|
|
Hymns, hymns and more hymns
The Commission on Worship evaluated thousands of hymns from dozens of sources and chose 86 to be included in a supplement.
Author: Michael D. Schultz
In the years the Lord has allowed me to serve as a pastor, I can say that it’s happened only once. After her death and prior to her funeral, while meeting with her family in her home, I found a member’s personal hymnal. In it a piece of paper indicated her favorite hymns. We sang those hymns at her Christian funeral service.
I have only one definite hymn choice for my funeral service. It would be “Lord, You I Love with All My Heart” (Christian Worship 434). While I will be hearing and seeing inexpressibly greater things in heaven, it is satisfying for me to think of how family members and fellow Christians at that service would hear the organ swell for the second half of stanza three and of how they would hear and join the assembly in singing, “And then from death awaken me That my own eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, your glorious face, My Savior and my Fount of grace.”
Adding new hymns for God’s people to sing
A favorite hymn is an entirely subjective matter. Were a person to go through the 660 hymns in The Lutheran Hymnal and the 623 hymns in Christian Worship (CW) and the hundreds of hymns in other hymnals, who knows what would lead him or her to select a favorite hymn from all those choices? The Hymns Committee for the soon-to-be-published Christian Worship: Supplement experienced something similar over the past four years. It was not, however, a matter of selecting favorite hymns but of identifying good hymns.
While that also may be viewed as a subjective process, the subjectivity faded rather quickly as hymns were initially reviewed by a committee of five, then reviewed by a full supplement committee of 10, and ultimately reviewed by our synod’s Commission on Worship. Strong and accurate doctrinal content that makes use of the Word of God, application of the gospel message, quality poetry, a variety of musical styles, and availability of instrumental variation for accompaniment were some of the key standards employed.
The committee members were struck with the great number of hymns set aside at the review process. Several thousand hymns from several dozen sources were reviewed and trimmed down to 86 hymns that will be included in Christian Worship: Supplement. They are a variety of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar. Will these hymns quickly fall into the favorite hymns category of WELS Christians? Who’s to say?
But first the hymns had to be evaluated for their doctrinal content. In worship we proclaim the gospel. It is moving to hear that Horatio Spafford wrote “When Peace Like a River” after receiving word of the death of all four of his daughters at sea, his wife “saved alone.” But it is marvelously powerful gospel proclamation to know that “It is well with my soul” because “my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.” It is worth noting that Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s “In Christ Alone” appears on YouTube and now is being sung internationally by choirs and congregations. But it is also crystal-clear good news from God to sing, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied; For ev’ry sin on him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live.”
Musical tastes and preferences certainly vary. The tune Thaxted has been used at all of the WELS national worship conferences to carry the text of the hymn that closed each conference, “Jerusalem the Golden.” We introduced that tune at our congregation over the past few years. One worshiper came out of church, pointed at “Jerusalem the Golden” sung to Thaxted, and said matter-of-factly, “People are going to love that song.” A second time the tune was used, a dear elderly woman came out of church just as excited, saying just as emphatically, “What happened to the old tune for ‘Jerusalem the Golden’?” Our musical preferences vary.
Sing the gospel to God’s glory
One would expect that a supplement continues along the path of the original. Musically, Christian Worship: Supplement travels in a similar direction as its parent Christian Worship. Users of the book will find some hymn arrangements composed specifically for piano rather than organ. Hymns with verses and refrain form a significant percentage of Christian Worship: Supplement hymns. These hymns lend themselves well to gradual introduction to the congregation. A small group or choir can sing the verses while the congregation first learns the refrain. When the entire hymn has been learned by all, options for antiphonal singing are numerous.
Five Holy Communion hymns and five End Time hymns will increase these CW categories. MIDI files will be available for congregations still waiting to be blessed with a keyboardist, as well as an accompaniment edition that includes background information and performance suggestions for all the hymns. In the future, an upgrade to the HymnSoft program will also include the hymnody of the supplement.
Hymns, hymns, and more hymns! What should we bear in mind as we look at texts, tunes, several years of committee work, the work of worship planners in your congregation, hundreds of hymns in hundreds of hymnals, and thousands more available online and printable under licensing programs? “A good hymn lyric has flow and direction, and keeps its quality as it unfolds. An outstanding lyric may even ‘mend in length’ as [George] Herbert puts it, meaning that it improves as it goes on. It takes us somewhere as it tells a story, paraphrases Scripture or develops a theme” (Wren, Praying Twice: The Words and Music of Congregational Song, p. 253).
The hymns in Christian Worship and its supplement mean to take us somewhere, to that holy birthplace and that holy night where “A Stable Lamp Is Lighted.” They mean to tell a story, a story of the mind-numbing love of Christ that leaves us asking “What Grace Is This?” They paraphrase or quote Scripture as they bring Christ’s words to bear on anxious souls—“Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled.” They mean to develop a theme as we personalize the Savior’s words and sing “Your Kingdom, O God, Is My Glorious Treasure.”
As WELS worship planners consider the endless number of hymns available, it is the confident hope of the Supplement Committee and the Commission on Worship that a good number of the hymns in this new publication will find their way into the body of Christian hymnody that is regularly used by Christ’s people as through their singing they proclaim Christ’s gospel to Christ’s glory.
Maybe the title of one or two of these “new” hymns even will find its way onto a small piece of paper in your personal hymnal at home. If so, don’t forget to let a few people know in advance where to look for it.
Michael Schultz is pastor at Sola Fide, Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Volume 94, number 11, 11-1-2007, category: features
Copyrighted by WELS Forward in Christ © 2007
Permission is granted for a single personal copy of an article. Contact Robert Adrian at 414-454-2112 or adrianb@nph.wels.net regarding any other use.
|
