"God’s time is always the best time". One of Bach’s best-known and most beautiful vocal works, this funeral cantata sets a collection of funeral sentences, which remind us of our mortality and call us to place our trust in God’s promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul". Bach’s very first cantata, a setting of Psalm 25.

"Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord". A penitential cantata, setting Psalm 130.

"Jesus took the twelve". A prayer to Jesus to draw us to Himself, to enable us to follow Him, so that nothing will cause us to lose our salvation.

"Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy word". A chorale cantata paraphrasing and elaborating on one of Luther’s best-known hymns, calling on God to protect His children by the power of His word from the enemies of the faith.

"I am content with my fortune". An acknowledgement that everything we have is from God, that all of it is an unmerited gift, and that Christians have the hope of a better reward than what this life offers.

"My sighs, my tears". A call to the troubled and anxious to turn to God in prayer: He will not fail to help.

"My dear Jesus is lost". Mary and Joseph despaired when the boy Jesus was lost to them in Jerusalem (Luke 2), and rejoiced at finding Him. Likewise, the soul to whom Jesus is lost because of sin and unbelief must despair, but rejoices when it learns again to trust Jesus’ word of promise.

"All those from Sheba shall come". As the wise men from the East came to worship Jesus with their gifts (Matthew 2), Christians, too, are called to offer themselves to Jesus in the confidence that He will graciously receive us.

"The newborn little child". This is a chorale cantata based on a 16th-century Christmas hymn, rejoicing that Jesus’ coming into the world has taken away the condemnation of our sins and opened the way to paradise.