This is the day that God made

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The Christmas song This is the day that God made is a created before 1755 hymn of the poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715 to 1769).

content

The first edition of the eleven-verse song sings of the events of God's incarnation in history in artfully constructed clear statements intertwined with biblical quotations . The background is the biblical idea of ​​the day of the Lord : “This is the day that the Lord makes; let us rejoice and be happy in him. ”( Ps 118,24  LUT ) Gellert transforms here a turn in the history of the liturgy actually reserved for Easter into the Christmas event. The jubilation over "this day" forms the basic mood through the stanzas framing the same word and the emphasis of the text.

The song largely dispenses with embellishment with concrete elements of the traditional Christmas story - probably under the influence of contemporary rationalism - and rather suggests the “holiest birth” (verse 10 (8)) as the aim of its statement.

Based on the expectation (str. 2 + 6 (5)) and the completion of time (str. 2) via a pensive reflection (str. 4), the address (“Du.”) Takes place in the central stanzas (4–7 (6)) “) To the God who through his union“ with flesh and blood ” brings about the childship of God in the community. Gellert has underlined this, probably under the influence of idealism , in corresponding phrases in the (original) stanza 8.

melody

Gellert gave the text the form of the Ambrosian hymn verse and placed the melody Vom Himmel hoch, because I come from Martin Luther .

The hymn book of the Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland lists the song under number 408 with a melody composed in Zurich in 1775 and attributed to Johann Heinrich Egli .

Text (Protestant hymn book)

First printed in 1757

1. This is the day that God made,
will be remembered in all the world;
Praise him for what is
in heaven and on earth through Jesus Christ .

2. The peoples waited for you
until the time was fulfilled;
then God sent
the salvation of the world from his throne , you, his Son.

3. When I want to grasp this miracle
, my mind stands still with awe;
he worships and he realizes
that God's love is infinite.

4. So that the sinner receives grace,
you humiliate yourself, Lord of the world,
take part in our humanity yourself,
appear in the flesh and become salvation for us.

5. Your King, Zion, comes to you.
“I come, it says about me in the book;
“God, I am happy to do your will.
Blessed be he who comes in the Lord!

5. (6.) Lord, you are born man,
Immanuel and Prince of Peace,
whom the fathers hoped for,
you, God, Messiah, I worship.

6. (7.) You, our salvation and greatest good,
unite with flesh and blood, become
our friend and brother here,
and we become God's children.

8. Thought full of majesty!
It is you who exalts the heart.
Thought full of bliss!
It is you who delights the heart.

7. (9.) The world fell through one sin, it is
a mediator who sustains it.
What is the fear of man when he who
sits in his father's lap protects him ?

8. (10.) Rejoice, heaven, who have experienced it,
the day of the most holy birth;
and earth that sees him today
sing a new song to him, the Lord!

9. (11.) This is the day that God made,
will be remembered in all the world;
Praise him for what is
in heaven and on earth through Jesus Christ .

The song can be found - without the original stanzas 5 and 8 - in the Evangelical Hymnbook (EG 42) and without the original stanzas 5, 8 and 9 in the Mennonite hymnal (MG 253).

literature

Web links

Wikisource: "This is the day God made" in Gellert's Spiritual Odes and Songs (1757)  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The verb "today" ( σημερoν Greek: = this day) finds a clear christological emphasis in the Lucanian literature.
  2. ↑ As stated in the appendix to the spiritual odes and songs (p. 162).
  3. ↑ Gal 3,26  LUT
  4. ↑ Rom 15.12  LUT
  5. ↑ Gal 4,4  LUT
  6. ↑ 1 Joh 3,1  LUT
  7. ↑ Phil 2,7  LUT
  8. ↑ Zech 9,9  LUT
  9. ↑ Ps 40 : 8-9  LUT
  10. ↑ Ps 118,26  LUT
  11. ↑ Gal 4,5  LUT
  12. ↑ Joh 1,18  LUT
  13. ↑ Isa 44,23  LUT
  14. ↑ Ps 98,1  LUT