Wir warten dein, o Gottes Sohn

Wir warten dein, o Gottes Sohn. Philipp Friedrich Hiller* (1699-1769). First published in the Second Series of Hiller’s Geistliches Liederkästlein (Stuttgart, 1767). This book, like the First Series, had a Biblical text with notes, together with a short hymn, for every day of the year. This is for 24 January, with verses from 1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10: ‘Ihr seyd bekehrt zu Gott, zu warten seines Sohnes vom Himmel’ (‘ye turned to God [from idols, to serve the living and true God]; And to wait for his Son from heaven’). It is found in EG in four 8-line stanzas in the ‘Ende des Kirchenjahres’ section (EG 152). It is appropriately placed, for the hymn is one of waiting in difficult times (‘in...