Behind the Hymn: A Look at Nikolai Grundtvig

Episode Five of "Behind the Hymn: Stories of the Hymns that We Love to Sing: Nikolai Grundtvig." 

Today's episode featured two hymns by Nikolai Grundtvig: "God's Word is Our Great Heritage" (LSB 582) and "Built on the Rock" (LSB 645).
_______________
To commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 1817, Grundtvig wrote "God's Word is Our Great Heritage." He wrote this hymn to the tune of Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

"God's Word is Our Great Heritage" speaks powerfully about relying on God and His Word to protect His Church. This hymn is a powerful testimony to a high view of Scripture and to God's powerful and efficacious Means of Grace.

1 God’s Word is our great heritage
And shall be ours forever;
To spread its light from age to age
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way,
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant, while worlds endure,
We keep its teachings pure
Throughout all generations.

Text: Public domain
_______________
"Built on the Rock" is Grundtvig's famous anti-Rationalist hymn. This hymn is full of Biblical quotations and allusions, which is characteristic of Grundtvig. Stanza two speaks of how God is eternal and infinite, not enclosed on earth or in any building; yet He "chooses to live with us in love" and makes "our bodies His temple," presenting Himself to us in actual time and space by His Spirit through His Word and Sacraments.

Stanza three tells of believers as "living stones" (1 Peter 2:5), with Christ as the cornerstone of the Church.

There are several references to the Sacraments in the hymn: "He through baptismal grace us owns" (stanza three), and in stanza four, the font, altar, and Supper are mentioned, which proclaim the Christ who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). 

Stanza five brings together Jesus' words in several passages: "I know My own and My own know Me" (John 10:14), "Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me" (John 14:19), and "Peace I leave with you" (John 14:27).

1 Built on the Rock the Church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling.
Crumbled have spires in ev’ry land;
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all the souls distressed,
Longing for rest everlasting.

2 Surely in temples made with hands
God, the Most High, is not dwelling;
High above earth His temple stands,
All earthly temples excelling.
Yet He who dwells in heav’n above
Chooses to live with us in love,
Making our bodies His temple.

3 We are God’s house of living stones,
Built for His own habitation.
He through baptismal grace us owns
Heirs of His wondrous salvation.
Were we but two His name to tell,
Yet He would deign with us to dwell
With all His grace and His favor.

4 Here stands the font before our eyes,
Telling how God has received us.
The_altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice
And what His Supper here gives us.
Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim
Christ yesterday, today, the same,
And evermore, our Redeemer.

5 Grant, then, O God, Your will be done,
That, when the church bells are ringing,
Many in saving faith may come
Where Christ His message is bringing:
“I know My own; My own know Me.
You, not the world, My face shall see.
My peace I leave with you. Amen.”
Text: Public domain

The following hymns in the Lutheran Service Book were written by Nikolai Grundtvig:
503 - O Day Full of Grace (Grundtvig added to the original text)
582 - God's Word is Our Great Heritage
645 - Built on the Rock the Church Shall Stand