An email devotion sent to members of Grace Lutheran Church in Thornville, Ohio on June 6, 2022.
Go Forth, My Heart, This Summer Day!
I know that technically speaking, the summer season doesn’t begin until June 21. But for all intents and purposes, “summer” in our part of the world begins after Memorial Day. School is out for the year, and a different pace of life begins, which lasts a few months.
Over the years, Christian hymn writers have often used the changing of the seasons as a way of talking about faith. A lot of these hymns have to do with harvest as an expression of both thanksgiving and God’s judgment (autumn), blossoming as an expression of Easter (spring), and even snow and coldness as an expression of sin and death (winter). But there aren’t too many hymns that have to do with summer.
So, I was surprised when I walked into a German Lutheran church toward the end of summer in 2004. I had arrived in Germany on a Saturday in early August to prepare for my upcoming pastoral internship. The effects of jet lag had not yet hit me, and I was wide awake on Sunday morning. Part of my internship was spent in the town of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther carried out most of his work. That morning, I went to the Castle Church, the site of the purported posting of the 95 Theses in 1517, which sparked the Lutheran and Protestant Reformation.
The organ began blaring what was for me an unfamiliar hymn. But it was catchy and has always stayed with me. It could be described as a frolicking tune that puts a spring in one’s step. Looking in the German hymnal, I discovered it to be a hymn of Paul Gerhardt. Among English speakers, Paul Gerhardt is best known for his Holy Week hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” But especially among German Lutherans, Paul Gerhardt is known as “the sweet singer of Lutheranism.”
Paul Gerhardt was a German Lutheran pastor of the seventeenth century, and he was born in 1607 in a small town near Wittenberg named Gräfenhainichen. Gerhardt’s life has been an inspiration for many. He had his ups and downs in life and ministry, but in it all his faith shone through. Many of his children met with untimely deaths, and though he was a popular preacher in Berlin, his unwillingness to compromise theologically in an attempted forced union between Lutheran and Reformed churches led to his dismissal. He then became a pastor in the town of Mittenwalde, where it is said he struggled with constant squabbling among his parishioners.
In truth, his time in Mittenwalde must not have been as negative as that sounds. Over the last few centuries, he has been remembered fondly in that community, and his statue there is visited frequently. During his time in Mittenwalde, Gerhardt wrote over a hundred hymns, many of which are found in our hymnals today and which address many themes of Christian life and theology: “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You” (Advent); “Once Again, My Heart Rejoices” (Christmas); “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth” (Holy Week/Passion); “Awake, My Heart, with Gladness” (Easter); “Evening and Morning” (Morning); “Now All the Woods Are Sleeping” (Evening). This last hymn is a popular one in our house, as my son requests that I sing it most every night!
One hymn of Paul Gerhardt that is unfortunately not found in our hymnals is the one I heard that summer day in 2004 in Wittenberg. The German Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud has been translated in a few different ways, but most effectively by my friend and former professor Gracia Grindal as follows below. As is the case with most of Gerhardt’s hymns, there are at least ten verses, but I share only four:
Go forth, my heart, this summer day, go forth and seek your joy today with thanks for all these pleasures! See, all around the earth is new, God has adorned the world for you with wonderful green treasures, with wonderful green treasures!
The trees are covered now with leaves, the dust of earth is swathed in green, a lovely robe of color. The tulip and narcissus rare are dressed in clothes beyond compare, past Solomon’s great splendor, past Solomon’s great splendor.
I think how great my blessings are, which you so lovingly impart upon your great creation. And how much greater blessings wait above in heaven’s rich estate, where golden streets await us, where golden streets await us.
O Holy Spirit, dwell in me, so I become a living tree, with roots so deeply grounded. O grant that I will sing your praise and bear rich fruit through all my days by all your love surrounded, by all your love surrounded.
German Lutherans argue today about whether this is a “good hymn,” and those who don’t like it point out the fact that it doesn’t specifically mention Jesus Christ. While it is true that the hymn is not theologically perfect or complete, few hymns in fact are. But “Go Forth, My Heart, This Summer Day” uses the image of summer to describe God’s gift of creation, but more importantly what our life in God’s kingdom will be like.
And it concludes with a prayer for our lives today: “O Holy Spirit, dwell in me, so I become a living tree, with roots so deeply grounded.” It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to “ground” us in the good news of Jesus Christ, and our roots draw nourishment from his mercy.
As we enter the “green season” on our church calendar (after Pentecost, the color doesn’t change from green very often in the summer and autumn), we remember that, grounded in Jesus Christ, we are like trees planted and are called to bear good fruit in our lives. The pace of life changes in the summer for many of us, but our need to be nourished by Him does not change. As you see the glory of summer around you, may it ever be a reminder of God’s gift of creation, but above all the new creation he promises his children.
Pr. Tom Jacobson
Go Forth, My Heart, This Summer Day!
I know that technically speaking, the summer season doesn’t begin until June 21. But for all intents and purposes, “summer” in our part of the world begins after Memorial Day. School is out for the year, and a different pace of life begins, which lasts a few months.
Over the years, Christian hymn writers have often used the changing of the seasons as a way of talking about faith. A lot of these hymns have to do with harvest as an expression of both thanksgiving and God’s judgment (autumn), blossoming as an expression of Easter (spring), and even snow and coldness as an expression of sin and death (winter). But there aren’t too many hymns that have to do with summer.
So, I was surprised when I walked into a German Lutheran church toward the end of summer in 2004. I had arrived in Germany on a Saturday in early August to prepare for my upcoming pastoral internship. The effects of jet lag had not yet hit me, and I was wide awake on Sunday morning. Part of my internship was spent in the town of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther carried out most of his work. That morning, I went to the Castle Church, the site of the purported posting of the 95 Theses in 1517, which sparked the Lutheran and Protestant Reformation.
The organ began blaring what was for me an unfamiliar hymn. But it was catchy and has always stayed with me. It could be described as a frolicking tune that puts a spring in one’s step. Looking in the German hymnal, I discovered it to be a hymn of Paul Gerhardt. Among English speakers, Paul Gerhardt is best known for his Holy Week hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” But especially among German Lutherans, Paul Gerhardt is known as “the sweet singer of Lutheranism.”
Paul Gerhardt was a German Lutheran pastor of the seventeenth century, and he was born in 1607 in a small town near Wittenberg named Gräfenhainichen. Gerhardt’s life has been an inspiration for many. He had his ups and downs in life and ministry, but in it all his faith shone through. Many of his children met with untimely deaths, and though he was a popular preacher in Berlin, his unwillingness to compromise theologically in an attempted forced union between Lutheran and Reformed churches led to his dismissal. He then became a pastor in the town of Mittenwalde, where it is said he struggled with constant squabbling among his parishioners.
In truth, his time in Mittenwalde must not have been as negative as that sounds. Over the last few centuries, he has been remembered fondly in that community, and his statue there is visited frequently. During his time in Mittenwalde, Gerhardt wrote over a hundred hymns, many of which are found in our hymnals today and which address many themes of Christian life and theology: “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You” (Advent); “Once Again, My Heart Rejoices” (Christmas); “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth” (Holy Week/Passion); “Awake, My Heart, with Gladness” (Easter); “Evening and Morning” (Morning); “Now All the Woods Are Sleeping” (Evening). This last hymn is a popular one in our house, as my son requests that I sing it most every night!
One hymn of Paul Gerhardt that is unfortunately not found in our hymnals is the one I heard that summer day in 2004 in Wittenberg. The German Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud has been translated in a few different ways, but most effectively by my friend and former professor Gracia Grindal as follows below. As is the case with most of Gerhardt’s hymns, there are at least ten verses, but I share only four:
Go forth, my heart, this summer day, go forth and seek your joy today with thanks for all these pleasures! See, all around the earth is new, God has adorned the world for you with wonderful green treasures, with wonderful green treasures!
The trees are covered now with leaves, the dust of earth is swathed in green, a lovely robe of color. The tulip and narcissus rare are dressed in clothes beyond compare, past Solomon’s great splendor, past Solomon’s great splendor.
I think how great my blessings are, which you so lovingly impart upon your great creation. And how much greater blessings wait above in heaven’s rich estate, where golden streets await us, where golden streets await us.
O Holy Spirit, dwell in me, so I become a living tree, with roots so deeply grounded. O grant that I will sing your praise and bear rich fruit through all my days by all your love surrounded, by all your love surrounded.
German Lutherans argue today about whether this is a “good hymn,” and those who don’t like it point out the fact that it doesn’t specifically mention Jesus Christ. While it is true that the hymn is not theologically perfect or complete, few hymns in fact are. But “Go Forth, My Heart, This Summer Day” uses the image of summer to describe God’s gift of creation, but more importantly what our life in God’s kingdom will be like.
And it concludes with a prayer for our lives today: “O Holy Spirit, dwell in me, so I become a living tree, with roots so deeply grounded.” It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to “ground” us in the good news of Jesus Christ, and our roots draw nourishment from his mercy.
As we enter the “green season” on our church calendar (after Pentecost, the color doesn’t change from green very often in the summer and autumn), we remember that, grounded in Jesus Christ, we are like trees planted and are called to bear good fruit in our lives. The pace of life changes in the summer for many of us, but our need to be nourished by Him does not change. As you see the glory of summer around you, may it ever be a reminder of God’s gift of creation, but above all the new creation he promises his children.
Pr. Tom Jacobson