O Lord How Shall I Meet You

O LORD, HOW SHALL I MEET YOU

Third Sunday In Advent: Christ The Deliverer

Words: "Wie Soll Ich Dich Empfangen?", Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), 1653.
Translated by: composite
Text: Matthew 21: 1-9

Music: Valet will ich dir geben, by Melchior Teschner, 1613
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / XML
Wie Soll Ich Dich Empfangen, Johann Cruger
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / Sheet Music / XML
This tune was written by Johann Crüger for this text and appeared with the hymn in its first publication in the Crüger-Runge Gesangbuch, Berlin, in 1653.
Meter: 76 76 D

1. O Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
Thy people long to greet Thee,
My Hope, my heart's Delight!
O kindle, Lord, most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please Thee best.

2. Thy Zion strews before Thee
Green boughs and fairest palms,
And I, too, will adore Thee
With joyous songs and psalms.
My heart shall bloom forever
For Thee with praises new
And from Thy name shall never
Withhold the honor due.

3. I lay in fetters, groaning,
Thou com'st to set me free;
I stood, my shame bemoaning,
Thou com'st to honor me;
A glory Thou dost give me,
A treasure safe on high,
That will not fail or leave me
As earthly riches fly.

4. Love caused Thy incarnation,
Love brought Thee down to me;
Thy thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
O love beyond all telling,
That led Thee to embrace,
In love all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race!

5. Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o'er joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not, He is near you,
Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.

6. Ye need not toil nor languish
Nor ponder day and night
How in the midst of anguish
Ye draw Him by your might.
He comes, He comes all willing,
Moved by His love alone,
Your woes and troubles stilling;
For all to Him are known.

7. Sin's debt, that fearful burden,
Let not your souls distress;
Your guilt the Lord will pardon
And cover by His grace.
He comes, for men procuring
The peace of sin forgiven,
For all God's sons securing
Their heritage in heaven.

8. What though the foes be raging,
Heed not their craft and spite;
Your Lord, the battle waging,
Will scatter all their might.
He comes, a King most glorious,
And all His earthly foes
In vain His course victorious
Endeavor to oppose.

9. He comes to judge the nations,
A terror to His foes,
A Light of consolations
And blessed Hope to those
Who love the Lord's appearing.
O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth Thy beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home.

Translations:

Notes:
Hymn #58 from The Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941). This text was converted to ASCII format for Project Wittenberg by Cindy A. Beesley and is in the public domain. For more information about Project Wittenberg, contact Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary, 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA.

See also O. Hardwig, ed., Wartburg Hymnal (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1918)

This hymn by Paul Gerhardt, considered one of his finest, was first published in the Crüger-Runge Gesangbuch, Berlin, in 1653. The LBW uses four stanzas of the original ten stanzas. First translated into English by Catherine Winkworth, it is thought that Gerhardt wrote the hymn during the terrors of the Thirty Years' War. This hymn is based on Matthew 21:1-9, which is the Gospel lesson for the first Sunday in Advent in the old Lutheran pericopes. This hymn, like many of Gerhardt's hymns, shows his unwavering faith and trust in God.

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