Paul Gerhardt

The Reformed tradition (think Calvinism) and the Lutherans weren’t getting along in seventeenth century Germany. The feud was long-standing, and their theological differences were hotly debated. Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) came to Berlin to pastor a Lutheran church, having been newly ordained at forty-four (his preparation hindered by the Thirty Years War) and recently married at forty-eight (his bride was a student in the family he tutored). Elector Friedrich William of a region including Berlin called the disputing Protestants together to find consensus, but the plan backfired, making matters worse. Friedrich then issued an edict favorable to the Calvinists since his sympathies were biased in their direction. Paul couldn’t in good conscience sign the edict and was removed from his church in 1666. He was without employment for a year, struggling to provide for his wife and young family. He was finally able to secure a pastorate in Saxony. In transit to his new calling, he and the family stopped at an inn, where Paul composed a new hymn, “Commit Thou All Thy Griefs,” in a burst of inspiration and shared it with the family at evening devotions. He based his hymn on Psalm 37.5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” The hymn is intended as an acrostic in German since each of the hymn’s twelve stanzas begins with a different word from the featured psalm verse. A fellow hymn writer, Catherine Winkworth, wrote of Paul, “His hymns express the spontaneous outpouring of a heart that overflows with love, trust, and praise.” His faith and temperament remained cheerful despite numerous setbacks in life. Both parents died by the time he was fourteen. The family home and church were destroyed during the Thirty Years War, and his brother died from a resulting plague. Four of his five children died in infancy, and his wife died young also. Knowing the calamity of Paul’s life gives more credence to his triumphant hymns. Two stanzas from his eight-verse hymn, “Commit Thou All Thy Griefs,” guide us in prayer: