1 This is the day that the Father hath giv'n;
Greatly His people rejoices.
Open today are the portals of heav'n,
Lift now in gladness your voices;
For on this day of rejoicing
Jesus ascended with glorious might;
Sent us His Spirit with grace and light:
Gladly His praise we are voicing.
2 Grant us, O Master, Thy wisdom and grace;
Enter this Sunday our dwelling.
Millions unnumbered from every race
Happy Thy praises are swelling;
We, too, would praise Thee with gladness.
Freely Thy Spirit attends our need,
Blessing Thy people in word and deed,
Bringing rejoicing for sadness.
3 Lend us, O Savior, Thine high altar's fire
As in Thy house we assemble.
With Thine own presence our spirits inspire
Till we in ecstasy tremble;
Ever our joy be increasing.
Easter and Whitsun from Christmas grew:
Thus shall each Sunday our joy anew
Spring from Thy mercy unceasing.
4 Quicken and strengthen Thy people today;
Bless them, O Lord, at Thine altar.
Speak to us, counsel us, Saviour, we pray,
Sanction Thy Gospel and psalter.
Yea, my we know by Thy Spirit:
We are Thy people, to grace restored;
Full of compassion art Thou, O Lord;
We shall Thy glory inherit.
Source: American Lutheran Hymnal #12
Jens Christian Aaberg (b. Moberg, Denmark, 1877; d. Minneapolis, MN, 1970) immigrated to the United States in 1901. Educated at Grand View College and Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa, he entered the ministry of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and served congregations in Marinette, Wisconsin; Dwight, Illinois; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Aaberg wrote Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark (1945), translated at least eighty hymns from Danish into English, and served on four hymnal committees. In 1947 King Frederick of Denmark awarded him the Knight Cross of Denmark.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987
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Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig was the son of a pastor, and was born at Udby, in Seeland, in 1783. He studied in the University of Copenhagen from 1800-1805; and, like some other eminent men, did not greatly distinguish himself; his mind was too active and his imagination too versatile to bear the restraint of the academic course. After leaving the university he took to teaching; first in Langeland, then (1808) in Copenhagen. Here he devoted his attention to poetry, literature, and Northern antiquities. In 1810 he became assistant to his father in a parish in Jutland. The sermon he preached at his ordination, on the subject "Why has the Lord's word disappeared from His house," attracted much attention, which is rarely the case with "pro… Go to person page >
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