I Trust, O Lord, Your Holy Name The HYMN OF THE DAY (734) was originally seven stanzas and titled “In Thee, Lord, Have I Put My Trust” (The Lutheran Hymnal 524).
A magnificent Reformation-era Psalm paraphrase by Adam Reusner (1496-1575), it is based on Psalm 31.1-5, from which today’s Introit is also taken. Stanza four notably incorporates Christ’s last words on the cross, from Psalm 31.5 “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
“O faithful God, forsake me not, To You my soul commending… Now and when life is ending.”
Reusner, after studying in Wittenberg, became the secretary to military Captain Georg von Frundsberg. Throughout his life, he wrote over forty hymns. “I Trust, O Lord” was first published in 1533 in the Form und Ordnung Geystlicher Gesang und Psalmen. Luther included it in the 1539 Leipzig hymnal Geystliche Lieder.
The choir sings stanza three in a setting by Seth Calvisius (1556-1615). In addition to music, Calvisius studied astronomy and mathematics. He directed the Leipzig Thomanerchor from 1594 until his death.
