Each Saturday and Tuesday during Lent, the devotion will consist of visual or musical works of art for you to contemplate. There might be a brief quote or statement for you to consider as you view/listen to the material; there may be notes from or about the artist or work. We hope you will find meaning in these pieces during your lenten journey.
The River Road Church, Baptist, Chancel Choir directed by Bob Gallagher sang “O Lamb of God Most Holy!” by Nicolaus Decius. Listen (again) to this beautiful work. Words are given below.
[jwplayer mediaid=”11494″]
O Lamb of God most holy!
Who on the cross didst suffer,
And patient still and lowly,
Yourself to scorn did offer;
Our sins by You were taken,
Or hope had us forsaken:
Your peace be with us, Jesus!Notes: Decius, Nicolaus (Nicolaus a Curia or von Hofe, otherwise Hovesch), seems to have been a native of Hof, in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, and to have been originally called Tech. He became a monk, and was in 1519 Probst of the cloister at Steterburg, near Wolfenbüttel. Becoming favourable to the opinions of Luther, he left Steterburg in July, 1522, and went to Brunswick, where he was appointed a master in the St. Katherine and Egidien School. In 1523 he was invited by the burgesses of Stettin to labour there as an Evangelical preacher along with Paulus von Rhode. He became preacher at the Church of St. Nicholas; was probably instituted by the Town Council in 1526, when von Rhode was instituted to St. Jacob’s; and at the visitation in 1535 was recognized as pastor of St. Nicholas’. He died suddenly at Stettin, March 21, 1541, with some suspicion of being poisoned by his enemies of the Roman Catholic faction (Koch, i. 419-421, 471, 472; ii. 483; Allg. Deutsche Biography, iii. 791-793).
He seems to have been a popular preacher and a good musician. Three hymns are ascribed to him. These are versions of the “Sanctus,” the “Gloria in excelsis,” and the “Agnus Dei.” The second and third are noted under these Latin first lines. He is also said to have composed or adapted the melodies set to them.
[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
— John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)