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"Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast" | Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
ZACHARY'S NOTES:
Dangerous couple weeks for church musicians - seeds, sun, the outdoors. We’re used to being stuck in practice rooms - but we get to sing a hymn about such matters. It’s a hymn and hymn-writer we know very little about. It was written by John Cawood, a priest living in England in 1819. Meant to go with the parable - marked “after the sermon.” Though a short, four stanza, two line hymn, it’s significant enough that many hymnals include this prayer based on Christ’s teaching.
We trust God’s promise to work even - and perhaps most especially - in those places and ways we cannot see. This - really - is living by faith! And so, in the first stanza of the hymn, we pray: “Almighty God, your Word is cast like seed into the ground; now let the dew of heaven descend and righteous fruits abound.” It’s a prayer that God’s Word might accomplish what God promises by God’s hand - and so we sing together in faith.
Stanza 1 // The first three stanzas are a paraphrase of the parable, with words of prayer interspersed. Jesus says: “A sower went out to sow...” // Stanza 1 of the hymn begins: “Almighty God, your Word is cast like seed into the ground...” The second half of this stanza are words of prayer and trust that God’s Word might accomplish what God promises by God’s hand. We sing these words together in faith.
Stanza 2 // Christ says: “[Those] on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.” // Stanza two begins: “Let not the sly satanic foe this holy seed remove…”
Stanza 3 // Later, Jesus says: “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.” // Stanza three helps us pray: “Let not the world’s deceitful cares the rising plant destroy…” While this can sound like other-worldy concerns, we are reminded to place our trust in what God has promised rather than what we see.
Stanza 4 // Where the seed - God’s Word - takes root, notice what the hymn tells us. In place of “the sly satanic foe” and the “world’s deceitful cares” we are given the fruits of “love, peace, and joy” - the “life-giving grace” of our risen Lord.
SUGGESTIONS:
- ELW 516 - Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast - ꜱᴛ. ꜰʟᴀᴠɪᴀɴ
- ELW 550 - On What Has Now Been Sown - ᴅᴀʀᴡᴀʟʟ’ꜱ 148ᴛʜ
- ELW 533 - Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty - ᴜɴꜱᴇʀ ʜᴇʀʀꜱᴄʜᴇʀ
- ELW 181-184 - Let the Vineyards Be Fruitful, Lord
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By Luther House of Study
5
55 ratings
ZACHARY'S NOTES:
Dangerous couple weeks for church musicians - seeds, sun, the outdoors. We’re used to being stuck in practice rooms - but we get to sing a hymn about such matters. It’s a hymn and hymn-writer we know very little about. It was written by John Cawood, a priest living in England in 1819. Meant to go with the parable - marked “after the sermon.” Though a short, four stanza, two line hymn, it’s significant enough that many hymnals include this prayer based on Christ’s teaching.
We trust God’s promise to work even - and perhaps most especially - in those places and ways we cannot see. This - really - is living by faith! And so, in the first stanza of the hymn, we pray: “Almighty God, your Word is cast like seed into the ground; now let the dew of heaven descend and righteous fruits abound.” It’s a prayer that God’s Word might accomplish what God promises by God’s hand - and so we sing together in faith.
Stanza 1 // The first three stanzas are a paraphrase of the parable, with words of prayer interspersed. Jesus says: “A sower went out to sow...” // Stanza 1 of the hymn begins: “Almighty God, your Word is cast like seed into the ground...” The second half of this stanza are words of prayer and trust that God’s Word might accomplish what God promises by God’s hand. We sing these words together in faith.
Stanza 2 // Christ says: “[Those] on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.” // Stanza two begins: “Let not the sly satanic foe this holy seed remove…”
Stanza 3 // Later, Jesus says: “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.” // Stanza three helps us pray: “Let not the world’s deceitful cares the rising plant destroy…” While this can sound like other-worldy concerns, we are reminded to place our trust in what God has promised rather than what we see.
Stanza 4 // Where the seed - God’s Word - takes root, notice what the hymn tells us. In place of “the sly satanic foe” and the “world’s deceitful cares” we are given the fruits of “love, peace, and joy” - the “life-giving grace” of our risen Lord.
SUGGESTIONS:
- ELW 516 - Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast - ꜱᴛ. ꜰʟᴀᴠɪᴀɴ
- ELW 550 - On What Has Now Been Sown - ᴅᴀʀᴡᴀʟʟ’ꜱ 148ᴛʜ
- ELW 533 - Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty - ᴜɴꜱᴇʀ ʜᴇʀʀꜱᴄʜᴇʀ
- ELW 181-184 - Let the Vineyards Be Fruitful, Lord