Organist Jason Klein-Mendoza offers a weekly hymn reflection on last Sunday’s sermon.
Hymn: God of the Sparrow | ROEDER
So often on this day, the church talks about Francis’ love of animals and creation. We usually focus on how God loves and protects all of creation. Jaroslav Vajda, a Lutheran theologian and poet, turns these ideas around in this hymn as asks questions about how creation acknowledges God and says thank you. There is no punctuation in Vajda’s poetry - almost as though the questions go beyond what is asked here and seem to suggest that all of creation can never thank God for all the good he provides.
The tune by Carl Schalk, a noted Lutheran theologian and composer, is easily singable and fits Vajda’s text beautifully. Vajda and Schalk worked on many hymns and anthems together. Their most well-known collaboration is perhaps the hymn “Now the Silence.”
As always, we invite you to either sing along at home or just follow along with the text and music as you continue your week in prayer.
Both the text and music remain under copyright and are presented here for devotional purposes only.