"Herr, segne uns" (Lord, bless us) is a poem in three stanzas by Lothar Zenetti, written in 1971.[1][2] With a 1972 melody by Karl Fink, it became a Christian hymn of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), appearing in German hymnals. It is usually sung at the end of a service before the blessing. The full title is "Herr, segne uns, lass uns dir dankbar sein" (Lord, bless us, let us be thankful to you).[1]
The three stanzas, of four lines each, follow a pattern: the first line rhymes with the (shorter) last, while the inner lines of equal length rhyme. Each stanza begins with an call from a group, asking the Lord to bless them, to go with them, and to send them. Each stanza concludes with a short summary, "wollen wir tätig sein" (we want to be active), "lass uns Geschwister sein" (let us be siblings), and "lass uns ein Segen sein" (let us be a blessing.[1]
The text was written in 1971. It was included in the regional part of the Catholic German hymnal Gotteslob for the Diocese of Limburg as GL 919, with a melody by Karl Fink, a church musician.[3] In the current Gotteslob, it is GL 848.[1]
References
^ abcdGotteslob (in German). Diocese of Limburg. 2013.