Paul Gerhardt (1607–76) wrote twelve stanzas out of a life that gave him every reason to write none. He lived through the ruin of the Thirty Years’ War, was surrounded by death for most of his years, and lost his call at the Nikolaikirche in Berlin rather than compromise his ordination vows. From under that weight he wrote, “Why should cross and trial grieve me? Christ is near with His cheer; never will He leave me.” The text works as a sung sermon in five questions with five answers. Why should trial grieve me? Christ has promised never to leave. Who can rob me of the heaven God’s Son won? No one, since it was bought by His death. If God gives days of gladness, shall I grieve when He sends seasons of sadness? His attending love is all we need. The hymn later served its own author: Gerhardt spoke its final stanza as his dying prayer, and at the cemetery in his hometown of Gräfenhainichen the Paul Gerhardt Memorial Chapel carries that line in stone, Kann uns doch kein Tod nicht töten, no death can kill us.
Sung at Our Saviour
2025