Mr. Hahn and I wrote this hymn in five days (Dec. 11-15, 2022) for a confirmation. It’s an Advent Lord’s Supper hymn, drawing from the themes of the four Sundays in Advent: stanzas 1 and 2 focus on the First Sunday (Mt. 21:1-9), stanzas 3 and 4 on the Second (Lk. 21:25-36), stanza five on the Third (Mt. 11:2-10), and stanza 6 on the Fourth (Jn. 1:19-28). The seventh stanza draws from the two great Advent psalms: Psalm 80, from which the Advent petition “stir up” comes, and Psalm 24, which serves as the basis for several other Advent hymns. The meter is 8.6.10.6.6.10, following the rhyme scheme ABBAAB. The third line has an inverted first foot (a trochee instead of an iamb), a common move in English poetry, though it doesn’t appear much in hymnody. Mr. Hahn crafted the tune to work with it. – Pastor Richard
