Johann Heermann

Why do we complain so much? Are we venting pent-up emotion? Are we seeking to connect with people who share our mutual dissatisfaction? Are we seeking an outlet to validate hurt feelings? Frequently, as I research prayers to inclusion in Prayers from the Cloud, I come away with a desire to live with more gratitude and less whining. Reading stories of people’s privation and hardship puts my petty complaining into its rightful place. Such is the case when I review the life of Johann Heermann (1585-1647). He was the youngest of five children born to a poor couple in Silesia (modern-day Poland). Johann’s siblings died early in life. When he became gravely ill, his mother vowed that she would educate him for the ministry if he survived. True to her word, she borrowed money for his tuition upon his recovery to prepare him for ministry in the church. He was called to serve a Lutheran church in Koben, a small town near his birthplace. In 1617, his wife Dorothea died shortly after their wedding. Between 1629 and 1634, his town was plundered four times during the Thirty Years War, and a resulting plague wiped out half its population. Each time Koben was sacked, Johann was forced to flee, separating him from all his worldly possessions. Three times, he was nearly felled by invading armies, twice by sword, and once by a barrage of bullets that whistled over his head as he narrowly escaped by forging a river. One of his contemporaries called him “the Silesian Job.” Somehow, Johann found it in his heart to write songs of encouragement and comfort. “Ah, Holy Jesus” may be his most well-known, brought into prominence by Johann S. Bach, who included it in his St. Matthew Passion as well as St. John Passion. One of his lesser-known hymns, “O God, Thou Faithful God,” includes the lyrics that lead us into prayer: