Come and bless us, Lord! While you are beside us

Stephen Orchard’s translation of the hymn by Dieter Trautwein was made for, but not used in, Rejoice and Sing (1991); it appears here for the first time in a hymnal. The original German Komm, Herr, segne uns was introduced at a Kirchentag celebration at Nürnberg in 1979 and published in 1984. Sung bilingually, this was the opening item in the Hymn Society’s ‘Act of Praise’ at York in July 1997; in introducing it, the society’s Chairman Caryl Micklem said he had first encountered it on a twinning visit from Oxford churches to those in Bonn, where the words and music were becoming wellknown. The text reflects such Scriptures as Romans 8 and Romans 12 as well as many Gospel passages. The repetition of the first stz as the final one is original; a device also used by authors or editors in (for example) 146, 194 and 629. Fred Kaan’s earlier translation Bless and keep us, Lord was chosen for RS.

The German author also composed the music for his own text: KOMM, HERR, SEGNE UNS is named from the opening words of the original and has always accompanied his words.

b Holzhausen, bei Biedenkopf, Central Germany 1928. d. 2002. Ordained to the ministry of the Lutheran ch, for some years following the 2nd world war he was a director of its youth work. He pioneered new approaches to German hymnody, abandoning the traditional chorale in favour of what became known as the ‘Kirchentag’ style for large, politically radical youth gatherings. The biblical words in fresh language, set to a rhythmic, syncopated style of music, lasted well beyond its immediate context. In 1970 Trautwein became Provost of Frankfurt Cathedral, and from around that time his hymns began to feature in several German books. 50 years after its 1st edn he was a member of the editorial group for the 1974 (4th) edn of the international and multi-lingual hymn-book Cantate Domino. In 1983 in Vancouver he brought together some key hymnwriters from China, Argentina and Zimbabwe, who met again in 1999 at the American Hymn Soc conference in that city. His own work has been translated by Fred Pratt Green and Fred Kaan as well as Stephen Orchard, as here; in translation it has featured at Hymn Festivals in the UK and USA. Its qualities include ‘new thinking, intimacy, informality, ruggedness, and sincerity’—Routley. No.582.