The Lutheran Legacy: Restoring Music to the Laity

One of Martin Luther's achievements is that of returning congregational singing to the church. Lutherans have traditionally been known for their rich heritage of music. Lutheran hymnody became another teaching tool to teach doctrine and dogmatics to the Lutheran laity.

But music in the church goes back before Martin Luther, before the Roman Church was established, even way before Jesus was laid in a manger or Moses presented Israel with the Ten Commandments. Music and musical doctrine have been a part of God's people from creation.

As with the Old Testament prophets, songs were popular because of their simple construction and use of poetry. Using these simple literary devices, people could remember the message. Remember that printing in mass quantities was only economically feasible when movable type made of alloyed metals was developed by Johannes Gutenberg. And it has only been in the last few years that people have not only acquired computers but gone on-line. Before that, most communication was done by word of mouth-poetry with repetition, rote songs with repetition, word play, and puns.

The Lutheran heritage thus is really a continuation of an age-old heritage of God's people to learn and teach God's truth of salvation among God's own people. This is one tie that binds the Lutheran church to the "one, universal, Christian, and apostolic Church."

The Psalms are the most popular songs in Scripture. How many psalms do you remember? Probably the most beloved piece of literature is the twenty-third Psalm: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Many modern Christian contemporary pieces simply set the psalms to today's music!

Other songs you may want to look up are:
The Song of Moses (Exodus 15)
The Song of Deborah and Barak (Judges 5)
A Song of David (2 Samuel 22-compare this to Psalm 46 and Luther's "A Mighty Fortress)
David's Song of Praise (1 Chronicles 16:8-36)
Isaiah's First Song (Isaiah 5:1-7)
The Second Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 12)

And finally, the songs of praise recorded by Luke concerning the great mystery of Immanuel-the God-man born of a virgin:
Mary's Song (The Magnificat; Luke 1:46-55), Zechariah's Song (Luke 1:67-79), The Angels' Song (Gloria in Excelsis; Luke 2:14), and Simeon's Song (Nunc Dimittis; Luke 2:29-32).

Our musical heritage indeed binds us with all Christians of all ages. As you read the songs I've listed from Scripture, see how many of them have become our favorites as they are or arranged in a more modern musical setting. Several have even become part of our weekly liturgy!

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