I Believe the Mystery
I originally wrote this song with a contemporary feel, but the band complained that the tune had too many triplets in it, and with another look, I realized it worked well in a more traditional setting using the tune “Bunessan” (LSB #789), best known as the tune to “Morning Has Broken.” So I offer the lyrics and both settings in multiple formats. It’s based on the creeds and works well as a credal song and possibly as a Sanctus or hymn for Christ the King Sunday (AKA The Last Sunday of the Church Year) or Trinity Sunday.
One thing to note: using Bunessan, the first 3 stanzas use the tune twice, so think of it as 8 total stanzas for the purpose of accompaniment.
I Believe the Mystery
1. One God Almighty, Maker of ages
Father of all, knit me in the dark
Spreading the cosmos, fueling the atom
Birthing the nova, watching the lark
Majesty, glory, pow’r without limit
Yet in His mercy, He calls me, “Son”
Crafted from clay Divine exhalation
Formed by the Master, Three Who are One
2. For my salvation from my rebellion
Womb of a virgin, sent forth His Son
Feet above heaven too weak to stand up
One became two so all may be one
Carried my weakness, suffered by Pilate
Nailed to a tree for us in our sin
Buried, descended, risen, ascended
Coming to claim us, merit through Him
3. Sevenfold Spirit binds us together
Sent to give life from Father and Son
Wiser than reason, greater than power
Pours out the gift that bonds us as one
Mystical Body, holy communion
Rising to life without sorrow or end
All by His grace, Divine mediation
Father yet Brother, King and yet Friend
B: Open our eyes, Lord, to those in blindness
Open our hearts, Lord, kindness to show
Open our hands, Lord, reaching in service
Open our mouths that Your world may know
C. Immortal Myst’ry, Maker of hist’ry
You have revealed to all through Your Word
Eternal gifted, penalty lifted
Freed us from bondage we’ve all incurred
©2012 Strength and Song Publishing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
I Believe the Mystery-Chord Sheet (docx: Contemporary, Chord Sheet)
I believe the mystery (pdf: Contemporary, Lead Sheet)
I Believe the Mystery (PowerPoint lyrics)
Contemporary tune:
LSBX file for Lutheran Service Builder
A few months ago, an agnostic friend passed on this article to me. Even though it was written in 1894, most arguments against the inspiration of Scripture haven’t changed much, and I continue to hear these same arguments regularly. The Lutheran Church is not a cult. We’re not afraid of alternative viewpoints. In fact, we welcome them. That said, we’re not necessarily going to agree with them, but we’re happy to talk about what we do and don’t believe and why. At the same time, we can occasionally get caught off-guard by arguments we’ve not heard before and not know how to respond, since these arguments can come from many different fields, from ancient history to quantum theory. So with this discussion, we hope to examine these questions and see how valid they are and answer them from our perspective. We invite any atheists or agnostics who’d like to attend to come and discuss these questions. This study will last several weeks until we work through the entire document together.