Gott ist gegenwärtig

Gott ist gegenwärtig. Gerhard Tersteegen* (1697-1769). This hymn was published in Tersteegen’s Geistliches Blumen-Gärtlein (1729), and then in the Gesang-Buch der Gemeine in Hernnhut (1735), in eight 10-line stanzas, with the title ‘Erinnerung der herrlichen und lieblichen Gegenwart Gottes’ (‘Remembrance of the glorious and delightful presence of God’). The eight stanzas are still in use in EG in the ‘Eingang und Ausgang’ section for Sunday worship (EG 165). It has been translated into English by John Wesley* as ‘Lo, God is here! Let us adore’*, and by Frederick William Foster* and John Miller (1756-1790) as ‘God reveals his presence’*, following Tersteegen’s original metre. A translation...