The COVID pandemic caught us by surprise. Nothing like it has ever happened in our lifetime. Plagues were common in the Middle Ages. Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) was a pastor in Unma (Germany) when the bubonic plague swept through the town. More than 1300 people died among its 2500 residents. While other pastors fled, Nicolai stayed behind to care for people, conducting as many as 30 funerals a day. Despite the horrendous plague, he wrote The Joyous Mirror of Eternal Life. He used Roman 8.18 as his theme verse, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be revealed to us.” He wrote, “Every time we confess the Apostles Creed, we proclaim our belief in eternal life, purchased for us by Christ and promised to us in the Holy Scriptures.” He observed that eternal life not only gives comfort in tribulation and hope to outlast suffering but provides inducement to love in present circumstances. He included two hymns from his hand: “O Morning Star! How Fair and Bright” and “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.” The latter draws on Jesus’ parable of the 10 bridesmaids to ready us for Christ’s return. Nicolai tutored 14-year-old Wilhelm Ernst who died in the plague. He paid tribute to his fallen student by beginning each hymn verse with Wilhelm’s initials, forming an acrostic. He later wrote a letter about surviving the plague, “Day by day I wrote out my meditations, found myself, thank God, wonderfully well, comforted in heart, joyful in spirit, and truly content; gave to my manuscript the name and title of Mirror of Joy to leave behind me (if God should call me from this world) as the token of peaceful, joyful, Christian departure, or (if God should spare me in health) to comfort other sufferers.” The last two stanzas of Nicolai’s hymn, “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying,” often sung during Advent, leads us into prayer:
Philipp Nicolai
Zion hears the watchmen singing,and all her heart with joy is springing,
she wakes, she rises from her gloom.
For her Lord comes down all-glorious,
the strong in grace, in truth victorious;
her star is ris’n, her light is come.
Now come, O Blessed One,
Christ Jesus, God’s own Son. Hail! Hosanna!
We enter all the marriage hall
to eat the Supper at your call.
Now let all the heav’ns adore you,
Let saints and angels sing before you,
with harp and cymbal’s clearest tone.
Of one pearl each shining portal,
where, dwelling with the choir immortal,
we gather round your radiant throne.
No vision ever brought
no ear has ever caught such great glory;
therefore, we will in victory
sing hymns of praise eternally.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.