Synod’s New Hymnal
The Lutheran Service Book (LSB)

 

At its 2004 national convention, the Missouri Synod adopted a new hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book. At its last convention, in 2006, the Minnesota South District of the Missouri Synod, commended the new hymnal to its member congregations. In September and October of this year, a number of members of Trinity Lutheran Church went to workshops organized by Synod’s Commission on Worship (they have prepared the hymnal for us during the last 10 years or so) to get to know the new book. We were very much pleased with what we saw and heard of the new hymnal.

For those who didn't have an opportunity to go and see, hear and sing, here are some important features of the new book: 

 

 

+    In 1847, the Kirchen-Gesangbuch für Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden ungeänderter Augsburgischer Confession (Church-Hymnal for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations Adhering to the Unchanged Augsburg Confession) was published – Synod’s first hymnal ever. It was in German.

 

The new hymnal is a conscious effort to bring all congregations of Synod together to use now one common hymnal in all their worship services. One church, one hymnal – this had been Synod’s deliberate practice prior to 1982. This had been our practice in agreement with the scriptural teachings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: to show our unity in faith; to avoid confusion and dissent; and to show love to fellow Lutherans. The word “synod,” after all, comes from a Greek word meaning “walking together.”

 

 

 

This means: we can also use the hymnal at home! Traditionally, the Catechism, the Bible and the Hymnal are the three pillars of Lutheran piety and devotion: the Catechism makes us acquainted with the basic teachings of Holy Scripture; the Bible is a richer version of the Catechism; and the Hymnal teaches us the truths of Catechism and Scripture in poetic form and gives voice to our prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

 

This is why, in the past, every family had at least one hymnal at home in addition to the catechism and the bible. Maybe that’s a tradition we can restart in our generation, e.g., by giving our confirmands a hymnal as a gift or by purchasing one for ourselves. (If you can’t sing on your own, you can still pray and read and ponder the fine texts in the hymnal.)

 

 

As written last month, we already know a couple of orders of service in the new hymnal. One is the communion service in the Lutheran Hymnal page 15; the other is the communion service in Lutheran Worship page 158 (we are currently using this one). There have just been minor changes in the texts and no changes in the music. What has changed is the layout. At the workshop we attended, we found the new layout much easier to use. We can therefore embrace this important part of the new hymnal for good reasons: God’s word, with Jesus at the center, is rightly and reliably taught also by means of our orders of service. And these same orders reliably guide us as we seek to praise God rightly in communion with fellow Lutherans.

 

 

About 5/6 of the hymns have appeared in one of Synod’s official hymnals already, that is, in the Lutheran Hymnal and in Lutheran Worship. Some of the newer pieces have been published first in Synod’s Hymnal Supplement 98. Some of the tunes are set lower so that they become easier to sing on a Sunday morning; sometimes, familiar words have been set to new, easier-to-sing tunes.

 

Many of our hymns are translations from other languages (among others, Greek, Latin, Norwegian, Swedish, and, of course, German). Translating hymns is very difficult since both content and meter matter. For Lutheran Worship, new, up-to-date translations were prepared that were often lacking in content and style. Those translations have now been carefully reviewed and, as far as I can tell, generally improved on both counts.

 

About 100 hymns in LSB are new to Missouri Synod Lutherans. These have been carefully selected out of the literally thousands of new hymns that have been written in the past years. Some are new to us altogether (both melody and text); others are new words to familiar tunes. This is a pretty generous ratio when you consider that the last 20 years are but a sliver of time compared to the thousands of years the church existed before we in America today came along.

 

It is the considered and balanced judgment of Synod’s Commission of Worship that the 636 hymns in our hymnal are the best hymns out there. That doesn’t mean that our every favorite made it into the book or that there are no good hymns outside this book – it doesn’t even mean that all hymns in the new hymnal are equally great or must become our favorites. But it does mean that here we have a selection of hymns old and new that does what Lutheran hymns are supposed to do primarily: clearly teach God’s pure biblical word in law and gospel. This selection supports the church’s order of readings (lectionary). It is not ashamed of our rich heritage of hymns already enjoyed by our fathers and mothers.

 

In humility and love, we should strive to conform to this selection that we, as Synod, have made jointly through our Commission of Worship. For the next 25, 30 years or so, we should put our time and efforts to learning these hymns. Embracing the good we have in common with fellow Lutherans should take precedence over continuing our unique local traditions: the former strengthens the bond of love and faith between us, the latter dissolves it.

 

 

When Lutheran Worship was adopted in 1982, a new bible translation came along with it: the New International Version (NIV) of 1978 replaced the King James Version (KJV) that had been used by Synod in the Lutheran Hymnal and before. According to a 1999 survey by Concordia Publishing House and the Commission on Worship, 86% of LCMS congregations use the NIV, but only 50% “like” it.

 

This is one reason why, after careful examination of various bible translations, a new version was selected that is closer to the KJV but without the “difficult” words of this 1611 translation. This is the 2001 English Standard Version which basically is a conservative revision of the 1952 Revised Standard Version (RSV). While the NIV at times borders on a paraphrase of the original texts, the ESV, like KJV and RSV, sticks closer to the originals; this makes it more “reliable” for bible study if you do not use the original Hebrew / Aramaic and Greek.

 

While this new bible translation will be used in the Scripture readings during the service (you’ve already been hearing the ESV since December), the Small Catechism has remained unaffected by this change.

 

 

Different churches have different beliefs on what worship is all about. Lutherans have theirs, and we humbly claim that ours is actually the Christian position, the one taught in Scripture. Whatever you believe worship is about will determine the orders of service and the hymns you consider good and appropriate.

 

Our new hymnal, in its introduction, restates very clearly what Lutheran worship is all about: it is not primarily about our fervent but often short-lived praise and prayer, but about Christ’s faithful and reliable service to his bride, the church, in his Word and Sacraments.

 

There it says, among other things: “Our Lord is the Lord who serves. Jesus Christ came into the flesh not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. … Our Lord serves us today through His holy Word and Sacraments. Through these means, He comes among us to deliver His forgiveness and salvation … The Lord’s service calls forth our service – in sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to Him and in loving service to one another.” – This is what Lutherans have always believed about worship. Accordingly, the new hymnal “delivers a rich feast of Gospel-centered hymns [and gives] voice to the prayer, praise and thanksgiving of God’s holy people as they are graciously served by Him through Word and Sacrament.”

 

It is furthermore quite “Lutheran” to strive for uniformity in hymnals and orders of service among those who are united in the faith. By setting aside our Christian liberty in service to the neighbor in this way, we show selfless love to them. This is how we avoid creating confusion and dissention in and among congregations, which, as we know, come about when folks misuse their freedom and do what seems right to them.