Words by Samuel Crossman (circa 1624-1683/4), a priest of The Church of England, a royal chaplain, and a Dean of Bristol Cathedral

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1.  My song is love unknown,

My Savior’s love to me,

Love to the loveless shown,

That they might lovely be.

Oh, who am I, that for my sake,

My Lord should take frail flesh and die?

2.  He came from his blest throne

Salvation to bestow;

But men made strange, and none

The longed-for Christ would know.

But, oh, my friend, my friend indeed,

Who at my need his life did spend;

Who at my need his life did spend!

3.  Sometimes they strew his way

And his sweet praises sing;

Resounding all the day

Hosannas to their King,

Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,

And for his death they thirst and cry.

And for his death they thirst and cry.

4.  Why, what hath my Lord done?

What makes this rage and spite?

He made the lame to run,

He gave the blind their sight.

Sweet injuries!  Yet they at these

Themselves displease, and ‘gainst him rise;

Themselves displease, and ‘gainst him rise.

5.  They rise, and needs will have

My dear Lord made away;

A murderer they save,

The prince of life they slay.

Yet cheerful he to suff’ring goes,

That he his foes from thence might free.

6.  In life, no house, no home

My Lord on earth might have;

In death, no friendly tomb

But what a stranger gave.

What may I say?  Heav’n was his home;

But mine the tomb wherein he lay.

7.  Here might I stay and sing–

No story so divine!

Never was love, dear King,

Never was grief like thine.

This is my friend, in whose sweet praise

I all my days could gladly spend!

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-ninth-day-of-lent-good-friday/