Evening and Morning  - Paul Gerhard (1607-1676)

Paul Gerhard was born near Wittenberg, Germany, 90 years after the Reformation began. He lived through the trauma of the Thirty Years War (1616-1648), and became a pastor at age 44. His life was marked by trouble. In 1637 soldiers set fire to the town where he lived, destroying his house, family possessions, and church. Four of his five children died in infancy, and his wife died in 1666 when his only surviving son was 6 years old. He was removed from the ministry for his refusal to follow the Calvinist demands of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. In spite of these circumstances, he wrote about 130 hymns and is one of the most important Lutheran hymn writers.

His hymns have the rare capacity to express the depth of Christian faith in understandable yet durable ways. Evening and Morning (ELW 761) was first published in 1666 and is one of Gerhard's "sunny" hymns, offering praise to God at all times, asking for guidance and safety in daily life, and expressing confidence that the trials and storms of life will be followed by the appearance of the golden sun, bringing of joy and peace.

(Program note by John Helgen, drawing from Paul Westermeyer's "Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship", © 2010 Augsburg Fortress)