"Singing with Devotion" (5)

Finally, Gerhardt's hymns are founded upon a physical piety. This is something alien to our modern sensibilities. Kleinig said that today we tend to live more in our heads than in our bodies.

In this section of his lecture, Kleinig first talked about how "physical" and "spiritual" are not opposites. Pr Esget touched on this in a blogpost several weeks ago. Last week Pr Petersen summarized what Kleinig said on this topic when he was speaking at Fort Wayne on May 10-12.

Gerhardt's hymns are very physical, but that doesn't mean they aren't spiritual. They're actually more spiritual than they'd be without the references to sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. After all, the true God uses created things to reach us with His gifts.

Our senses must be awakened by God so that we can receive the multitude of blessings He sends to our eyes, ears, and mouths. All five senses are used in Christian meditation and during Christian worship. But the senses are not used to reach out to God. No, they are the organs by which we receive what He gives to us.

In the original language, Gerhardt's hymns are loaded with vivid imagery: pictures of what was happening in Bible stories. He becomes the Lamb that taketh sin away and for aye full atonement maketh. Or I lay in fetters groaning; Thou comest to set me free. Or be Thou my Rod and Staff and Guide and draw me safely to Thy side. Or He whom the sea and wind obey doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness. But the images are often lost in translation and come out as "concepts" and "ideas."

We often come across the word "sweet" in Gerhardt's hymns, which is only one of the ways he alludes to the sense of taste. And oh, how oft Thy voice hath shed its sweetness o'er me.

There are also lots of references to touch: embracing, hugging, holding out the hand to one who is needy. For God's own Child in mercy mild joins thee to Him -- how greatly God must love thee! Or let me in my arms receive Thee; on Thy breast let me rest, Savior, ne'er to leave Thee.



Dr Kleinig concluded his first symposium lecture by discussing the JOYFUL PIETY that was part of Gerhardt's life and which comes through in his hymns. It was a spirituality of the cross. A spirituality which lamented human pain. But a spirituality where joy was pervasive!