My Light and My Salvation by Kurt E. Reinhardt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This little volume by Pastor Kurt E. Reinhardt is a real treasure. Like nearly every volume of poetry I’ve ever read, the quality varies from page to page, but in this one, the quality is consistently quite good.

The book itself is beautiful, which a gorgeous color cover of our Lord, it makes the 68 page book worth it almost in it’s own right. The print is easy to read and well laid out.

The poetry is generally hymnic in format, with metered lines that could easily be adapted for singing. I found myself with several of the poems wishing that I could sing it in church on a given Sunday, because it was wed to the text so well. A perfect example of this would be “With Longing Heart the Father Waits,” which is based on the parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11-32. The meter for this poem is 8 7 8 8, and really sings of the grace that our heavenly Father longs to give to His wayward children. The final stanza is an example:

With longing heart our Father waits
For His lost children at His gates;
A ring, a cloak, and shoes lie near
While Love's own feast awaits them here.

The real strength of the volume, however, I think lies more in the poems which speak of the spiritual trials that the Christian faces. There are too many to quote to really give a full sense of it, but here is one example from “O Jesus, Master, Hear Me”:

O Jesus, Master, bear me,
For I am tired and weary,
All strength from me has fled;
At last I know true weakness,
And crave from You in meakness,
Your mighty arms to be my bed.

Another real treasure in here is some additional verses to well known hymns that the author has either translated or written himself. He includes several stanzas of newly translated verses of Beautiful Savior, and two communion related stanzas for Just as I am, .

This book is available from Redeemer Press , and is $15 plus shipping.

-Rev. Todd Peperkorn

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