{"id":1269,"date":"2018-05-02T06:33:22","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T10:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2018-05-01T20:07:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T00:07:18","slug":"o-how-blest-the-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/o-how-blest-the-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"O How Blest the Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Church<\/a><\/p>\n

We enjoy many wonderful blessings when we gather with the church for worship. Together, we lift up our prayers, sing God\u2019s praise, and hear God\u2019s Word. Yet we can too easily miss these blessings, even when we are present with God\u2019s people. We can say and sing words with our lips\u2014and fail to draw near to Christ in our hearts. We can hear the Word of God read and preached\u2014and thoughtlessly assume we know what is being said. We can take worship for granted and fail to appreciate its wonder and delight.<\/p>\n

The hymn, O How Blest the Hour <\/em>by the Lutheran hymn-writer Carl Johann Philipp Spitta (1801\u20131859), is a prayer that we not miss the wonder and delight of worship. It was first published in Leipzig in 1843 under the Scripture text John 6:68 with the title \u201cThou hast the words of Eternal Life\u201d (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology<\/em>, 2:1078). The opening line in German is \u201cO wie freun wir uns der Stunde\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(O how we joyfully look forward to the hour). Richard Massie included a translation of the hymn in English in the second volume of his Lyra Domestica\u00a0<\/em>(1864).<\/p>\n

The hymn anticipates the joy of drawing near to Christ and being together with the church in worship. It expresses our desire to hear God\u2019s Word and asks that God be at work as we listen\u2014that we would \u201cnot hear in vain\u201d but He would impress its truths to our hearts and minds and help us walk in obedience.<\/p>\n

Below are the words and link to the hymn set to a tune composed by Tom Wells. My thanks again to Tom for his permission to share and make his tunes available.<\/p>\n

O How Blest the Hour<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut Simon Peter answered Him, \u2018Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life\u2019\u201d (John 6:68).<\/em><\/p>\n

O How blest the hour, Lord Jesus,
\nWhen we can to Thee draw near,
\nPromises so sweet and precious
\nFrom Thy gracious lips to hear!<\/p>\n

Be with us this day to bless us,
\nThat we may not hear in vain;
\nWhile Thy saving truths impress us,
\nWhich the words of life contain.<\/p>\n

Open Thou our minds and lead us
\nSafely on our heav\u2019nward way;
\nWhile the lamp of Truth precedes us,
\nThat we might not go astray.<\/p>\n

Lord, endue Thy Word from heaven
\nWith such light and love and pow\u2019r,
\nThat in us its silent leaven
\nMay work on from hour to hour.<\/p>\n

Give us grace to bear our witness
\nTo the truths we have embraced;
\nAnd let others both their sweetness
\nAnd their quick\u2019ning virtue taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cO How Blest the Hour\u201d
\nWords by Carl Johann Philipp Spitta (1801\u20131859)
\nTranslated by Richard Massie, 1800\u20131887
\nMusic by Tom Wells, 2002
\nWords \u00a9Public Domain
\nMusic \u00a92002 Tom Wells (Used by Permission)<\/p>\n

Download free sheet music<\/a> (PDF), including guitar chord charts and an arrangement of the hymn tune HARRISON for classical guitar.<\/p>\n

More Hymns from History<\/a><\/p>\n

More hymns arranged for Classical Guitar<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We enjoy many wonderful blessings when we gather with the church for worship. Together, we lift up our prayers, sing God\u2019s praise, and hear God\u2019s Word. Yet we can too easily miss these blessings, even when we are present with God\u2019s people. We can say and sing words with our lips\u2014and fail to draw near […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[173,21,22],"tags":[98,99,57,26,101],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-hymn","category-music-for-worship","tag-hymn","tag-prayer","tag-witness","tag-word-of-god","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-kt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions\/1273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}