Wilt heden nu treden voor God den Heere,

Hem boven al loven van herten seer,

End' maken groot zijns lieven namens eere,

Die daar nu onsen vijant slaat terneer.

Ahem. Babelfish in ear, try again. . .

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

he chastens and hastens his will to make known;

the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to his name; he forgets not his own.

Okay, not exactly: the Dutch version says God 'strikes down our enemy'. So no wonder lots of English, American, German, Austria, Dutch, and lord knows how many other humans like to use this at military funerals and such. After all, the poem was written to celebrate a 1597 Dutch victory over the Spanish in the horrible Eighty Years' War. (Imagine a war that lasted 80 years. I don't wanna.)

Around here, we think it's a Thanksgiving hymn, and we usually think that 'so from the beginning/the fight we were winning' is more a spiritual battle sort of thing.

I'd hoped to have an organ version ready for you, but the church secretary's been swamped this week, so the recording's not online yet. Here's a nice one, though.

What's All This War Stuff?

The Dutch were fighting the Spanish about the Reformation. Fair enough. But what's all this martial imagery, anyway? It kind of makes sense. Early Christians noticed that in the Bible, God appears to have a (usually invisible) army.

And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

2 Kings 6: 17

Er, symbolism, anyone? Anyway, it's good to know there's an invisible army. It's when you decide that your army is the right one that you get in trouble.

A Thanksgiving Hymn

Thanksgiving, which is today in the US, is based on the good old European custom of Harvest Home. So lets' just sing a thanksgiving song with those incurable hippies from Godspell, Pittsburgh's contribution to spiritual understanding.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks.