Martin Franzmann (1907–1976) wrote this text whose origins trace to a 1949 free conference between American and German Lutherans at Bad Boll, an event that left a deep impression on him. The earliest known manuscript, from 1962, was literally assembled by pasting the music onto the backs of letters and an order of service from the Lutheran Laymen’s League—a detail that captures the ad hoc urgency of its composition. It was likely written for a hymn contest at the 1962 Missouri Synod convention and published the following year. The hymn swept beyond Lutheran circles, appearing in Anglican and Methodist hymnbooks in Britain after being sung at the 1977 Hymn Society of Great Britain conference. It even inspired a 1986 Swedish paraphrase set to a traditional folk tune. Its theology is sweeping: all humanity is pictured as “one huge rebellious man” until the Good Shepherd seeks, suffers, and sets the lost free with His truth.
Sung at Our Saviour
2025