Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. (Psalm 66:5-6 NRSV)
“O Sing to the Lord” is a hymn that celebrates the wondrous acts of God and “calls forth exuberant praise from God’s people.”1 The melody is infectious and joyful, but it also suggests a longing for God’s justice and shalom to be completed. It is a song of Brazilian origin, which was made available by Gerhard Cartford. Cartford was born in Madagascar, educated in the United States, and is an “influential Lutheran church musician, writer, and professor of music and liturgics (Texas Lutheran College and Luther-Northwestern Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota). He also was a Fulbright scholar studying folk music and hymnody and lived for many years in South America.”1
“In November 1982 Gerhard Cartford and his wife went to a meeting of Brazilian Lutheran pastors in Itupuranga, Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. The new hymnal Hinos do Povo de Deus (1981) they were using contained this hymn, and they sang it. Cartford says that ‘the song was well known in Brazil and sung frequently. I was strongly attracted to it, so when we got back to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we were living then, I translated it from Portuguese to Spanish, and we began to sing it in Argentine Lutheran churches. Later, I translated it also to English and introduced it in the U.S. when we were home on furlough.’”2
1. Sing! A New Creation, Leader’s Edition. (Faith Alive Christian Resource: Grand Rapids, MI, 2002) Hymn No. 224
2. Westermeyer, Paul. Hymnal Companion: Evangelical Lutheran Worship. (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2010.) pg. 698.
Oh, Sing to the Lord, oh, sing God a new song.
For God is the Lord, and God has done wonders.
So dance for our God and blow all the trumpets.
Oh, shout to our God, who gave us the Spirit.
For Jesus is Lord! Amen! Alleluia!
(tr. Gerhard M. Cartford)
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