A Service to Celebrate the 60TH Anniversary of The Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Westminster Abbey, Tuesday 4th June 2013
Dear Friends,
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (390 in The Hymnal 1982 ) is a joyful hymn to invite us in to worship this Sunday morning. Notice that each stanza begins with the exclamation: “Praise to the Lord.” This is one of the Church’s most well-loved hymns of praise and is found in hymnals of almost every Christian denomination. Although I don’t think this can be proved, it is claimed to be “statistically the most frequently sung hymn of all time.”

Written in the last year of his life cut short by tuberculosis, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” is one of over sixty hymns by Joachim Neander (1650-1680). He was born and died in Bremen, Germany, and has been called the “first poet of the Reformed Church in Germany.” His five-stanza text for “Praise to the Lord” is based on portions of Psalms 103 and 150. The Hymnal 1982 and many other current hymnals omit the original third stanza:

Praise to the Lord, who has fearfully, wondrously, made you,
Health has bestowed and, when heedlessly falling, has stayed you.
What need or grief ever has failed of relief?
Wings of his mercy did shade you.

In our service at St. Paul’s a couple Sundays ago, we sang “All my hope on God is founded” (665 in The Hymnal 1982 ). That text was derived from a 1679 hymn by Joachim Neander. He also wrote the tune for the Easter hymn “He is risen, he is risen” (180 in The Hymnal 1982 ). 

In a previous article where I had written about Joachim Neander, I mentioned that he often found refuge in nature, which led him to the Dussel River valley near Dusseldorf. He wrote some of his hymns there. Eventually it was renamed the Neander Valley, or Neanderthal . In 1856 in this valley, miners discovered caves which contained human bones. When other Neanderthal fossils were found, they were used as proof of evolution’s “missing link” and to back up Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. One writer pointed out this irony, “when Joachim Neander walked in this beautiful valley so many years ago, he could not know that hundreds of years later his name would become world famous, not for his hymns celebrating creation, but for a concept that he would have totally rejected: human evolution.”

The tune for “Praise to the Lord” is named LOBE DEN HERREN, the first words of the text in German. The tune’s origin is probably from a German folk song before the middle of the 17th century. Joachim Neander adapted the music for his hymn text, and this is the tune most often paired with these words. This Sunday’s prelude and postlude are two of the many organ settings of this tune which are in my music library.

“Praise to the Lord” is such an uplifting expression of our thanks to God, who fills our life with good things. Stanza four especially speaks to me. Well, I also like the first stanza a lot because it is one of the few hymns that mentions the organ! With whatever kind of voice you have, let’s join together in one of the greatest praise hymns of all times.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation;
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:
Join the great throng, psaltery, organ, and song,
Sounding in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord; over all things he gloriously reigneth:
Borne as on eagle wings, safely his saints he sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen how all thou needest hath been 
Granted in what he ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee;
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again;
Gladly forever adore him.
Grace and Peace,

Mark Meyer
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
166 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-465-5351