This is an example of a "zipper song" where you can plug in almost anything, religious or secular, alternating with the consistent "I'm gonna let it shine." (So it works well for protests/marches/rallies etc!) I feel like there are also a couple different versions of the melody; when you're singing something longer like "Hide it under a bushel? No!" the pitches move around more than this "rising" melody; it's adaptable enough that you can fit lots of different patterns in. But maybe not with this specific harmonization.

It also features yet another "oh-h" "echoy" part in the bass. I think I will try to retroactively add a tag for those. But maybe that's a tomorrow problem.

Well, in the title, both Light and Radiance are capitalized, but in the text, Radiance is but light isn't. I guess it still counts as proper nouns. :p

Lots of large tenor/bass gaps.

Translation by committee gives us "grace/maze" (and also "praise/grace" in a different verse!) Most of the emphasis is on, and I'm paraphrasing, asking God's light to be revealed to people who are sinful and/or doubting. But there's an interesting pivot in verse three to "take away the needless fears of those who tremble to express the faith their inmost hearts confess." I'm wondering whether in Heermann's day that was more a threat of religious warfare (you don't want to be too obviously Protestant in a Catholic principality, or vice-versa?) Versus today when it can, somewhat anachronistically, be read as "help people to express their faith who are just ashamed of it."

This is the same tune as 408, and like that one, the first three verses address God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively, and the fourth verse ties them all together. Unlike 408, it has less awkward rhymes, and each verse ends in "let there be light"--here not necessarily referring to creation itself, but to God's word shining forth like light wherever it's needed. Again, there's this awkward tension of "well why is it in this section then, if we're just praising God as the Trinity and asking God's light to shine everywhere, that could fit into any theme." But if it's about "witness" specifically, then there's the implication that maybe we are supposed to be the ones bringing forth that light. Which, slow down, nobody said we wanted to do any proselytizing now.

Okay, this is definitely one that gets to be in the "praise genre but good" section. Guitar-friendly key, chorus/verse structure, catchy enough to sing at church camp. I think it used to be categorized as Epiphany (or post-Epiphany, Transfiguration?) but is now in the Witness section, which feels less relevant. Is it like "This Little Light of Mine," ie, we're expecting our lives to reflect Jesus' light? I guess. I also don't really know what the "river" is, it doesn't seem to be a metaphor for heaven in this case. Maybe, like, physical rivers provide nourishment for crops, and we want God's river to provide mercy for every land? I guess...

I'm being hard on it here in the last couple lines but this one actually is very good.

So, in Googling I found that this text has a bit of an interesting backstory. Once, there was a hymn called "Rise Up, O Men Of God." This is not that hymn. However, that hymn was also sung to this melody ("Festal Song.") People realized that that was kinda, you know, sexist, so they changed it to "Rise Up, O Saints of God," basically keeping everything else the same except for that one word.

Then, someone else came along and rewrote the verses so they were less about monarchist kingdoms and more about justice and creation and baptismal grace, and basically more...20th century, I guess. And that's the version we have today. Except, when you look it up, this one kind of got merged with the "Saints" version of the original, even though that version should really be a tweak of "Men." (Compare the "representative text" here with the image. Actually, I guess the image is more useful because it gives you both side by side.)

The reason I wanted to Google for this is, it turns out that many decades ago when my old church was fundraising for their current building, the catchphrase for their pledge drive was "Rise Up, O Men of God." Referring to the old text, not the new text, the new text probably didn't exist yet.

The anthology where this tune was published has the amazing title of "Hesperian Harp." The name "Hesperian" has to do with Venus, the evening star, which appears in the west (in the evening, at least), usually found in a poetic context. Unfortunately, a quick Google taught me that this isn't necessarily a fun astronomical allusion but rather the name of the composer's plantation. :/ Think before you Google, kids.

We also get the image of a "foolish heart" potentially rebelling against God (and the lyrics are warning us against that). This caught my eye because in today's Second Reading, Paul describes "foolishness" as potentially being a good thing when it's God's foolishness. A few verses later we get the line about "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom" (which gets quoted in "A Wrinkle in Time," great line). But a more straightforward interpretation in this hymn.

Wojtkiewiecz??

Yes, that's the tune name.

Wasn't he, like, the Pope?

Easy mistake to make (I actually thought that this was correct and this was written for his election or something, but no). That's the music composer's family surname, which was Anglicized to Wood. The Pope was Wojtyła, which makes this a hymn tune that actually has fewer diacritics than the thing I confuse it with...

Other than that, how are the lyrics?

Quite good actually! The line about "freedom, light and life and healing" flows well with the music, because all of the stressed syllables are coming on the first and third beats of the measures (usually stressed more) which makes them land nicely. Same for "your songs and prayers against the darkness hurling."

So the time signature is pretty consistent then?

Actually no, it jumps back from 4/4 to 6/4, but in an unobtrusive and nice way!

Is the melody used for anything else?

No, but it kind of feels like it should be? Very straightforward scales and chords, seems like a nursery rhyme.

Does the composer have an awesome name?

Awesomely long, his full name is "Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen" but the hymnal just credits him as J.A. .

Who or what is being addressed?

Unclear. Is the Almighty Word God/Jesus himself, who is being requested to spread his own reign? Or is the narrator telling people to spread [the] word?

Is there a relationship between "I know it's true" and "it satisfies my longings as nothing else would do"?

Historically, not that I know of. I think CS Lewis wrote an argument in that vein, but I also think that post-dates this song, so great minds think alike?

Who is the target audience of "the story"?

It varies. "Those who know it best seem" like they're still appreciative of the message. And "'twill be my theme in glory" to sing it...does that mean we're going to be in heaven announcing the good news? I feel like people won't need much evangelism at that point. Or does that just mean we'll be praising God and extolling Jesus, which is a common description?

Anyway, the emphasis on repeating the gospel to the usual suspects is an interesting change of pace from typical missionary stuff, which is probably why it's progressive enough to still include. IDK, I'm guessing a lot of this section was carefully crafted to appease the culture warriors. More later, someday, maybe.

Probably won't be around the next couple days, we'll see. Marathons, sprints, etc.