Sing to the Lord Luther House of Study

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // The day of rest is the Sabbath - made for those who rest in the presence of Almighty God! It is a day of rest because we know and worship the Triune God, who brings us a “balm for care and sadness.”Stanza 2 // This day of rest is not something invented for the benefit of congregations, member engagement, or hymn-singing! In what can sound like a litany to the “day of rest” - these words really tell us of God’s work. On “you” the Father created the world. On “...

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // When Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit - like the wind - “blows where it chooses” and “[we] do not know where [He] comes from or where [He] goes…” we may have as many questions as Nicodemus, or even a few more! This hymn calms the questions of our mind and heart with a Word: “This” - here - “is the Spirit’s entry” - the “water and the Word.” The Holy Spirit is found in baptism, where we are joined forever to Jesus’ “cross” - His death and resurrection. As ...

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // After Jesus tells his disciples he must depart that the Holy Spirit would arrive, it is easy to imagine the disciples' confusion and fear. In our fear, we turn to God’s Holy Spirit in prayer, that we would be restored as those without sin.Stanza 2 // The Holy Spirit is named in many ways throughout Scripture. This hymn says we cry to the One who brings us “comfort” - the “gift of God” - and the “true fount of life.” The gift of the Holy Spirit is from God, wh...

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // On this final Sunday of Easter, the “vault of heaven resounds now” - today! - with the good news of Jesus’ “triumph” over death! We join in singing not only with the [now smaller] crowd of Christians gathered to worship, but with the “choirs of angels” who sing a song of glory around the throne of the Risen One.Stanza 2 // The gift of Easter is not simply to repeat the blessings of the empty tomb, though this hymn certainly accomplishes the task! It also tell...

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // The “divine love” of Christ exceeds all love we can imagine - a love and joy that must “come down from heaven.” It is the crown of all God’s “faithful mercies” because it is the commandment Christ says will grow out of faith in our Lord! Christ’s love, which knows no boundaries, can enter even the “trembling hearts” of sinners, that we might be given salvation. Stanza 2 // When Christ enters the human heart, we are given new hearts “set at liberty” by th...

ZACHARY'S NOTES: Stanza 1 // This hymn connects the promises Christ speaks in this weekend’s Gospel text with the promise we are given in Holy Baptism. “Embraced into Christ the vine” we are joined to be “a branch of [the] life-giving Tree” of Christ.Stanza 2 // The sequence of summer, autumn, and winter is compared to seasons of life. Just as Christ says we are pruned to bear more fruit, so our Lord acts on our behalf that we might know and be sustained by the vine-grower and “shout fo...