“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest” is the Hymn of the Day for Holy Trinity Sunday. This is an ancient hymn. It dates to the tenth century as a Latin hymn entitled “Veni, Creator Spiritus.” In fact, it is hailed as the greatest Latin hymn composed next to the “Te Deum Laudamus” that we sing in the Matins in the new Christian Worship hymnal.
The earliest use of this hymn was at Vespers – the evening worship service – during the week of Pentecost. In the late tenth century, “Veni, Creator Spiritus” was also used at Terce – the 9 a.m. service connecting to the hour that the apostles received the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost. The singing of this hymn in medieval services was apparently done with great dignity, accompanied by the use of incense, lights, bells, and rich vestments.
The hymn originally had six stanzas, but soon a doxology was added. Martin Luther wrote a seven-stanza version entitled “Komm, Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist.” Luther’s melody uses the chant style of the original Latin hymn.
Verse one: Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest, and make our hearts your place of rest; come with your grace and heav’nly aid, and fill the hearts which you have made.
This hymn poetically lays out the work of the Holy Spirit in six verses. It isn’t until the final verse when there is a response from the Christian as to the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful prayer about the work of the Holy Spirit.
Verse one references that the Holy Spirit was active in creation, along with the Father and the Son. As the Holy Spirit made the turbulent waters of creation calm, so we ask him to make our turbulent hearts places of rest.
Verse two: To you, the Counselor, we cry, to you, the gift of God most high, the fount of life, the fire of love, the soul’s anointing from above.
Perhaps you have sought the help of a counselor to repair your marriage, or a counselor to overcome your addiction, or a counselor to help you find peace with your troubled childhood. As beneficial as those counselors may be, the Holy Spirit is the Counselor to whom we can always cry out. Through his counseling, he brings into our lives the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22, 23).
Verse three: In you, with graces sevenfold, we God’s almighty hand behold while you with tongues of fire proclaim to all the world his holy name.
The hymn references the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11 references the seven gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the coming Messiah. “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will be delighted with the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the poor” (Isaiah 11:2-4). The sevenfold gifts of the Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord, and righteousness. As the Spirit gave these gifts to the Messiah, we pray for these same sevenfold gifts to come upon the followers of the Messiah. To come upon us with the same fire and fervor that these gifts were given to the first apostles that first Pentecost as tongues of fire rested on their heads.
Verse four: Your light to ev’ry thought impart, and shed your love in ev’ry heart; the weakness of our mortal state with deathless might invigorate.
The hymn poetically emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot do for ourselves – have light, have love, or even have true life. Martin Luther summarizes the work of the Holy Spirit in the explanation of the third article in his Small Catechism: “The Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
Verse five: Drive far away our wily foe, and your abiding peace bestow; with you as our protecting guide, no evil can with us abide.
We are weak. We easily fall into temptation by the wily foe of Satan. We are feeble and easily become troubled. We are pathetic and get lost. We need the Holy Spirit to drive away the devil, abide with us in peace, and be our protecting guide. He does this, as Luther explains by “daily and fully [forgiving] all sins to me and all believers.”
Verse six: Teach us to know the Father, Son, and you, from both, as Three in One that we your name may ever bless and in our lives the truth confess.
We do not know the Triune God on our own. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith and then keep us in that faith through the Means of Grace. As Luther explains, “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him.”
Verse seven: Praise we the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, with them One, and may the Son on us bestow the gifts that from the Spirit flow!
After laying out the work of the Holy Spirit, now we burst forth with a joyous doxology to the Trinity in response to what our Triune God has done in bestowing the gifts of the Spirit on us. This Trinity feast day – and every ordinary day – let us pray, “Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest.”