~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the very midst of life
Snares of death surround us;
Who shall help us in the strife
Lest the foe confound us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
We mourn that we have greatly erred,
That our sins Thy wrath have stirred.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us lest we perish
In the bitter pangs of death.
Have mercy, O Lord!

In the midst of death’s dark vale
Pow’rs of hell o’ertake us.
Who will help when they assail,
Who secure will make us?
Thou only, Lord, Thou only!
Thy heart is moved with tenderness,
Pities us in our distress.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Save us from the terror
Of the fiery pit of hell.
Have mercy, O Lord!

In the midst of utter woe
When our sins oppress us,
Where shall we for refuge go,
Where for grace to bless us?
To Thee, Lord Jesus, only!
Thy precious blood was shed to win
Full atonement for our sin.
Holy and righteous God!
Holy and mighty God!
Holy and all merciful Savior!
Eternal Lord God!
Lord, preserve and keep us
In the peace that faith can give.
Have mercy, O Lord!

Lutheran Service Book (LSB) 755
Text: Martin Luther, 1483-1546, tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, alt.

The following is a hymn that wonderfully captures the truths expressed in the passage above. I want this sung at my funeral!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it, gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth’s treasures many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free,
Lasting to eternity!

Sin, disturb my soul no longer: I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger: Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus’ blood?

Satan, hear this proclamation: I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation; I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I’ve traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!

Death, you cannot end my gladness: I am baptized into Christ!
When I die, I leave all sadness to inherit paradise!
Though I lie in dust and ashes
Faith’s assurance brightly flashes:
Baptism has the strength divine
To make life immortal mine.

There is nothing worth comparing to this lifelong comfort sure!
Open-eyed my grave is staring: Even there I’ll sleep secure.
Though my flesh awaits its raising,
Still my soul continues praising:
I am baptized into Christ;
I’m a child of paradise!

Text: Erdmann Neumester (1671-1756), Tr. Robert E. Voelker (b. 1957)
Tune: BACHOFEN – Johann Caspar Bachofen (1695-1755, alt.)
Christian Worship Supplement 737:2-5/Lutheran Service Book 594:2-5
(HT The Shepherd’s Study for the lyrics, HT Lutheran-Hymnal Online for the audio)

Christ, the Life of All the Living
By: Ernst C. Homburg

Christ, the life of all the living,
Christ, the death of death, our foe,
Christ, yourself for me once giving
To the darkest depths of woe:
Through your suffering, death, and merit
Life eternal I inherit.
Thousand, thousand thanks are due,
Dearest Jesus, unto you.

You have suffered great affliction
And have borne it patiently,
Even death by crucifixion,
Fully to atone for me;
For you chose to be tormented
That my doom should be prevented.
Thousand, thousand thanks are due,
Dearest Jesus, unto you.

Then, for all that bought my pardon,
For the sorrows deep and sore,
For the anguish in the garden,
I will thank you evermore,
Thank you for the groaning, sighing,
For the bleeding and the dying,
For that last triumphant cry,
Praise you evermore on high.

Notes:
Hymn #094 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Kirchengesangbuch , Darmstadt
Tune: Jesu, Meines Lebens Leben
1^st Published in: 1659

Praise the Almighty
By: Johann D. Herrnschmidt

Praise the Almighty, my soul, adore him!
Yes, I will laud him until death;
With songs and anthems I come before him
As long as he allows me breath.
From him my life and all things came;
Bless, O my soul, his holy name.
Alleluia, alleluia!

Trust not in rulers; they are but mortal;
Earth-born they are and soon decay.
Vain are their counsels at life’s last portal,
When the dark grave engulfs its prey.
Since mortals can no help afford,
Place all your trust in Christ, our Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessed, oh, blessed are they forever
Whose help is from the Lord most high,
Whom from salvation nothing can sever,
And who in hope to Christ draw nigh.
To all who trust in him, our Lord
Will aid and counsel now afford.
Alleluia, alleluia!

Penitent sinners for mercy crying,
Pardon and peace from him obtain;
Ever the wants of the poor supplying,
Their faithful God he will remain.
He helps his children in distress,
The widows and the fatherless.
Alleluia, alleluia!

Praise, all you people, the name so holy
Of him who does such wondrous things!
All that has being, to praise him solely,
With happy heart its amen sings.
Children of God, with angel host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Alleluia, alleluia!

Hymn # 445
Lutheran Worship
Author: Seelenharpf
Tune: Lobe Den Herren, O Meine Seele 1^st Published in: 1664

But in any case … here are the words of the hymn in its entirety.  Enjoy!

"Salvation unto Us has Come"
by Paul Speratus, 1484-1551

1. Salvation unto us has come
By God's free grace and favor;
Good works cannot avert our doom,
They help and save us never.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
Who did for all the world atone;
He is our one Redeemer.

2. What God did in His Law demand
And none to Him could render
Caused wrath and woe on every hand
For man, the vile offender.
Our flesh has not those pure desires
The spirit of the Law requires,
And lost is our condition.

3. It was a false, misleading dream
That God His Law had given
That sinners should themselves redeem
And by their works gain heaven.
The Law is but a mirror bright
To bring the inbred sin to light
That lurks within our nature.

4. From sin our flesh could not abstain,
Sin held its sway unceasing;
The task was useless and in vain,
Our gilt was e'er increasing.
None can remove sin's poisoned dart
Or purify our guileful heart,-
So deep is our corruption.

5. Yet as the Law must be fulfilled
Or we must die despairing,
Christ came and hath God's anger stilled,
Our human nature sharing.
He hath for us the Law obeyed
And thus the Father's vengeance stayed
Which over us impended.

6. Since Christ hath full atonement made
And brought to us salvation,
Each Christian therefore may be glad
And build on this foundation.
Thy grace alone, dear Lord, I plead,
Thy death is now my life indeed,
For Thou hast paid my ransom.

7. Let me not doubt, but trust in Thee,
Thy Word cannot be broken;
Thy call rings out, "Come unto Me!"
No falsehood hast Thou spoken.
Baptized into Thy precious name,
My faith cannot be put to shame,
And I shall never perish.

8. The Law reveals the guilt of sin
And makes men conscience-stricken;
The Gospel then doth enter in
The sinful soul to quicken.
Come to the cross, trust Christ, and live;
The Law no peace can ever give,
No comfort and no blessing.

9. Faith clings to Jesus' cross alone
And rests in Him unceasing;
And by its fruits true faith is known,
With love and hope increasing.
Yet faith alone doth justify,
Works serve thy neighbor and supply
The proof that faith is living.

10. All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise
To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God that saved us by His grace,-
All glory to His merit!
O Triune God in heaven above,
Who hast revealed Thy saving love,
Thy blessed name be hallowed.

1. Theological Shallowness.  Modern "praise songs" are, by and large, very theologically shallow compared to hymns.  They tend toward the vague and many of them speak generically of God rather than Christ – and even when they do speak of Christ they can be remarkably vague about what He did.  "There's Just Something About That Name" and "Bless That Wonderful Name of Jesus" come quickly to mind.  This sort of thing encourages, in my mind, the assumption of the Gospel that is all too prevalent in evangelicalism.

2. Definition of Contemporary – How does one define "contemporary"?  The truth is, most folks who want to introduce "contemporary" music into their churches will never be up on what is contemporary enough to really be cutting-edge and relevant to today's youth.  I hear Lutherans discussing the merits of praise songs from the eighties!  How is this relevant, exactly? It might be relevant to those who are in their forties and fifties, but certainly not to teens!  In twenty years we might be debating the merits of a song that came out in 2009.

The problem with selecting songs on the basis of "relevance" and how "contemporary" they are is that today's "relevant" and "contemporary" songs are tomorrow's moldy oldies.  It is much better to select songs on the basis of Christian content than on the basis of something as fickle as "relevance."

3. Inward focus vs outward focus.  In my experience and observation, praise songs tend to be very focused on what is happening inside the person singing rather than focused on what is outside of us – the objective reality of what God has done, and continues to do, through Christ.  For example, here's a song we used to sing at my old evangelical church:

Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place;
I can feel His mighty power and His grace.
I can hear the brush of angel's wings,
I see glory on each face;
Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place.

In this song, how do you know the Lord is present?  Because you feel it, you have an experience, etc.  As Lutherans, our feelings are not the gauge of whether God is present among us. God is present among us in His Word and Sacraments.  This is an objective reality whether I feel it or not.  Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead for my justification, regardless of whether or not I feel it to be true.

4. False assumption that new is good, old is bad.  This is an artifact of our constantly changing society.  The assumption is that people will think the liturgy and historic Christian worship is old, crusty and boring, so we should change it to accommodate what modern people like.  However, the false assumption here is that people want the same thing they get day in and day out in their everyday lives.  Lots of people are looking for something deep, meaningful and stable.  In my view giving up the liturgy for contemporary worship is like trading a priceless treasure for a cheap trinket someone bought last week at the dollar store.  The world's thinking is already only two inches deep.  Why should we want the church to be that way too? 

5. Focus on human activity rather than on God's activity.  The fact is many praise songs seem to have a sort of "me" focus – on me and my acts of worship and service rather than on what God has actually done.  "Everything within me worships you" is a line I particularly remember having trouble with as an evangelical when what I was really feeling was "everything within me is tainted with sin."  Many praise songs boil down to: I will do this, I will do that.  I will serve You in any number of ways.  I am worshiping, praising and adoring.  Often missing or simply assumed is why we should be doing these things, and when it is present it is often vague.  The emphasis is on what we are doing for God rather than on what God has done for us.

I recall a praise song that was popular years ago called "The Heart of Worship" whose chorus included the line, "It's all about You, Jesus."  But ironically, the rest of the song was basically about us, what was going on in our hearts, and what we were doing to worship God.  It was supposed to be all about Jesus but there was nothing in the song that said anything about what Jesus had done for us. 

6. False assumption that people are coming to church to be entertained.  If I want to be entertained, I will go to a concert, not a church.  If entertainment is what I am looking for, I will watch my favorite TV program.  Church is not the place I think of when I think "entertainment." And this is not a bad thing, because church is not about entertainment.

This point is somewhat related to point 4.  Are people really looking for "church as entertainment" these days?  When I can get megabytes and megabytes of shallow entertainment on my iPhone, why would I go to church to get more?  And even if there are those out there who do expect the church to entertain them, here's the thing – people are not saved because we entertain them to make the message more palatable to their fallen human will.  No, they are saved because the Holy Spirit, working through the Word, convicts people of their sin and creates faith in their hearts.

7.  What you confess determines how you worship (and vice versa).  I am convinced that behind "contemporary worship" is a different confession from that which Lutherans confess. This sums up all of the other points.

When I first started attending a Lutheran church I was struck by how participating in the liturgy was like being saturated in God's Word.  Everything that is done gives the worshiper more of the Word – the hymns, the prayers, the chanting, the readings, the sermon, the Eucharist – it's like swimming in a sea of wonderful, life-giving Scripture.  Why is this the case?  Because Lutherans believe that the Word of God is what creates faith, that it's living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, that the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.  In Lutheranism, the Holy Spirit comes through the Word of God (and the Sacraments – the Word attached to visible elements).

There is a reason why evangelicals worship the way they do – because
1) they largely believe that the Holy Spirit comes apart from the Word of
God and 2) they largely believe that faith is an act of the will rather than God's gift through the Word.  Thus the songs that are more about God "touching your heart" and "drawing us close" during worship – the Holy Spirit coming in a mystical way through our emotions – than about what God has objectively done and is still doing in Christ.  Thus all the frantic efforts to be culturally relevant in order to appeal to human will. 

What does it say when Lutherans worship like evangelicals?  It says, "we believe no different than what evangelicals believe."  When Lutherans worship like evangelicals, they are confessing that they don't really believe that the Word of God is THAT powerful.  They are confessing that what happens inside of us is more important than what was done outside of us.  They are confessing that what we do for God is more important than what God did (and still does) for us.

What would I have done if, on that fateful morning when I first decided that I needed to see Lutheranism in practice, I had walked into a church full of Lutherans who were worshiping like Baptists or Pentecostals? 

I would have walked away and never come back.  At least not to that particular church.

Why? 

Because there's no hope for me when all I am pointed to is myself – to my feelings, to my obedience, to my devotion, to my worship.  Hope only comes from outside of me – through the external Word and Sacraments delivering Christ crucified for my sins. 

"Contemporary worship" seems to be less about God's Word and more about entertaining us, making us feel good and pointing us to ourselves while at the same time claiming to be Christ-centered.  But in my experience there is nothing more Christ-centered and cross-focused than the liturgy done by Lutherans who are not ashamed to be Lutherans.

By Grace I’m Saved
By: Christian L. Scheidt

By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No; then this word must true remain;
By grace you too will life obtain.

By grace God’s Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of your own merit
That Jesus died your soul to win?
No, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought him from his heavenly throne.

By grace! This ground of faith is certain;
As long as God is true, it stands.
What saints have penned by inspiration,
What in his word our God commands,
Our faith in what our God has done
Depends on grace – grace through his Son.

By grace to timid hearts that tremble,
In tribulation’s furnace tried,
By grace, in spite of fear and trouble,
The Father’s heart is open wide.
Where could I help and strength secure
If grace were not my anchor sure?

By grace! On this I’ll rest when dying;
In Jesus’ promise I rejoice;
For though I know my heart’s condition,
I also know my Savior’s voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown
Since I am saved by grace alone.

Hymn # 351 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Korneluis Heinrich Dretzel
Tune: O Dass Ich Tausend Zungen Hatte
1^st Published in: 1742

In any case, while listening to this song come on my iPod the other day – twisted person that I am – I could not help but think of the differences between how Calvinists and Lutherans would hear this hymn.  Here are the lyrics:

How helpless guilty nature lies
Unconscious of it's load!
The heart, unchanged, can never rise
To happiness and God.

Can nothing less than power divine
The stubborn will subdue.
'Tis Thine, eternal Spirit! Thine,
To form the heart anew.

'Tis Thine the passions to recall,
And upwards bid them rise;
And make the scales of error fall
From reason's darkened eyes.

To chase the shades of death away
And bid the sinner live;
Heaven's beam, a vital ray,
'Tis Thine alone to give.

O change these wretched hearts of ours
And give them life divine;
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord, be Thine.

The song is all about divine monergism, which both Lutherans and Calvinists hold to.  The difference in how Lutherans and Calvinists would hear the song is this: a Lutheran would automatically think of the Sacraments in connection with the things God is doing in this song.  A Calvinist would not necessarily make that connection.  They might connect these things with the hearing of the Word but not necessarily with the Sacraments.

What is the consequence of this?  If I heard this song with no understanding of how the Holy Spirit operates using the Sacraments, I might wonder if salvation is really for me.  After all, I am completely helpless to do anything regarding my salvation, and who knows when and where (or if) God is going to work in my heart?  I might hear the Word, but how do I know God has really given me the faith necessary to believe?

But with the Sacraments there is a clear and unequivocal "for you".  In Baptism I was given a new heart.  I was buried with Christ and raised with Him.   In the Lord's Supper and Absolution God continues to forgive my sins.  These are sure and certain promises attached to concrete, objective, external means.  I don't have to wonder, "Did God really change my heart?  Did He really give me faith?"

I know that my Redeemer lives!
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever living head!

He lives triumphant from the grave;
He lives eternally to save;
He lives exalted, throned above;
He lives to rule his Church in love.

He lives to grant me rich supply;
He lives to guide me with his eye;
He lives to comfort me when faint;
He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives to bless me with his love;
He lives to plead for me above;
He lives my hungry soul to feed;
He lives to help in time of need.

He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly friend;
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King!

He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives, all glory to his name!
He lives, my savior, still the same;
What joy this blest assurance gives:
I know that my Redeemer lives!

Hymn # 264 from Lutheran Worship
Author: attr. John Hatton
Tune: Duke Street 1^st Published in: 1775