The Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) 21 Years Later

pitches in the melody lines. Organists liked the easier keys to play in and various new hymn settings that enabled them to have a challenge. However, in some hymns like "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty," "Built On a Rock," and "On Our Way Rejoicing!" the transpositions made them sound muddy and flat instead of the brightness they once had. Some hymns encouraged congregational singing by removing the extra notes in them. Great hymns such as "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" became "Guide Me, Ever Great Redeemer," and had the tenor and bass notes removed and the result ended up sounding hollow. Many other standards had the same surgery from the ILCW hymn doctors. It is a known fact that only 47% of the Service Book and Hymnal hymns were included in the LBW. However out of the 47% of the retained hymns, 3/4 of these were given new harmonizations using the melody lines. Gone was the rich, full harmonies from the original composer of the hymns. Another noticeable change for Lutherans was the omission of the sung Amens at the end of the hymns. Only the newer plainsong melodies added to the LBW contain a sung amen at the conclusion. The LBW offered many new hymns from denominations, including Lutheran, that are successful. Many of the LBW hymns come from the LCMS, and offer a version of the tune that may be Germanic sounding instead of mainstream that was in the SBH. Many of these hymns are ones that were chosen by the ILCW to include the LCMS. However, as a result of the change in hymnody of old beloved favorites, many ALC/LCA Lutherans (including this writer) left the church for other denominations, or went along with it to grin and bear it.

Today, many ELCA organists keep a copy of the SBH handy to play the original harmonies that standard hymns still have around the world, instead of the modernized versions in the LBW. These support congregational singing completely than the modernized versions for the whole hymn. In some cases, the organist uses the SBH harmony for weaving around the LBW melodies, but most use the original SBH harmony as a starting point. Many organists and church musicians feel that the publishers of the LBW should have offered a separate book for alternate harmonizations instead of using them for the hymns in the book. Still today in

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