Our Shepherd Lutheran Church and School

06/01/2026

Summer camp begins today! Have you registered? https://us.list-manage.com/RyjN9qsebIl?e=2bc885a188&c2id=2a22c3e88cc2cd9df5f5cb96cc3723bf

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

THE HYMN OF THE DAY (THE VISITATION): “FROM EAST TO WEST”
(Lutheran Service Book #385)

“From east to west, from shore to shore
Let ev’ry heart awake and sing
The holy child whom Mary bore,
The Christ, the everlasting king.

“Behold, the world’s creator wears
The form and fashion of a slave;
Our very flesh our maker shares,
His fallen creatures all to save.

“For this how wondrously He wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of His grace.

“And while the angels in the sky
Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor the Lord Most High,
The one great Shepherd, was revealed.

“All glory for this blessed morn
To God the Father ever be;
All praise to You, O Virgin-born,
And Holy Ghost eternally.”

Today the Church remembers the visitation of Mary, at the beginning of her pregnancy with the baby Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Since 1263 the Church had celebrated this event on July 2, but it was moved to May 31 in 1969 when the Catholic Church came out with the three-year lectionary. In the Lutheran Church, May 31 is the date for congregations using the three-year lectionary (like Our Shepherd), and July 2 is the date for congregations using the one-year lectionary. The reasoning for changing the date was that May 31 falls between the Annunciation (March 25) and the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24), so these three events would be celebrated in the same order in which they took place.

In the fifth century, Coelius Sedulius, a Roman pagan poet who came to faith in Christ late in life, composed a poem, “A solis ortus cardine” which reflected on the events of Christ’s life from birth to resurrection. Each of its 23 stanzas began with the corresponding letter of the Latin alphabet (which had no J, U, or W). This was a fairly important literary work, with a German translation by Martin Luther and musical settings of both the original Latin and the German translation by composers like Palestrina, Scheidt, and Bach. Today’s hymn of the day is an excerpt from Sedulius’ poem that was translated into English in 1871 by John Ellerton (1826-1893). This portion of the poem marvels at humility Christ displayed by coming to earth to be born as a baby of the virgin Mary. Another excerpt from the same poem can also be found in Lutheran Service Book: “The Star Proclaims the King Is Here” ( #399).

The tune for this hymn was composed by Martin Luther for his Christmas hymn, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” ( #358). Luther originally set that hymn to an existing folk tune associated with some children’s game at the time, but he quickly became disgusted with the association that developed between his hymn and the game due to the shared tune, so he composed a new tune--the current tune used for his hymn. Luther’s attitude toward the tune puts to rest the ridiculous notion that he just wrote hymn texts and set them to secular, even vulgar tunes.

The following setting of the tune was published by CPH in 1971 as part of a collection of nine pieces by the same composer. It places the tune in the pedals while light accompaniment is provided by two manual voices. The composer is the organist at First Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Omaha.

organist: Steve Hohnstadtorgan: 1971 Miller at Calvary Lutheran Ch...

05/30/2026

THE HYMN OF THE WEEK: “COME, HOLY GHOST, CREATOR BLEST”
(Lutheran Service Book #498/499)

“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And make our hearts Your place of rest;
Come with Your grace and heav’nly aid,
And fill the hearts which You have made.

“To You, the Counselor, we cry,
To You, the gift of God Most High;
The fount of life, the fire of love,
The soul’s anointing from above.

“In You, with graces sevenfold,
We God’s almighty hand behold
While You with tongues of fire proclaim
To all the world His holy name.

“Your light to ev’ry thought impart,
And shed Your love in ev’ry heart;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

“Drive far away the wily foe.
And Your abiding peace bestow;
With You as our protecting guide,
No evil can with us abide.

“Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And You, from both, as Three in One
That we Your name may ever bless
And in our lives the truth confess.

“Praise we the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, with them One,
And may the Son on us bestow
The gifts that from the Spirit flow!”

We won’t be singing the hymn of the week for Trinity Sunday on Trinity Sunday at Our Shepherd this year, since, like many Lutheran Churches, we just sang it last week for Pentecost. It is, after all, a Pentecost hymn; most of the stanzas focus on the work of the Holy Spirit, with stanza three in particular alluding to the events of that first Pentecost. The last two stanzas, though, give us a picture of the Holy Trinity--the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, making it just as relevant for this Sunday as for last. It is uncertain who wrote the original Latin text for this hymn; it has been attributed to many possible authors, including Charlemagne, Pope Gregory the Great, and St. Ambrose, but the current consensus points to Rabanus Maurus (776-856).

The original ancient tune for this hymn, which dates to around the ninth century, can be found in Lutheran Service Book as #499. Since this tune was intended to be sung by a monastic choir that could practice it ahead of time, it was too difficult for congregations to sing, so when Martin Luther began compiling hymns for his congregations, he made some changes to this one. He kept the overall shape of the melody, but simplified the rhythm and made each phrase end on a long note, segmenting the tune into four easy to learn parts so that it could be sung by a congregation rather than a trained choir. This is the tune found on #498. When we sang this hymn at Our Shepherd last week, the choir used the ancient version of the tune for stanzas 2 and 6, and a choral arrangement of Luther’s version for stanza 4, while the congregation sang Luther’s version for the other stanzas.

At my previous congregation (Calvary Lutheran Church in Kansas City, MO), I often played the following piece as pre-service music on Pentecost. The modern style is something we maybe aren’t used to hearing very often, with French examples being particularly rare. Duruflé did not write much music for the organ, but all five of his organ works are as elaborate, developed, and difficult as this one. This piece, being composed in a Catholic context in 1931, makes use of the older chant version of this week’s tune rather than Luther’s version. The prelude consists of two main themes with light, energetic accompaniment, with subtle hints of the hymn tune throughout. A short interlude connects the prelude with the second, slow movement which likewise quotes fragments of the melody in a few scattered places. A straightforward harmonization of the tune followed by four variations on it conclude the piece.

Since Duruflé calls for a wide variety of organ stops only found on very large instruments, the piece is compromised somewhat by playing it on a smaller instrument such as Calvary’s organ. While still possible to play it there, I decided to record it using the 48-rank behemoth at my parents’ church in Michigan to stay closer to the composer’s intent. This instrument was originally built in 1970 and installed at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Detroit, which closed some time in the ’80’s. It remained in storage from then until 2006, when St. Peter completed their larger sanctuary. The organ was installed and enlarged at St. Peter at that time.

organist: Steve Hohnstadtorgan: 1970/2006 Schantz/Muller at St. Pe...

05/30/2026

Registration closes Sunday, June 7, at 5pm. Reserve your spot now! https://us.list-manage.com/DDZjs6ssUyL?e=2bc885a188&c2id=2a22c3e88cc2cd9df5f5cb96cc3723bf

05/29/2026

Summer Camp for Pre-K through 8th grade! Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfY1Rs2XqTld0Th7BO7H9YsQRtPnO95LhZCtt51KlG16mVTgQ/viewform

05/26/2026

THE HYMN OF THE DAY (PENTECOST TUESDAY): “TO GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT LET US PRAY”
(Lutheran Service Book #768)

“To God the Holy Spirit let us pray
For the true faith needed on our way
That He may defend us when life is ending
And from exile home we are wending.
Lord, have mercy!

“O sweetest Love, Your grace on us bestow;
Set our hearts with sacred fire aglow
That with hearts united we love each other,
Ev’ry stranger, sister, and brother.
Lord, have mercy!

“Transcendent Comfort in our ev’ry need,
Help us neither scorn nor death to heed
That we may not falter nor courage fail us
When the foe shall taunt and assail us.
Lord, have mercy!

“Shine in our hearts, O Spirit, precious light;
Teach us Jesus Christ to know aright
That we may abide in the Lord who bought us,
Till to our true home He has brought us.
Lord, have mercy!”

The first stanza of this hymn dates back to the 13th century, when, according to some historians, it was sung by the congregation on the day of Pentecost during a unique part of the service in which a wooden dove was lowered from the ceiling or a live dove was released and allowed to fly down into the building. Based on the Latin sequence “Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit),” this first stanza was introduced by a famous preacher named Berthold of Regensburg when he quoted it in his sermons. During the Reformation, Luther added the other three stanzas to make the hymn more fully recognize the work of the Holy Spirit.

Here is an early baroque setting of the hymn’s tune, in which sparse accompaniment supports a highly embellished and ornamented rendition of the melody, a common practice of the time. The composer was from Wöhrden in the Holstein region of northern Germany; he studied with Sweelinck in Amsterdam from 1611-1614, and by 1629 had taken up a position as organist in Hamburg which he held until his death by the plague in 1663. Scheidemann composed almost exlusively for the organ, and more of his organ works survive than by any other composer of the period.

organist: Steve Hohnstadtorgan: 1971 Miller at Calvary Lutheran Church, Kansas City, MOpublic domain, available here: http://ks.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg...

05/25/2026

THE HYMN OF THE DAY (PENTECOST MONDAY): “HOLY SPIRIT, EVER DWELLING”
(Luthean Service Book #650)

“Holy Spirit, ever dwelling
In the holi’st realms of light;
Holy Spirit, ever brooding
O’er a world of gloom and night;
Holy Spirit, ever raising
Those of earth to thrones on high;
Living, life-imparting Spirit,
You we praise and magnify.

“Holy Spirit, ever living
As the Church’s very life;
Holy Spirit, ever striving
Through us in a ceaseless strife;
Holy Spirit, ever forming
In the Church the mind of Christ:
You we praise with endless worship
For Your gifts and fruits unpriced.

“Holy Spirit, ever working
Through the Church’s ministry;
Quick’ning, strength’ning, and absolving,
Setting captive sinners free;
Holy Spirit, ever binding
Age to age and soul to soul
In communion never ending,
You we worship and extol.”

In 1922, a Welsh monk named Timothy Rees (1874-1939), who would later go on to be the Bishop of Llandaff, wrote this hymn about the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. In its three stanzas, we sing of how the Holy Spirit works through both individuals and the Church as a whole to create and strengthen our faith, bringing us out of darkness and into the light of Christ.

The tune for this hymn, “In Babilone,” is a traditional Dutch melody that first appeared in print in 1710. It was brought into use as a hymn tune by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) in 1906 for “The English Hymnal.” It has been used for several different hymn texts in various hymnals since then, two of which can be found in Lutheran Service Book--this one and “Son of God, Eternal Savior” ( #842).

The following prelude and harmonization of the tune was published by CPH in 2017.

organist: Steve Hohnstadtorgan: 1971 Miller at Calvary Lutheran Ch...