Herr Christ der eynig Gotts son
The Morning Star of Salvation
The chapter opens by celebrating the eternal generation of the Son, his incarnation, and his victory over death.
Lord Christ, God's only Son, eternally born from the Father's heart, just as Scripture says. He is the morning star; his radiance reaches far, shining brighter than all the other stars.✦ Born as a man for us in these latter days, he left his mother’s virginal purity untouched. He broke the power of death for us, opened heaven, and restored life.
A Prayer for Interior Transformation
The focus shifts to a devotional petition for the believer's heart to be turned toward Christ, seeking the death of the old self and the renewal of the spirit.
Let us grow in love and knowledge of you, so that we may remain firm in faith and serve you in the Spirit. So that here we may taste your sweetness in our hearts and always thirst for you. Creator of all things, you are the Father’s power. You rule powerfully from end to end by your own might. Turn our hearts toward you, and turn our minds away from anything that would lead them astray from you. Put us to death through your goodness; raise us to life through your grace. Weaken our old self, so that the new may live. Here on this earth, may our minds, all our desires, and our thoughts be fixed on you.
Read the original Latin
Herr Christ der eynig Gotts son / vaters yn ewigkeyt / Aus seym hertzen entsprossen / gleich wie geschryben steht. Er ist der morgen sterne / seyn glentze streckt er ferne / fur andern sternen klar.
Fur vns ein mensch geboren / ym letzten teil der zeyt / Der mutter vnuerloren / yhr yungfrewlich keuscheyt. Den tod fur vns zu brochen / den hymel auffgeschlossen / das leben wider bracht.
Laß vns yn deiner liebe / vnd kentnis nemen zu / Das wir am glawben bleiben / vnd dienen ym geyst so. Das wir hie mugen schmecken / deyn sussickeyt ym hertzen / vnd dursten stet nach dir.
Du Schepffer aller dinge / du vetterliche krafft. Regirst von end zu ende / krefftig aus eigen macht Das hertz vns zu dir wende / vnd ker ab vnser synne / das sye nicht yrrn von dir.
Ertödt vns durch deyn gute / erweck vns durch deyn gnadt. Den alten menschen krencke / das der new leben mag. Wol hie auff dyser erden / den synn vnd all begerden / vnd dancken han zu dir.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.22.16 — I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.
Erfurt Enchiridion (Early Lutheran Hymns) companion
Never lose the rhythm again
Chosen Portion delivers your morning, midday and night office to your phone — the Hours, without the bells.
Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
- Three daily prayer moments scheduled around your real calendar, not a monastery's
- Psalms and historic prayers sequenced for you — no page-flipping or decision fatigue
- A visible streak of completed offices, so the rhythm compounds instead of collapsing