"For them it will be the last and greatest reveille, the muster of the body from the grave, and their ranks on ranks will join those of the heavenly armies." Nicely put! Their muster will be our muster! In my denomination (LCMS) a lot of the hymns we sing are what I view as sentimental--the tunes anyway. For example--and many may disagree with me--one of them is written to Gustav Holst's "The Planets," specifically the I Vow to Thee My Country part of Jupiter. It's a nice tune, don't get me wrong. But it's patriotic and on that account sentimental. Sentimentality--as opposed to militancy--is looking back (with affection.) The Church Militant looks forward to the clarion's call.
The Lutheran Service Book does have a (slender!) section of a dozen hymns called "The Church Militant." And here one finds hymns that have explicitly martial titles, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," "The Son of God Goes Forth to War," "Onward Christian Soldiers," "Fight the Good Fight," "Rise! To Arms! With Prayers Employ You." Following this section is another slim section called "The Church Triumphant." The slenderness of these sections suggests a brief struggle with a quick victory (something that every Christian knows is untrue.) We avoid all hints of war and crave peace which has been going on all of my 72 years. Both of these sections put together are less than the section "Hope and Comfort." Hope and comfort are great, peace is a blessing but maybe their emphasis above all else has also resulted in an etiolated Christianity?
Thank you for this. I can’t stop playing this beautiful song.
"For them it will be the last and greatest reveille, the muster of the body from the grave, and their ranks on ranks will join those of the heavenly armies." Nicely put! Their muster will be our muster! In my denomination (LCMS) a lot of the hymns we sing are what I view as sentimental--the tunes anyway. For example--and many may disagree with me--one of them is written to Gustav Holst's "The Planets," specifically the I Vow to Thee My Country part of Jupiter. It's a nice tune, don't get me wrong. But it's patriotic and on that account sentimental. Sentimentality--as opposed to militancy--is looking back (with affection.) The Church Militant looks forward to the clarion's call.
The Lutheran Service Book does have a (slender!) section of a dozen hymns called "The Church Militant." And here one finds hymns that have explicitly martial titles, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," "The Son of God Goes Forth to War," "Onward Christian Soldiers," "Fight the Good Fight," "Rise! To Arms! With Prayers Employ You." Following this section is another slim section called "The Church Triumphant." The slenderness of these sections suggests a brief struggle with a quick victory (something that every Christian knows is untrue.) We avoid all hints of war and crave peace which has been going on all of my 72 years. Both of these sections put together are less than the section "Hope and Comfort." Hope and comfort are great, peace is a blessing but maybe their emphasis above all else has also resulted in an etiolated Christianity?
You can also sing it to Abide with Me.