HOTC #17: LSB 418, O Lord, throughout These Forty Days
One aspect of Lutheran Service Book that is particularly useful is the inclusion of hymns that encapsulate or serve as introductions to the various seasons of the church year. LSB #331 (which, as the first hymn in the book kicked off this whole series back in November) does just that for the Advent season. LSB #399 does that for Epiphany (though it does not, sadly, lead the Epiphany section of the book). The hymn we consider today does the same for Lent.
The Temptation of Christ, from mosaics in the Basilica di San Marco, Venice, Italy (11th-13th Century)
The Author
This text is a paraphrase of an earlier work by the Victorian Anglican hymnwriter Claudia Frances Hernaman, who composed it as part of her mission to create hymns that explained the Christian religion in very straightforward ways, so that it might be understood by children. To this end, she either wrote or translated (from Latin) some 150 hymns over her lifetime. This, however, is her only contribution to Lutheran Service Book.
Hernaman’s text does not come directly to us, however. Gilbert E. Doan, a hymnwriter in the Lutheran Church in America (a predecessor body of the ELCA) paraphrased Hernaman’s work for inclusion in Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978. Doan’s work is a complete reworking of the earlier text - other than the basic outline and the occasional word, it is a complete overhaul. It was one of the hymns that was kept over from LBW for inclusion in Lutheran Worship in 1982, and from there made its way into Lutheran Service Book with only one minor revision (a clarification of language in the third verse).
The Text
The text uses as its framework the account of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness from St. Luke, Chapter 4, and uses the parallel imagery of those forty days with the forty days now facing the Christian observers of Lent. It leans heavily on the penitential Christian tradition of “giving up” something for Lent - denying one’s self something as a form of penitential fasting. But the text also balances this with a reliance on God’s steadfast love for the believer, and is clear that our works - in this case penitence and fasting - are not the means of salvation, only Christ is. Indeed, the third verse reminds us that we should “…deny ourselves, / Since we have known God’s love.” (this is the clarification referred to above).
Each verse has a very clear two-part form: the first half of the verse shows us what Christ has done for us, while the second half of the verse asks God to impart to us some measure of the same qualities by which Christ overcame the temptations of Satan while in the wilderness. The symmetry is rather pleasing, and gives shape to the thoughts of the reader in a very thought-provoking way, as each vignette from St. Luke’s gospel is followed by a request for help in the equivalent portion of the believer’s life of faith.
In many ways, this hymn uses the story from St. Luke to encapsulate the Lenten journey, and as such is clearly intended to be the “kickoff” hymn for Lent (see the introduction, above). Must like LSB #331, it leads off the Lent section of the hymnal (a pattern that would’ve been really nice, had it been maintained throughout the church season sections of the hymnal).
The Tune
The tune may be a Scottish one, as the name suggests, however all details of its composition are unknown. It first appeared in a collection of psalm tunes produced in Edinburgh in 1635, and did not appear again until the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern re-popularized it. It is self-evidently popular in Presbyterian hymnals (no surprise, given its Scottish credentials), as a quick glance at Hymnary.org shows.
As a fairly new creation (in its present form), this hymn hasn’t made it into a ton of hymnals (the original Hernaman work is several dozen). Hymnary.org records it in only four: the three Lutheran books noted in the first section of this blog post, and a single Catholic hymnal. Interestingly, the lone Catholic example sets it to the hymntune ST. FLAVIAN (LSB# 577, LSB #787, and LSB #857 are set to this tune). I have to say, while I sympathize with the decision to avoid repeating a hymntune yet again, I think I personally would prefer it with ST. FLAVIAN, rather than CAITHNESS. CAITHNESS is a decent enough hymntune in its own right, but ST. FLAVIAN is both more singable and just feels more penitential and “Lent-y” to me.
The setting in Lutheran Service Book is in D Major, a half-step lower than the Lutheran Book of Worship original, which is Eb Major.
As you might imagine for a hymn that has not had wide circulation (again, only four hymnals in two denominations, though the tune is used elsewhere, particularly in Anglican traditions) compositions that utilize it are somewhat rare, and almost all are recent. I have given a smattering of them below.
Settings of this hymn and/or tune can be found in:
For organ:
Concordia Hymn Prelude Library, Vol. 2
113 Variations on Hymn Tunes for Organ
Throughout These Forty Days: Ten Preludes on Lenten Hymns for Manuals