What hymns should you choose this Sunday?

In December 1527, the German reformer
Martin Luther wrote to a colleague referring
to himself in the third person: “We are all
in good health except for Luther himself,
who is physically well, but outwardly the
whole world and inwardly the devil and all
his angels are making him suffer.”

Sometime between 1527 and 1528, he wrote his most famous hymn: A Mighty Fortress is our God. Based on Psalm 46, it has become known to many as the “battle hymn” of the Reformation. You may even sing it on Reformation Sunday (25 October)! But Luther didn’t write it for the strong and able soldiers of the church – no, it first appeared in 1529 in a hymn book under the title: A Hymn of Comfort.

Songs to bring comfort

I often try to ask myself before choosing songs for a Sunday service: which of these songs will bring comfort to the miserable? Luther knew the struggle of the Christian life, and he knew that Christians needed hymns of comfort to speak into those struggles.