Ye Lands, to the Lord
ELH 56
One of the Norwegian Synod’s founding fathers, Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, wrote this hymn. He served as president of the synod until 1910. Before he died, he warned against doctrinal compromise on the doctrine of election, and his words helped strengthen those who refused to compromise by joining the merger. As president, Koren exercised pastoral leadership in writing “An Accounting” (a Scripture-based evaluation of the true doctrine of election) and “Can and Ought a Christian Be Certain of His Salvation?” – to which, guided by Scripture passages, he answered a resounding “Yes!”
This hymn sings Psalm 100 verse by verse. In each stanza Koren has us sing the refrain: “Glory be to God! … Sing praise unto God out of Zion!” This steadily reinforces that God receives all the glory for our salvation. The end of the hymn – “To all generations His truth shall still endure” – has become a theme of our synod, and a reminder to pass on God’s truth to the next generation.
