Pastor and Hymnwriter Born in Trier in AD 340, Ambrose was one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church (with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great). He was a prolific author of hymns, the most common of which is Veni, Redemptor Gentium (“Savior of the Nations, Come”). His name is also associated with Ambrosian Chant, a style of chanting the ancient liturgy that took hold in the province of Milan. While serving as a civil governor, Ambrose sought to bring peace among Christians in Milan who were divided into quarreling factions. When a new bishop was to be elected in AD 374, Ambrose addressed the crowd, and someone cried out, “Ambrose, bishop!” The entire gathering gave their support. This acclaim of Ambrose, a thirty-four-year-old catechumen, led to his Baptism on December 7, after which he was consecrated bishop of Milan. A strong defender of the faith, Ambrose convinced the Roman emperor Gratian in AD 379 to forbid the Arian heresy in the West. At Ambrose’s urging, Gratian’s successor, Theodosius, also publicly opposed Arianism. Ambrose died on Good Friday, April 4, 397. As a courageous doctor and musician, he upheld the truth of God’s Word. (Treasury of Daily Prayer, CPH)
Hymnody
For You are the Father’s Son
Who in flesh the vict’ry won.
By Your mighty pow’r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.
—Savior of the Nations, Come (LSB 332:6; attributed to St. Ambrose)
Prayer of the Day
O God, You gave Your servant Ambrose grace to proclaim the Gospel with eloquence and power. As bishop of the great congregation of Milan, he fearlessly f bore reproach for the honor of Your name. Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellence in preaching and fidelity in ministering Your Word that Your people shall be partakers of the divine nature; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Writing by St. Ambrose regarding his sudden Baptism and then ordination as Bishop
“…I do not therefore claim for myself the glory of the apostles (for who can do this save those whom the Son of God Himself has chosen?); nor the grace of the prophets, nor the virtue of the evangelists, nor the cautious care of the pastors. I only desire to attain to that care and diligence in the sacred writings, which the apostle has placed last among the duties of the saints [1 Corinthians 12:10]. And this very thing I desire, so that, in the endeavor to teach, I may be able to learn. For one is the true Master, who alone has not learned what He taught to all; but men learn before they teach, and receive from Him what they may hand on to others.
But not even this was the case with me. For I was carried off from the judgment seat, and the garb of office, to enter on the priesthood, and began to teach you what I myself had not yet learned. So it happened that I began to teach before I began to learn. Therefore I must learn and teach at the same time, since I had no leisure to learn before. —Ambrose of Milan
Ambrose knew he needed to learn more of God’s Word. Don’t we all? A good preparation for Christmas is learning God’s Word from His Bible and His Word in hymns. His Gospel is the song of salvation in Jesus, the Father’s Son in the Virgin pure and fresh.
Ambrose learned the Song of salvation and the Lord gave him the gift of writing hymns, as He did Luther. A Lutheran Seminary Professor, Peter Scaer, told us at seminar that when a church council meeting became rough, he had them together sing a hymn and it cleared the air. When Bishop Ambrose’s church was about to be taken over by troops, the congregation, afraid for their lives, barricaded themselves in the basilica with their pastor Ambrose. The imperial troops surrounded the basilica in an attempt to starve them out, but on Easter Sunday all the people were still inside. In the face of arms and soldiers, Ambrose said, “My only arms are my tears. I will never depart willingly but I won’t resist by force.”
In order to calm the frightened people Ambrose taught them to sing hymns he had composed. He split the congregation in two in order to alternate verses of the hymns. This is our first record of communal singing in church. The music of praise and prayer seeped out through the walls of the basilica and into the hearts of the soldiers. Soon the soldiers outside joined in the singing. The siege ended.
A psalmist in exile with Israel in Babylon sang, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137). How shall we sing the Lord’s song in our Babylons and Romes? Answer: in faith in Jesus Christ and just sing it. Through Christ’s song, even the enemy may join the hymn of salvation. Cajoling, pressuring, getting upset about way things are, evangelism tactics, won’t do anything. The Lord through His Word and His Word sung can clear the air. His Word alone works. Ambrose found that out. Sing the Christmas carols and hymns, not only for you but for others.
Concordia and Koinonia 
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