ZACHARY'S NOTES:  

Stanza 1 // This hymn connects the promises Christ speaks in this weekend’s Gospel text with the promise we are given in Holy Baptism. “Embraced into Christ the vine” we are joined to be “a branch of [the] life-giving Tree” of Christ.

Stanza 2 // The sequence of summer, autumn, and winter is compared to seasons of life. Just as Christ says we are pruned to bear more fruit, so our Lord acts on our behalf that we might know and be sustained by the vine-grower and “shout for joy” at the good news He brings.

Stanza 3 // The middle stages of life are described here as holding a “heavy harvest.” The burdens of responsibility - work, family, friends, relationships, our own needs, and the needs of others - can weigh heavily on us. Joined to the vine, Christ brings His gifts of “beauty, wisdom, and love.”

Stanza 4 // Even in death, we are held and abide in Christ - the vine! This is thanks to the “promise of the spring” - the promise into which we are baptized and held in life and death, even as our lives wither, and must die. Perhaps most espeically in this time, God promises the fruit of faith!

Stanza 5 // As much as this hymn is a prayer weaving together images of today’s reading and Holy Baptism, it is also a hymn of praise. By “word and water” we are revived to abide with Christ, and joined forever to His “Tree of Life” - His cross - by which we abide and live with God forever.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

ELW 447 - O Blessed Spring - BERGLUND

ELW 342 - There In God’s Garden - SHADES MOUNTAIN

ELW 362 - At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing - SONNE DER GERECKTIGKEIT

ELW 377 - Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen! - EARTH AND ALL STARS

ELW 379 - Now the Green Blade Rises - NOËL NOUVELET

ELW 447 - O Blessed Spring - BERGLUND

ELW 449 - We Know That Christ Is Raised - ENGELBERG

ELW 758 - You Are the Way - DUNDEE

LBW 148 - Now the Green Blade Rises - NOËL NOUVELET

LBW 189 - We Know That Christ Is Raised - ENGELBERG

LBW 210 - At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing - SONNE DER GERECKTIGKEIT

LBW 378 - Amid the Worlds Bleak Wilderness - GRANTON

LBW 464 - You Are the Way - DUNDEE

LSB 474 - Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen! - EARTH AND ALL STARS

LSB 526 - You Are the Way - DUNDEE

LSB 595/595a - O Blessed Spring - O WALY WALY

LSB 603 - We Know That Christ Is Raised - ENGELBERG

LSB 633 - At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing - SONNE DER GERECKTIGKEIT

RH 150 - At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing - SONNE DER GERECKTIGKEIT