Author: Unknown vs. 1; Martin Luther vs. 2-4
German title: Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist
Translation: The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis, 1941 (NB: The more familiar text of this hymn in newer hymnals cannot be posted here due to active copyright, but this older translation, while using more archaic language and somewhat awkward phrasing, still carries the same meaning drawn from the German original.)
Relevant Scripture verse: “And no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” – 1 Corinthians 12:3 ESV
1 We now implore God the Holy Ghost For the true faith, which we need the most,
That in our last moments He may befriend us And, as homeward we journey, attend us.
Lord, have mercy!
2 Shine in our hearts, O most precious Light, That we Jesus Christ may know aright,
Clinging to our Savior, whose blood hath bought us, Who again to our homeland hath
brought us. Lord, have mercy!
3 Thou sacred Love, grace on us bestow, Set our hearts with heav'nly fire aglow
That with hearts united we love each other, Of one mind, in peace with ev'ry brother.
Lord, have mercy!
4 Thou highest Comfort in ev'ry need, Grant that neither shame nor death we heed,
That e'en then our courage may never fail us When the foe shall accuse and assail us.
Lord, have mercy!
When it comes to Martin Luther and the wider family of Lutheran traditions that have developed over the centuries, there is no shortage of misunderstandings and outright misinformation about the man and the tradition bearing his name. This hymn, in addition to being a beautiful yet underappreciated treasure, gives me the opportunity to address two of the most heard misunderstandings about Lutheranism.
First, many people assume that Martin Luther sought to make a break with the past when it came to church life. They assume that Luther’s goal was to innovate. While it is true that Luther and the other Reformers of his time reformed church practices they saw as unfaithful, they understood themselves as standing within the theological heritage of the Western Christian tradition. The first major Lutheran statement of faith known as the Augsburg Confession of 1530 went to great pains to emphasize the non-radical nature of “Evangelical” (Lutheran) practice. This document, which is still considered valid today by Lutheran church bodies, actually quotes the Church Fathers (meaning Christian theologians of the first seven centuries) more than it quotes the Bible itself! The compiled book of Lutheran confessional writings, known as the Book of Concord of 1580, began with the three recognized Creeds (statements of faith) of the Western Christian tradition: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. In everything, the Lutherans tried to emphasize their faithfulness to the established Christian tradition. The response of the Roman Church to Lutheranism and Protestantism more generally came with the Council of Trent, which met intermittently between 1545 and 1563, and this is best understood as the beginning of the modern Roman Catholic Church as a denominational identity distinct from Protestantism.
In this great hymn about the Holy Spirit by Martin Luther, one can see Luther’s desire to remain rooted in the established Christian tradition. Like at least one other Martin Luther hymn (“O Lord, We Praise You”), the first verse was not written by him, but rather comes from an unknown author in the centuries that preceded him. Luther loved this verse from the medieval era so much that he was inspired to write his own three verses that followed.
Second, it is commonly said that “Lutherans never talk about the Holy Spirit.” Admittedly, Lutherans don’t usually talk about the Holy Spirit in quite the same way as some other types of churches. But Lutherans teach along with other Christians that the Holy Spirit is “the Lord, the giver of life,” from the third article of the Nicene Creed. The Holy Spirit is indeed God, and just as we pray to the Father and the Son, we can pray to God the Holy Spirit.
Churches out of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian traditions tend to emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit in emotionalism and in the manifestation of the Spirit by certain outward signs. But Lutherans would say that the primary work of God the Holy Spirit is to “call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify” the Christian Church on earth and “preserve it in unity with Jesus Christ in the one true faith” (Small Catechism). The Holy Spirit brings the kingdom of God in the life of the world as the Word of Christ is proclaimed.
Like many German hymns, this one has often been sung to a quick tempo. But it has also been sung in a slower, more contemplative fashion. It was one of the hymns sung at my ordination service, but this hymn made the deepest impression on me at a worship service in my German internship congregation, the St. Thomas Church of Leipzig, Germany. In the spring of 2005, this worship service commemorated the destruction of the St. Paul University (Lutheran) Church of Leipzig (commonly known as the Unikircke) by the east German (DDR) Communist government on May 30, 1968. This church building is pictured above. The boys choir at the church sang a slow, somber, yet beautiful rendition of Martin Luther’s hymn prayer to the Holy Spirit. Like with the destruction of the Unikirche in 1968, there are many things in this world that seek to harm or stand in the way of the witness of our faith, both things outside and within us.
And so, Luther encouraged prayer to God the Holy Spirit (Ghost) in this great hymn, that He would continue to guide us, build us up, and preserve the witness of the Christian Church. Even when our earthly church buildings are destroyed, the work of God the Holy Spirit continues to establish us in the faith. And so we pray in the simple words, “Lord, have mercy!”
You can access here a piano arrangement of Martin Luther’s hymn by Kurt Weber: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=To+God+the+Holy+Spirit+Let+Us+Pray&&mid=E1300AA7805A5C107385E1300AA7805A5C107385&&FORM=VRDGAR