An East West dialogue / Yoga class thoughts

Mother Theresa once counseled a dying woman who had been found on a garbage dump in India, probably in Calcutta, where she worked.  The woman had been put there by her own son; --just imagine the cruelty and loss of dignity.  Her anguish was, understandably, very great.  The dear nun labored to win her by wrestling with the woman's demons.  She strenuously taught her to forgive even this horror.  She told her that she must forgive if she was to die in peace.  I believe they managed it together.

This story has always remained with me, both for the depth of the distress of having been dumped (in the most literal meaning of the word possible) and the rawness of the essential Christian message--forgiveness is costly and hard-won, but Always possible.

I thought about this, of all places, while in Egoscue Yoga class, a small group conducted in near darkness, in a room at the local Multiplex Gymn/ Walkting Track/  Physio place.  The ninety minute class concludes with dedicating exactly half an hour of just stretching your flexor muscles.  This is accomplished with relative physical ease, and no great feat.  You lie on your back with one leg up on a chair at a 90 degree angle and the other leg extended, but held correctly.

Quite frankly, I had never heard of the flexor muscle, nor the need to stretch it this long--15 min. on one side and then 15 min. on the other side.  I am probably supposed to empty my mind, relax and think about my breath, but I am finding it is rather a time for my mind to go all over.   No doubt, I am not into the practice enough.  And then, the whole thing is likely just a ruse to get some sort of positive energy, or chi, or chai, or charka--what do I know--out of it.

Be that as it may, I have never had a problem with the flexor muscle, and in fact, my lower back is quite fine.  But in the quiet womb of that room, things happen.  Once in a while I have sighed.  What happens next is that, when I sigh, the instructor comes over and asks if I am OK.  She may even re-adjust the elevated leg somewhat, if it does not look like an exact 90 degree angle to her.  Really, I have not received so much attention for little things in a long time, and she is very sweet about it, but it is a little embarrassing, since it seems that this does not occur with the other people.  Or else it is so subtle with the others that I miss it.  The instructor's manner is very beautiful--ever so gentle but deliberate, like a mother soothing a child. She seems like someone you could trust yourself to, a guru, one might say.  In fact, her touch is somewhat pleasurable and relaxing.

G.K. Chesterton wrote a piece contrasting Western saints and Eastern saints.  Saints of the West have their eyes open when depicted, focusing outward.  Saints of Eastern religions are shown often with their eyes closed, involved in some meditative technique.--Here I lie, in semi-darkness, supposedly a Western saint, happily trusting in the blood of the lamb of God, thinking about Mother Theresa and Chesterton.  (The latter, Rome is going to make into a Saint sooner or later.)  And also in thinking about my Yoga instructor, she strikes me as saintly, too.  For all I know she could be Buddhist or Catholic, or hey, Lutheran, or even Atheist.

Anyways, regarding my instructor's touch:  it takes me back--back to gentle touches of the past--my mother's, first love, love that was amazed, wide-open-eyed, profound and not goal or climax oriented.  A self-less love and in that sense a thought-less love, featuring pure touch, no desire.  A love that just beamed down on you. A love that is love.  And yet, we can't stay there, in this love, permanently.  It is ever only a moment.  We have to go on, see the tasks at hand and accomplish them.--And desire is not bad, in itself.  Buddhism wants to extinguish all desire.

See!  I have thought all that already while about 5 min. into the flexor muscle stretch.  Only 25 min. left to go.

From love, touch and desire, my thoughts move on to marriage, aging, friendship, losses and rejection.  In the midst of my self-pities, I have been finding the indignities and losses of this stage of life a hugely unpleasant surprise.  It all hits me with a ton of bricks right here and now.  I don't even want to go into in writing it down.  There are important relationships I have ceased working on because they feel like rejection after rejection.-- At this point in the Yoga class, I could let out a great big groan, which would surely send the instructor flying over here.  The rejections you receive, or perceive to receive, as you age, require strength to overcome, strength to still try and live graciously.  The effort seems superhuman, at times. Who can bear it all and be happy still? -- By now, I could proceed from a groan to a howl.

Well, I won't howl here. I have this much control over pain.  There is a pain which cannot be reached, or nobody wants to reach, or nobody wants to expose.  Or is it that nobody wants to deal with? Or maybe it just does not even do any good to think about it, or to feel it?

Even Jesus felt it.  And he howled.  In public.  Naked. He let us hear it. He felt rejected.  "Why have you forsaken me?"  The bystanders mocked him, of course. "He trusted in God; let him deliver him."

Did Buddha feel it?  --Well, he is the one who tried to meditate it away.  Extinguish.

What about Mohammed?  And Joseph Smith, and all false prophets?  They would have never said that they felt forsaken by God.  They certainly felt like important martyrs for a cause but still they had God in their back-pocket.  He was always on their side.  They would bludgeon the whole world before they admitted weakness, fear or abandonment.

I am beginning to wonder if I am stretching right.  By now something should start feeling stretched.  Maybe the position is off.  Maybe the instructor is not quite firm enough with me.  Maybe I am wasting my time.  And on top of it, now I feel close to crying and howling.  Actually, I think I am crying.  Ahhh, better wipe away those tears before the instructor comes to see what's wrong now.  She is very attuned to the vibrations around here.  She probably caught me at it, even though she did not come, she, the vigilant watcher over me.

Still, I am thinking about this pain, this dumping of women on trash heaps, dead or alive, infected or dying, abandoned, useless.  I am thinking about over-powering sorrow.  At the bottom of it all is an insatiable hunger for love, a deep, vast desire and longing often described by better writers.

There is a Paul Gerhardt hymn that says about the newborn infant King in the manger: "Oh, that my soul were a huge chasm or a wide ocean, that it may grasp you."  Well, I can say and certify that the soul is, indeed, a very huge chasm and great sea, and in spite of that even more expandable in additional sorrow and joy. We say sometimes that the heart has a Christ-shaped hole in it. Yes, truly, it is Christ-shaped, but it is not a little hole, it is an ocean sized expansive black hole. The reason only Christ can fill it is, first of all, because he is big enough.   And qualitatively, only Christ can fill it because the answer can only be forgiveness and hope, resting in God's hands.

By now, I wonder if it is worth thinking about all these things, if it is worth going to Yoga class, and if it is worth writing down.  Finally, the flexor stretch is done.  The instructor intones a kind of blessing:  "May you be well.  May you be happy."

Ok. Em. Yea.
Time to go.  Cook some dinner.  Or something.

On Sunday mornings, one can see people walking with their yoga mats to the gymn instead of going to church, nowadays.  I am afraid that I have the same sort of self-centered thoughts some Sunday mornings, as my mind wanders, but at least I get to sing and pray and feast on the Lord's forgiveness for my sins, and have coffee with my friends.   And none of it should distract me from getting some aerobics, which is most lacking in a daily routine, since we drive everywhere by car.

Some people might tell me that I should not go to Yoga class, as it may be an anti-Christian activity.  I cannot say at this point that it is, in this time and place.  It may be so, if there are other activities and prayers.  I will watch out for it, the devil being roaring lion ever circling.  I also am not sure that it is helpful to descend so deeply into self-pity, as I generally do, when I just let my mind go like this.  It's a veritable snake-pit, down there.  But then there maybe things to work through...  Some good.  Some bad.  And Christ also serves us through the helping professions.  My Yoga instructor may be a helping professional.  In that sense her simple touch, maybe the touch of Christ.

Thanks be to God.

1. Tim. 4:4
"For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,"


“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.” 
- Blaise Pascal, Pensees

Acts 17:22-27

New Century Version (NCV)

22 Then Paul stood before the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens, I can see you are very religious in all things. 23 As I was going through your city, I saw the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to a god who is not known. You worship a god that you don’t know, and this is the God I am telling you about! 24 The God who made the whole world and everything in it is the Lord of the land and the sky. He does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs. 26 God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. 27 God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us:

Paul Gerhardt: "Du bist zwar mein und bleibest mein." In English translation.

Here is a link to the version I provided myself.  Today, fixed it up a bit since someone would like to include it in a newsletter for deaconesses.

In comparison, one may read the translation by Catherine Winkworth, posted to Pastor Stuckwisch's blog, which is the much more beautiful version, in my opinion.

"Befiehl du deine Wege" by Paul Gerhard, in English, #754, "Entrust Your Days and Burdens"

This is a note to myself.

Sometimes I am searching for this hymn because I have only ever sung it once in church from the new hymnal and I don't know the English first line:  "Entrust your days and burdens to God's most loving hands", is what it is.  I just found it again.  Maybe I've even made a post about this before.  Our brains are not what they used to be.

Then it also has a different tune in English:  "Sufficientia", which means I can't find it that way either.

Entrust Your Days and Burdens. #754

The text in English is not in public domain.  So you will have to buy a Lutheran Service Book from CPH, which is not a bad investment.  Go for it.

In German, each verse begins with the successive words from Psalm 37: 5:  "Commit your way to the Lord;  trust in him and he will do this"   or  "Befiehl dem Herrn deinen Weg und hoffe auf ihn, er wird's wohl machen." 

Befiehl du deine Wege
Und was dein Herze kränkt,
Der allertreusten Pflege
Des, der den Himmel lenkt!
Der Wolken, Luft und Winden,
Gibt Wege, Lauf und Bahn,
Der wird auch Wege finden,
Da dein Fuß gehen kann.

Dem Herren mußt du trauen,
Wenn dir’s soll wohlergehn;
Auf sein Werk must du schauen,
Wenn dein Werk soll bestehn.
Mit Sorgen und mit Grämen
Und mit selbsteigner Pein
Läßt Gott sich gar nichts nehmen,
Es muß erbeten sein.

Dein’ ew’ge Treu’ und Gnade,
O Vater, weiß und sieht,
Was gut sei oder schade
Dem sterblichen Geblüt;
Und was du dann erlesen,
Das treibst du, starker Held,
Und bringst zum Stand und Wesen,
Was deinem Rat gefällt.

Weg’ hast du allerwegen,
An Mitteln fehlt dir’s nicht;
Dein Tun ist lauter Segen,
Dein Gang ist lauter Licht,
Dein Werk kann niemand hindern,
Dein’ Arbeit darf nicht ruhn,
Wenn du, was deinen Kindern
Ersprießlich ist, willst tun.

Und ob gleich alle Teufel
Hier wollten widerstehn,
So wird doch ohne Zweifel
Gott nicht zurückegehn;
Was er sich vorgenommen,
Und was er haben will,
Das muß doch endlich kommen
Zu seinem Zweck und Ziel.

Hoff, o du arme Seele,

Hoff und sei unverzagt!
Gott wird dich aus der Höhle,
Da dich der Kummer plagt,
Mit großen Gnaden rücken;
Erwarte nur die Zeit,
So wirst du schon erblicken
Die Sonn’ der schönsten Freud’.

Auf, auf, gib deinem Schmerze
Und Sorgen gute Nacht!
Laß fahren, was dein Herze
Betrübt und traurig macht!
Bist du doch nicht Regente
Der alles führen soll;
Gott sitzt im Regimente
Und führet alles wohl.

Ihn, ihn laß tun und walten,
Er ist ein weiser Fürst
Und wird sich so verhalten,
Daß du dich wundern wirst,
Wenn er, wie ihm gebühret,
Mit wunderbarem Rat
Die Sach’ hinausgeführet,
Die dich bekümmert hat.

Er wird zwar eine Weile
Mit seinem Trost verziehn
Und tun an seinem Teile,
Als hätt’ in seinem Sinn
Er deiner sich begeben,
Und sollt’st du für und für
In Angst und Nöten schweben,
Frag’ er doch nichts nach dir.

Wird’s aber sich befinden,
Daß du ihm treu verbleibst
So wird er dich entbinden,
Da du’s am mind’sten gläubst;
Er wird dein Herze lösen
Von der so schweren Last,
Die du zu keinem Bösen
Bisher getragen hast.

Wohl dir, du Kind der Treue!
Du hast und trägst davon
Mit Ruhm und Dankgeschreie
Den Sieg und Ehrenkron’.
Gott gibt dir selbst die Palmen
In deine rechte Hand,
Und du singst Freudenpsalmen
Dem, der dein Leid gewandt.

Mach End’, o Herr, mach Ende
An aller unsrer Not,
Stärk unsre Füß’ und Hände
Und laß bis in den Tod
Uns allzeit deiner Pflege
Und Treu’ empfohlen sein,
So gehen unsre Wege
Gewiß zum Himmel ein.

---

Paul Gerhardt evening--video

I am kind of sad.  This Paul Gerhard video is so beautiful and yet very wrong.

We need to spend more time exposing this kind of wrong.  We can sing and play and talk beautiful and yet deny Christ by not talking about what he has done and that for every sinner, such as we all are.

It is broadcast from the St. Laurentiuskirche in Toenning.

http://www.bibeltv.de/12/Du_meine_Seele_singe__Ein_Abend_mit_Paul_Gerhard_aus_der_St_Laurentiuskirche_in_Toenning-310.html


With Paul Gerhardt, no wool can be pulled over our eyes.  We know him.  We know his many hymns.  We know in Whom he believes.  And we know Him, too.  It is crystal clear.  Gerhardt clung to Christ and Christ crucified for him and his justification for dear life as anyone ever has and that through the toughest life conditions.  Christ is the only reason he could keep singing, writing and preaching.

YET!  They (the speakers in the video, including two pastors) can manage to have an almost two hour evening, singing, reading, preaching, trumpeting, stringed instruments, joy and solemnity in a historic church under the crucifix--and they can still manage to leave Christ out!  How can this even be done with those hymns?  It takes incredible gymnastics or a desire to mislead or plain delusion.  I cannot make out the discrepancy.  It reminds me of my mother's fellow choir members in a large, musical church, who would come to sing in the famous choir and leave before the sermon.

I watched the video, sang along, nearly wept with Gerhadt's stories of repeated losses, songs we sing in our most horrid hours and most joyful times, we have sung to our dying loved ones and God willing will sing in our own dying hour...  YET, I cannot find Christ in the messages given outside of Gerhard's songs.  The song on justification:  "If God himself be fore me..." is not used in this evening program, either.  The conflict with the Reformed and the King are skimmed over.  Confessional matters are not explored.  Gerhard was a "strenger Lutheraner", they say, here.  "Streng" can mean "strict" or maybe even "strong", but it also connotes "severe", as if he might have been "unreasonable", or "unyielding" in perhaps a good or bad way.  Vagueness abounds and these topics are not developed.

I am kind of sad about it all.  I thought about it all night.  It is the church of my childhood.  Nothing but vague messages, but wonderful hymns, choirs and brass bands.  At least, they passed down to us Paul Gerhardt's songs and he can continue to preach to us.

This whole bibletv.de is quite a big mish-mash, one has to say it, as well.  A little bit of everything.

Now, when will WE make a gorgeous, Christ-centered, Paul Gerhardt video and preach the Gospel somewhat as meaningfully as Gerhardt?

We had a Paul Gerhard evening not that long ago at Concordia, Edmonton.  Did we make a video of that?

"If God himself be for me" is not even on YouTube while the Germans have their gorgeous hymns plastered all over the internet.  Thank God the hymns speak for themselves, the poets, and God himself.  It is still not the same as having a correct theology preached by your living pastor. 

See also Rev. Harrison's recent blogpost:
http://mercyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/07/hot-air.html

 

Also see just above, the crucifix from the church in Toenning.  Everyone please remember that the Christ, Paul Gerhard sings about is the one he knows took all his sins away by his death, resurrection and ascension and this is why he and we can be confident about seeing our Lord and embracing and kissing him, the way Gerhardt likes to say.  There is peace fully made.  It is all done.  Everything is paid for.  That is why we are his and he is ours.

"Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier", verses in German and English translations

There exists an older, rhyming, English translation of this hymn, beginning on page 32, at:

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=fg8DAAAAQAAJ&dq=j+kelly+spiritual+songs&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=9aC5LGBK5H&sig=N7s_7OSEy6hLJv8oeS5KuIEaoXk#v=onepage&q=&f=false

After searching for a bit, I have not found anything better. This translation mostly pleases me, though translation of lines such as "Wie du mein wolltest werden" as "How Thou Thyself shouldst give me"--don't work for me. What does this mean? For one thing we are missing a preposition in this profound phrase, such as "to me", to make it clearer. "How you would become mine" or "my own" is direct.


Here is a translation of my own.



 
Paul Gerhardt, 1653 (1607-1676)











I completed this translation myself.  Anyone may have it. 

1. Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier,
O Jesu du mein Leben;
Ich komme, bring und schenke dir,
Was du mir hast gegeben.
Nimm hin, es ist mein Geist und Sinn,
Herz, Seel und Mut, nimm alles hin
Und laß dir's wohlgefallen.


I stand at your manger here, oh Jesus, you, my life.
I come and bring and present to you the things you have give to me:
receive it, it is my spirit and mind, my heart, my soul, my courage,
take it all and let it please you.


2. Da ich noch nicht geboren war,
Da bist du mir geboren
Und hast mich dir zu eigen gar,
Eh ich dich kannt, erkoren.
Eh ich durch deine Hand gemacht,
Da hast du schon bei dir bedacht,
Wie du mein wolltest werden.

When I was not born yet, you were born for me,
and have chosen me to be your own before I even knew you.
Before I was made by your hand, you have thought already,
about how you would become mine.


3. Ich lag in tiefster Todesnacht,
Du warest meine Sonne,
Die Sonne die mir zugebracht
Licht, Leben, Freud und Wonne.
O Sonne, die das werte Licht
Des Glaubens in mir zugericht't,
Wie schön sind deine Strahlen.

I lay in the deepest night of death, and you became my sun;
the sun that brought me light, life, joy and delight.
O sun, who fitted me with the worthy light of faith,
how beautiful are your rays! 

4. Ich sehe dich mit Freuden an
Und kann mich nicht satt sehen;
Und weil ich nun nichts weiter kann,
Bleib ich anbetend stehen.
O daß mein Sinn ein Abgrund wär
Und meine Seel ein weites Meer,
Daß ich dich möchte fassen !

I look at you with such great joy and cannot tire of it;
and because I am not able to do anything else, I will just stand here in adoration.
O, that my mind were a huge canyon and my soul a wide ocean
that I might be able to hold you.

(Thus far we had to memorize as kids.
Remaining is new to me.)

5.Wann oft mein Herz vor Kummer weint
Und keinen Trost kann finden,
Da ruft mir's zu: "Ich bin dein Freund,
Ein Tilger deiner Sünden.
Was trauerst du, o Bruder mein?
Du sollst ja guter Dinge sein,
Ich sühne deine Schulden."

Whenever my heart weeps with sorrow, and can find no comfort,
Then you call out to me: "I am your friend, the forgiver of your sins.
Why do you grieve, oh you my brother?
You shall be of good cheer, as I pay for all your guilt."


6. O daß doch so ein lieber Stern
Soll in der Krippen liegen !
Für edle Kinder großer Herrn
Gehören güldne Wiegen.
Ach Heu und Stroh ist viel zu schlecht,
Samt, Seide, Purpur wären recht,
Dies Kindlein drauf zu legen !


Oh, that such a dear star, should lie in the lowly manger!
Noble children of great Lords have golden cradles.
The hay and staw is much too lowly; 
velvet, silk and purple would be appropriate
as bedding for this child.

7.Nehm weg das Stroh, nehm weg das Heu!
Ich will mir Blumen holen,
Daß meines Heilands Lager sei
Auf lieblichen Violen;
Mit Rosen, Nelken, Rosmarin
Aus schönen Gärten will ich ihn
Von oben her bestreuen.

Take way the straw and the hay, I will go and fetch flowers,
which shall be the bedding of my Savior, so he can lie on lovely violets;
also from above I will strew him with roses, carnations and rosemary
from the beautiful gardens.


8. Du fragest nicht nach Lust der Welt
Noch nach des Leibes Freuden;
Du hast dich bei uns eingestellt,
An unsrer Statt zu leiden,
Suchst meiner Seele Herrlichkeit
Durch dein selbsteignes Herzeleid;
Das will ich dir nicht wehren.

Yet, you do not care not for the desires of this world, or the joys of the body;
you have arrived to be with us and suffer in our stead,
to seek the beauty of my soul through your own suffering of heart;
--I will not prevent you.

9. Eins aber hoff ich wirst du mir,
Mein Heiland, nicht versagen:
Daß ich dich möge für und für
In meinem Herzen tragen.
So laß mich doch dein Kripplein sein;
Komm, komm und lege bei mir ein
Dich und all deine Freuden !

I just hope for one thing that I might do, which you will not deny me
--that I might carry you henceforth in my heart.
So let ME be your cradle;  come, come and lodge with me,
you and all your joys!

10. Zwar sollt ich denken, wie gering
Ich dich bewirten werde:
Du bist der Schöpfer aller Ding,
Ich bin nur Staub und Erde.
Doch du bist so ein frommer Gast,
Daß du noch nie verschmähet hast
Den der dich gerne siehet.

I know I should realize how humbly I will serve you:
you are the creator of all things, I am just dust and ashes.
But you are such a pious guest, that you have never 
cast aside one who loves to see you.

Opa's verse

(Translation further down.)

About memories:  in Germany, we had the habit of keeping "poetry books", people would write into your book a verse or any sort and perhaps draw a picture.  With my SS and VBS classes, I usually also worked on similar books, including morning and evening prayers, hymns and their friends' and family's favorites.  My god-children have books like these. 

This is the page my Dad wrote when he could still write decently.  Parksons' made things worse for him not too long after this.  He would always use this same Psalm verse when dedicating anything.  I have the same written by him into my hymnbook.  Some of the other grandchildren might want to copy this page for themselves.

My Dad knew many, many songs, poems and verses by heart.  As he was aging he seemed to come up with more and more digging deeper in that well.  After the war, there were no books for the schools.  They children spent ages memorizing things.  I head the same story from other post-war school children.  Memorizing, memorizing and more memorizing of poetry.

You can see a photo of my Dad a couple of post back, getting "injected" by the toddler Stefan.  

This is what his verse page says:
"Commit your way to the Lord;  trust in him and he will do it." Psalm 37:5.   (He capitalized in HIM.)
Then he talks about how Paul Gerhard wrote the hymn, that has each verse begin sequentially with the words from this verse, i.e., the first verse begins with "Befiehl du" and the second verse begins with "dein"... (I don't know what that artistic form would be called.) 

We have a version of this in the LSB now:  #754, "Entrust Your Days and Burdens."

He signs it:  "Your Grandpa from Europe."

In looking up the Psalm I note the context:

"Commit your way to the LORD;  trust in him and he will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;  do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;  do not fret--it leads only to evil."

He was indeed not a fretful man, generally happy, calm and gentle.

Paul Gerhardt video

Watch it. It is very nice and not that long. It also deals with the pressure to abandon the Lutheran Confessions.

Paul Gerhardt song on marriage in German as per request.

Sorry, I'm not good at fixing Umlauts and such at the very moment. See the English filed under Paul Gerhardt.

Der wundervolle Ehestand.

Voller Wunder, voller Kunst,
Voller Weisheit, voller Kraft,
Voller Huld, Gnad und Gunst,
Voller Labsal, Trost und Saft,
Voller Wunder, sag ich noch,
Ist der keuschen Liebe Joch.

Die sich nach dem Angesicht
Niemals hiebevor gekannt,
Auch sonst im geringsten nicht
Mit Gedanken zugewandt,
Deren Herzen, derer Hand
Knuepft Gott in ein Liebesband.

Dieser Vater zeucht sein Kind,
Jener seins dagegen auf;
Beide treibt ihr sonder Wind
Ihre sondre Bahn und Lauf;
Aber wenn die Zeit nun dar,
Wirds ein wohlgeratnes Paar.

Hier waechst ein geschickter Sohn,
dort ein edle Tochter zu;
Eines ist des andern Kron,
Eines ist des andern Ruh,
Eines ist des andern Licht,
Wissens aber beide nicht;

Bis so lang es dem beliebt,
Der die Welt im Schosse Haelt
Auch zur rechten Stude gibt
Jedem, was ihm wohlgefaellt;
Da erscheint im Werk und Tat
Der so tief verborgne Rat.

Da waehlt Ahasverus Blick
Ihm die stille Esther aus;
Den Tobias fuehrt das Glueck
In der frommen Sara Haus;
Davids bald gewandter Will
Holt die kluge Abigail.

Jakob fleucht fuer Esaus Schwert
Und trifft seine Rahel an;
Joseph dient auf fremder Erd
Und wird Asnath Herr und Mann;
Mose spricht bei Jethro ein,
Da wird die Zipora sein,

Jeder finder, jeder nimmt
Was der Hoechst ihm ausersehn;
Was im Himmel ist bestimmt,
Pflegt auf Erden zu geschehn,
Und was denn nun so geschicht,
Das ist sehr wohl ausgericht.

Oefters denkt man, dies und dies,
Haette koennen besser sein;
Aber wie die Finsternis
Nicht erreicht der Sonnen Schein,
Also geht auch Menschensinn
Hinter Gottes Weisheit hin.

Lass zusammen was Gott fuegt;
Der weiss, wies am besten sei;
Unser Denken fehlt und triegt, (truegt)
Sein Gedank ist Mangel frei.
Gottes Werk hat festen Fuss,
Wann sonst alles fallen muss.

Siehe frommen Kindern zu,
Die im heilgen Stande stehn,
Wie so wohl Gott ihnen tu,
Wie so schoen Er lasse gehn
Alle Taten ihrer Haend
Auf ein gutes, selges End.

Ihrer Tugend werter Ruhm
Steht in steter voller Bluet,
Wann sonst aller Liebe Blum
Als ein Schatten sich verzieht;
Und wenn aufhort alle Treu,
Ist doch ihre Treue neu.

Ihre Lieb ist immer frisch
Und verjuengt sich fort und fort;
Liebe zieret ihren Tisch
Und verzuckert alle Wort;
Liebe gibt dem Herzen Rast
In der Mueh- und Sorgenlast.

Gehts nicht allzeit, wie es soll,
Ist doch diese Liebe still,
Haelt sich in dem Kreuze wohl,
Denkt, es sie des Herren Will,
Und versichert sich mit Freud
Einer kuenftig bessern Zeit.

Unterdessen geht und fleusst
Gottes reicher Segenbach,
Speist die leiber, traenkt den Geist,
Staerkt des Hauses Grund und Dach,
Und was klein, gering und bloss,
Macht Er maechtig, viel und gross.

Endlich wenn nun ganz vollbracht
Was Gott hier in dieser Welt
Frommen Kindern zugedacht,
Nimmt Er sie ins Himmelszelt
Und drueckt sie mit grosser Lust
Selbst an seinen Mund und Brust.

Nun so bleibt ja voller Gunst,
Voller Labsal, Trost und Saft,
Voller Wunder, voller Kunst,
Voller Weisheit, voller Kraft,
Voller Wunder, sag ich noch,
Bleibt der keuschen Liebe Joch.

Paul Gerhardt's song for the burial of a child, in English translation

The grieving father comforts himself over his now departed, blessed son:




You still are mine and will remain mine.

(Who will contradict me?)

But, you are not mine alone;

the Lord of eternal days

has the most right to you.

He demands you from me,

you, o my son, my will,

the fullness of my heart and wishes.



Oh, if I could chose, I would chose you,

you little star of my soul,

above all the goods of the world.

I would wish for you above all.

I would say: Remain with me!

You shall be the glory of my house!

I would love you dearly to my dying day.



Thus speaks my heart and means it well,

but God means it even better.

Great is my love,

but God's is even greater.

I am a father--and nothing more.

But God is the head of all fathers.

He is the true fountain

from which we all spring--old or young.



I long for my son;

Still, the One who gave him to me,

wills that he should live before his throne in heaven.

I say: Alas, my light disappears.

God says: Welcome, dear child,

I want you to be with me and I myself will give you joy forever.



Oh, sweet comfort, oh beautiful word,

and more holy than we think!

With God there is no place for evil,

no accident, no illness,

no fear, no need, no sin;

with God, no one can suffer.

In God’s care and presence you will never be sad again.



We humans beings scheme very hard

to make our loved ones honorable.

We worry day and night

how we can lead them into a beautiful station in life.

Yet, rarely do things turn out

the way that we had planned them.



How many a young, pious blood,

is led astray most grievously,

through bad examples

and ends up living

not as a Christian should.

Then he will only earn God's wrath,

and on earth nothing but disdain.

The father with much sorrow,

ends up being ashamed of his child.



This I need not fear for my son

since he stands before God's face

and walks in Christ's garden,

has joy which is a wholesome joy,

and rests from all heartache.

He hears and sees the angels above

who protect us here below.



He hears the voices of angels;

his own little voice is joining in the singing.

He knows all wisdom and speaks of such things

which none of us below know yet,

and which we will not learn while here on earth,

no matter how we study with great labor.



Ah, if I could but stand from afar

and just listen in a little,

when your senses are raised up

to honor God's name

who is Holy, Holy, Holy,

in whom you also are made holy:

I know that I would also overflow with tears of joy.



Then I would say: stay there!

I won't complain anymore by saying:

Oh, my son, were you with me.

No! I would say: Come, oh, Elijah's chariot,

come and get me quickly

also to where my child

and so many dear souls,

speak of such wonderful things.



Now, it shall be YES and shall remain,

I will stop crying for you.

You live and are happy,

see the pure sunshine,

the sun of eternal joy and rest.

There live and stay now!

I will soon, God willing,

make my way, together with dear ones,

to the place where you are.

Paul Gerhardt statue picture

Gary kindly sent me this picture. Posted without permission, but I think it'll be alright.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I've been more distressed this week. Maybe it'll be a Paul Gerhard day. I went to Stefan's grave now that the snow is gone and shared a bouquet with him. Some from me for him and some from him for me. (Bror, he lies head to toe with some Erickson's, Gustave and Anna.)

The verse underneath Paul Gerhardt's stature says: "Befiehl du deine Wege und was dein Herze kraenkt, der allertreusten Pflege des, der den Himmel lenkt. Der Wolken, Luft und Winden gibt Wege, Lauf und Bahn, der wird auch Wege finden, da dein Fuss gehen kann."

In English: Commit your ways and what ever makes your heart sad to the most faithful care of the One who also steers the heavens. The One who gives paths to the clouds and airs and winds, will also find paths that you can walk on.

Paul Gerhardt, a song about marriage

I ended up translating this song first, because it was our wedding anniversary in Winnipeg. I have no idea if there is a melody for this song.

From my perspective, I would say that it is a lovely song and true, but also that marriage is so much harder than anticipated. I notice that Paul Gerhardt nowhere talks about wedded "bliss", just "wonder", or rather "miracle" (Wunder). All his nouns are so much better than "bliss"--skill, slave, nurture, grace. Yes, a miracle. I can go with that. God's doing, again.

"The wonder-filled estate of marriage."

Full of wonder, full of skill,
full of wisdom, full of strength,
full of gifts, of grace and favor,
full of salve, or comfort, nurture,
full of wonder, I say again
--is the yoke of chaste, married love.

Those two people, who never did know
each other before by sight,
who neither gave the faintest thought
--the hearts of these, their hands
--the Lord God ties together in a bond of love.

One man, here, fathers a child.
Another raises his.
Both children are driven in their
separate special paths
by a special wind.
But when the time arrives,
They become a well-formed pair.

In one place grows up a gifted son,
in another place a noble daughter,
one is the other's crown,
one is the other's rest,
one is the other's light,
but neither knows it yet.

This is how things remain-UNTIL
it pleases the One who holds the world in his lap:
at the right hour, He gives to each
what pleases him so well.
Then appears in work and deed
what has been in the Lord's deep, hidden counsel,
all this time.

Then choose Ahasverus' eyes
the quiet Esther for himself;
Providence leads Tobias
into the house of pious Sara.
David's quick determined will
fetches the intelligent Abigail.

Jacob flees from Esau's sword
and finds his dear own Rachel;
Joseph serves on foreign soil
and becomes Lord and husband of Asnath;
Moses asks for a daughter of Jethro,
so Ziproa becomes his own.

Each one finds and each one takes
what the Highest has selected for him.
What has been determined in heaven,
is what tends to happen on the earth.
And whatever happens in this manner
has been done very well, indeed.

Once in a while you might think,
that this or that could have been better.
But, just as darkness never reaches the light of sunshine
in the same manner, the mind of man
cannot fathom God's wisdom.

Leave together what God joins.
He knows what is best.
Our thinking is mistaken and deceives,
but His thoughts are free of error.
God's work has a firm footing
even when everything else may fail.

Watch the pious children,
who thus stand in the holy estate.
How so much God blesses them
How he so lets all the deeds of their hands
go to a good and blessed end.

The worthy glory of their virtue
stands in its fullest bloom.
Even if often, in places, the flower of love
removes itself like a fleeting shadow;
and even if often all faithfulness stops,
the faithfulness of these,here, is ever new.

Their love is always fresh, it gets even younger with time.
Love decorates their table
and sweetens every word.
Even in the midst of life's burdens and sorrows,
the heart finds rest in this love.

When things don't go as desired,
this love still can remain quiet.
It holds up well under the cross
and believes it is God's will.
It assures itself again with joy,
of the better future time ahead.

All the while, God's rich stream of blessings
feeds the bodies,
waters the spirit,
strengthens the foundation and the roof
of this house.
And whatever is small, little and humble,
He makes mighty, much and great.

Finally, when all is accomplished
what God has planned for his pious children in this world,
He will take them to his heaven
and will press them with great affection
to his very own mouth and breast.

So then remains still full of grace,
full of salve, of comfort, nurture,
full of wonder, full of skill,
full of wisdom, full of strength,
full of wonder, I say again:
remains the yoke of chaste married love.

Even more exhibits, Paul Gerhardt

The pictures are from an old book my children received from my step-mother from East Germany. They are all illustrations to Paul Gerhard hymns. I want to translate one from the burial of a child section: "You are mine and still remain mine." 12 verses. The picture for that hymn is included. When I'm back I should have it translated. Maybe a translation of the hymn is available, though I've never heard it sung before either in German or English (though it is contained in the hymnbook shown a couple of posts ago). It is sung to the tune of "Ermuntre dich mein schwacher Geist".

I'll be gone for a while, but enjoy the pictures.

Oh, here is the hymn in German, if you want to work on it, too, in the meantime.

Der betruebte Vater troestet sich ueber seinen nunmehr seligen Sohn.
(12 Verses)

Du bist zwar mein und bleibest mein,
Wer will mir anders sagen?
Doch bist du nicht nur mein allein;
Der Herr von ewgen Tagen
Der hat das meiste Recht an dir,
Der fordert und erhebt von mir
Dich, o mein Sohn, mein Wille,
Mein Herz und Wunsches Fuelle.

Ach, guelt es Wuenschens, wollt ich dich,
Du Sternlein meiner Seelen,
Vor allem Weltgut williglich
Mir wuenschen und erwaehlen;
Ich wollte sage: Blei bei mir!
Du sollst sein meines Hauses Zier;
An dir will ich mein Lieben
Bis in mein Sterben ueben.

So sagt mein Herz und meint es gut;
Gott aber meints noch besser
Gross ist die Lieb in meinem Mut,
In Gott ist sie noch groesser.
Ich bin ein Vater und nichts mehr,
Gott ist der Vaeter Haupt und Herr,
Ein Quell, da Alt und Jungen
In aller Welt ensprungen.

Ich sehne mich nach meinen Sohn;
Und der mir ihn gegeben
Will, dass er nah an seinem Thron
Im Himmel solse leben.
Ich sprech: Ach weh, mein Licht verschwindt.
Gott spricht: Willkommen, du liebes Kind,
Dich will ich bei mir haben
Und ewig reichlich laben.

O suesser Rat, or schoenes Wort
Und heilger als wir denken!
Bei Gott ist ja kein boeser Ort,,
Kein Unglueck und kein Kraenken,
Kein Angst, kein Mange, kein Versehn;
Bei Gott kann keinem Leid geschehn;
Wen Gott versorgt und liebet,
wird nimmermeht betruebet.

Wir Menschn sind ja auch bedacht,
Die Unsrigen zu zieren;
Wir gehn und sorgen Tag und Nacht,
Wie wir sie wollen fuehren
In einen feinen, seligen Stand,
Und ist doch selten so bewandt
Mit dem, wohin sie kommen,
Als wirs uns vorgenommen.

Wie manches junges, frommes Blut
Wird jaemmerlich verfuehret
Durch boes Exempel, dass es tut
Was Christen nicht gebuehret.
Da hats denn Gottes Zorn zum Lohn
Auf Erden nichts als Spott und Hohn;
Der Vater muss mit Graemen
Sich seines Kindes schaemen.

Ein solches darf ich ja nun nicht
An meinem Sonn erwarten,
Der steht vor Gottes Angesicht
Und geht in Christi Garten,
Hat Freude, die ihn recht erfreut,
Und ruht von allem Herzeleid;
Er sieht und hoert die Scharen,
Die uns allhier bewahren.

Er sieht und hoert der Engel Mund,
Sein Muendlein helft selbst singen;
Weiss alle Weisheit aus dem Grund
Und redt von solchen Dingen,
Die unser keiner noch nicht weiss,
Die auch durch unsern Fleiss und Schweiss
Wir, weil wir sind auf Erden,
Nicht ausstudieren werden.

Ach, sollt ich doch von fernen stehn
Und nur ein wenig hoeren,
Wenn dein Sinnen sich erhoehen
Und Gottes Namen ehren,
Der heilig, heilig, heilig ist,
Durch den du auch geheiligt bist;
Ich weisss, ich wuerde muessen
For Freuden Traenen giessen.

Ich wuerde sprechen: Bleib allhier!
Nun will ich nicht mehr klagen:
Ach mein Sohn, waerst du noch bei mir!
Nein; sondern: Komm, du Wagen Elia,
hole mich geschwind
Und bring mich dahin, da mein Kind
Und so viel liebe Seelen
So schoene Ding erzaehlen.

Nun, es sei Ja und bleib also,
Ich will dich nicht mehr weinen.
Du lebst und bist von Herzen froh,
Siehst lauter Sonnen scheinen,
Die Sonnen ewger Freud und Ruh;
Hier leb und bleib nun immerzu!
Ich will, wills Gott, mit andern
Auch bald hernacher wandern.