Josua Stegmann (1588–1632) wrote this text in 1627 in his Christliches GebetBuchlein, a prayer book whose full title explicitly referenced the Thirty Years’ War then devastating Europe. Stegmann labeled the hymn “a prayer for the preservation of doctrine and of the Church of God,” making it a natural close for this Sunday’s service of discernment. Its opening plea—“Abide with us”—echoes the Emmaus disciples’ words to the unrecognized Jesus (Luke 24:29), and its later stanzas draw from John 13–17, asking Christ to shield the Church against the assaults of Satan and the temptations of sin. August Crull translated the text into English in 1886 for Hymns of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Sung at Our Saviour
2026