Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#330

330. O Christ! Come Back to Save Your Folk

Text Information

• First Line: O Christ! Come back to save your folk
• Title: O Christ! Come Back to Save Your Folk
• Author: Calvin Seerveld (1983)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Topic: Judge, God/Christ as; Return of Christ; Advent; New Creation
• Copyright: © Calvin Seerveld

Tune Information

• Name: O HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF
• Harmonizer: Dale Grotenhuis (1985)
• Meter: LM
• Key: d minor
• Source: Gesangbuch, Ausburg, 1666
• Copyright: Harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 3 = Rev. 7:17, Rev. 21:4
st. 4 = Luke 18:42, Ps. 35:5

Calvin Seerveld (PHH 22) wrote this text in 1983 for a Christian Reformed congregation in his home city of Toronto, Ontario. Seerveld's impetus for writing the text was his belief that during Advent Christians should focus on Christ's second coming as well as on his first. All five stanzas are a prayer for Christ's return. Seerveld uses fresh language based on traditional biblical images of the Lord's making a new heaven and a new earth.

Written to match 0 HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF, this text was first published in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
During Advent when the focus is on Christ's return.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

O HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF is a German chorale melody published anonymously in Rheinfelsisches Deutsches Catholisches Gesangbuch (1666 ed.). Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee member Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) prepared the harmonization in 1985.

The tune is in Dorian mode and exhibits two main rhythmic patterns within its four lines. Try singing stanzas 1, 3, and 5 in unison. Have stanzas 2 and 4 sung in harmony by antiphonal groups or by the choir. Use strong rhythmic organ or piano accompaniment. Sing with one pulse per bar.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Products
Six Advent Chorales for Manuals	Four Advent Hymn Preludes, Set 2	The Art of Hymn Playing: 250 Introductions, Preludes, Free Accompaniments, & Alternate Harmonizations 2nd Edition	O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide (Choral Score)