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The Gospel Lesson for the First Sunday in Advent, whether you’re using the historic Western lectionary or the new three-year lectionary developed by the modern Roman Catholic Church, is the Triumphal Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It is in view of this Gospel Lesson that Paul Gerhardt wrote his Advent hymn “O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee” (“Wie soll ich dich empfangen“).
From John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology, vol. 2, p. 1280:
First published in the Crüger-Runge G.B., 1653, No. 77 [actually No. 83], in 10 stanzas of 8 lines.… It is founded on Matthew 21:1–9, the Gospel for the first Sunday in Advent. The allusions in stanzas 6–9 would suggest that it was written during the Thirty Years’ War. It is one of Gerhardt’s finest productions, and is probably the best German Advent hymn.
This hymn is a fine example of the salutary subjectivity that characterizes so many Lutheran hymns of the seventeenth century. Stanza 1 attends to the state of the singer’s heart, which he prays will be prepared to receive the Christ at His Advent, both now in His Word, and on the Last Day in His glory. Stanza 2 features the imagery of the Triumphal Entry, but the rest of the hymn emphasizes the coming of the Christ into the flesh, and thereafter through the means of grace, to redeem His creatures from sin and death. Stanzas 9 and 10 turn to the final Advent of the Christ on the Last Day, when He will come “to judge the nations, / A terror to His foes,” but “A Light of consolations / And blessed hope to those / Who love the Lord’s appearing.”
Gerhardt’s hymn appears in The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, No. 58, where it is missing stanza 3. It also appears in the Lutheran Service Book, 2006, No. 334, where it is also missing stanzas 6, 7, and 9. The version at the Free Lutheran Chorale-Book includes all ten stanzas, restoring stanza 3 as found in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, 1930, No. 136.
A beautiful recording of stanzas 1, 2, and 4, sung in German by the Bach-Chor Siegen under the direction of Ulrich Stötzel, appears as the opening track on the album Paul Gerhardt: Die schönsten Choräle, available on iTunes and Amazon
This Advent season and always, may we all receive our Savior aright unto our eternal blessing!
About the Featured Image
The Paul Gerhardt Memorial, situated before the Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche, stands in the town of Lübben, where Gerhardt served from 1668 until his death in 1676. Photo: Andreas Praefcke (Own work (own photograph)) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
