Instead of trailing alleluias, this one features a trailing Amen. (The verses all end with a normal "Amen," but that's part of the meter count.)

There isn't really a rhyme scheme, but duplicated own/own, myself/myself, and a questionable own/done. Maybe it's better in the original Finnish.

Done with this section.

My choir tried to sing a very complicated arrangement of this, and despite there being multiple soloists so we didn't have to do all of it, it was still very tricky. i can't remember if we actually did it or if too many people were out sick and the director was like "...nah."

The text is a reference to the parable of "build your house upon the rock."

Interesting mention of "veil"(s) in verse 2. First darkness "veils" Jesus' face--maybe that's just a fancy way of saying "when life is hard and we can't clearly see Jesus' presence"? And then it says "...my anchor holds within the veil." What's the veil here? General darkness? The temple veil that separates the most sacred places from where the public is allowed, which was destroyed with Jesus' death? A metaphor for death in general? (I'm from the generation whose theology is a little influenced by Harry Potter when it comes to jargon like this.)

This is definitely a Martin Luther original: lots of verses, lots of weird German rhymes, lots of talk about how grace is necessary because good works are not enough.

If you squint you can find some allusions to texts that we often read on Reformation Day, presumably because they were important to Luther's theology. In verse 6 Jesus is quoted as saying "I am your rock and castle." This is a callback to Psalm 46, "God is our refuge and our strength"--that seems much more abstract than the military imagery we have going on here, but Luther famously (and very loosely) adapted that into "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," and I think that's the same reference. In verse 8, Jesus says "I make you free, be free indeed!" which is from John chapter 8: "if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." We often read that as the Reformation Gospel even though it feels more indirect, but I guess "freedom" (from sin) is the point.

There's some probably-unintentional humor in verse 2, "in sin my mother bore me" (the narrator). The point is "I have been a sinner all my life, even before I was born I was a human and therefore totally sinful, I need Jesus' grace." But on a skim it almost looks like it's saying the mother was sinful at the time. Which, true, in the sense that all humans are sinful. But the doctrine that Mary was unique in being born and conceived without sin because only someone with special sin-avoiding powers would be worthy of giving birth to Jesus is the kind of super-saint Catholic rhetoric that the Reformation was partially about getting away from.

Is the composer famous for other things?

Not really, but the music guy (William Bradbury) has written several other tunes, most of which are also in this section.

What key is it in?

E flat major. The reason this is interesting is not that that's a particularly distinctive key, but the melody line doesn't actually end on an E flat, it lands on the G, which is the "third" of that scale.

What does that mean?

Well, the final chord is E flat, so it reaches a nice "conclusion," but the melody hasn't exactly "settled down." That's kind of weird in this context, because the text is all about coming to Jesus and him accepting us just as we are. So having the music sound like "ehhh...you're there but not quite" is unexpected. Or maybe that's just a big stretch.

Is this a Martin Luther original?

No, but it's by a near contemporary. It's a reasonable assumption to make, however: it has a bunch of verses, translated German rhyme schemes, I'm guessing the tune is a then-contemporary dance song. And the lyrical translations of Luther's message are straight to the point. "good works cannot avert our doom...For faith alone can justify; works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living."

Is that actually true? Like, are Christians just motivated to do good works even though they don't "have" to because they're overflowing with the love of God and stuff?

When I have an answer I'll get back to you. I lean towards "nah" but a lot of smart and trustworthy people seem to think so??

What about the last two verses?

Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, in case this wasn't wordy enough already.

Is this the only melody for these line lengths?

Apparently so, at least in this book.. (It shows up again for another hymn.) When I started skimming it I mentally associated the first few lines with another melody, but maybe I merged that in with a different song.

How well does the translation hold up?

A lot of not-really-feminine rhymes (tender/surrender is pretty good). What amused me was "God, who did so gently school me." In context it obviously means "educate," but...I like the image of God one-upping someone, but like in a nice way.

Why is "lovingkindness" one word?

I think it's a translation of some Latin (Hebrew? Greek??) concept. Not super common, but shows up in some songs.