#668: O Zion, Haste
Mar. 8th, 2020 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lutheranhymnsThis is one I also know more from a parody than the original--when my mom's senior co-pastor retired, several of the other staff tweaked the chorus to make it relevant ("peace" and "release" from one's job responsibilities...) and I tried to give feedback on the meter, although, I'm not sure I was very helpful since...I did not know the original song well.
The lyrics themselves do sort of illustrate the tension in this sort of theology; on the one hand, God "is not willing one soul should perish, lost in shades of night." On the other, if we don't evangelize to others, they might be "unfit to see [God's] face" due to lacking faith. But then, if God isn't going to let anyone be destroyed anyway, do we really have to do anything? (This is where the culture warriors usually chime in with "and also proselytizing is Bad Mkay, like we've seen how well that worked out in any colonialist society ever, so let's definitely not share our faith with anyone.")
The lyrics themselves do sort of illustrate the tension in this sort of theology; on the one hand, God "is not willing one soul should perish, lost in shades of night." On the other, if we don't evangelize to others, they might be "unfit to see [God's] face" due to lacking faith. But then, if God isn't going to let anyone be destroyed anyway, do we really have to do anything? (This is where the culture warriors usually chime in with "and also proselytizing is Bad Mkay, like we've seen how well that worked out in any colonialist society ever, so let's definitely not share our faith with anyone.")
