Scripture Verse

Lift up your heads, O you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Psalm 24:7

Introduction

portrait
Gracia Grindal
1943–

Words: Ge­org Weiss­el, in the Preuss­iche Fest-Lied­er, 1642. Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Gra­cia Grin­dal, 1978.

Music: Macht hoch die Tür Jo­hann A. Frey­ling­hau­sen, Geist­reich­es Ge­sang-Buch (Hal­le, Ge­rm­any: 1704) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Weiss­el (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Johann A. Freylinghausen (1670–1739)

Lyrics

Fling wide the door, un­bar the gate;
The King of glo­ry comes in state;
The Lord of lords and King of kings,
The Sav­ior of the world who brings
His great sal­va­tion to the earth.
So raise a shout of ho­ly mirth
And praise our God and Lord,
Creator, Spi­rit Word.

He is the rock of our be­lief,
The heart of mer­cy’s gen­tle self.
His king­ly crown is ho­li­ness;
His scep­ter is his love­li­ness;
He brings our sor­rows to an end.
Now glad­ly praise our king and friend,
And wor­ship him with song,
For sav­ing us from wrong.

O, hap­py towns and bless­èd lands
That live by their true king’s com­mands,
And blessed be the hearts he rules,
The hum­ble places where he dwells.
He is the right­ful Son of bliss
Who fills our lives and makes us his,
Creator of the world,
Our on­ly strength for good.

Come, Lord, our Sav­ior, Je­sus Christ;
Our hearts are op­en wide in trust.
Oh, show us now your love­ly grace,
Upon our sor­rows shine your face,
And let your Holy Spi­rit guide
Our jour­ney in your grace so wide.
We praise your ho­ly name,
From age to age the same.