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Review of The Service Hymnal: A Lutheran Homecoming

© John L. Hoh, Jr.

Lutherans have an attachment to their hymnals and the contents therein. But a time comes when a hymnal has served its purpose and must be replaced. During the two World Wars, Lutherans struggled with trading in German, Norwegian, and other hymnals from the homeland with brand-spanking new English language hymnals.

These replacements retained a Teutonic and old world flavor. Titles were featured in Old English script. Typeset was often small and hard to read if one's eyes were failing. The hymns were dominated by German chorales. Many hymns of many traditions were missing from many Lutheran hymnals.

The churches comprising today's Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were the first to explore development of a new hymnal. The American Lutheran Church (ALC), the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) merged in 1988 to become what we know today as ELCA. But the seeds of the merger were sown in part by the decision to develop the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW). Initially, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LC-MS) assisted in the hymnal's development. I know early editions of the hymnal contain credit to the LC-MS for the hymnal's development.

But the LC-MS did not like the direction the hymnal was heading for. A review of the LBW was presented here by James Sucha. In addition, letters are printed from time to time in The Lutheran and Canada Lutheran complaining about the difficult melodies in LBW. Some saw doctrinal erosion. For instance, Christmas carols don't mention that Mary was indeed a virgin.

Thus Missouri set out to develop its own hymnal. They proceeded with Lutheran Worship (LW. You may notice a trend as the word "worship" is stressed over "hymnal." This hymnal would take on a blue cover in contrast to LBW’s green cover.

Soon, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) went shopping for a hymnal. They were able to buy the plates to The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) from Missouri's Concordia Publishing House. But this could only be a short-term fix. Many plates were damaged. And, quite frankly, the venerable hymnal developed by the old Synodical Conference was showing its age. But what should WELS do? They looked at LBW, but felt uncomfortable by the weakness of doctrine. A study of LW found a sound doctrinal hymnal, but melodies hard to sing and hard to play. What to do?

The Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) also sought to replace its 1930’s vintage Lutheran Hymnary. This book had been out of print for decades, but was used in many ELS churches because it contained the Bugenhagen order of worship. As a result, copies were hard to locate. Copies were literally hidden above the suspended ceiling of the Bethany College bookstore. One had to make special request for a copy (usually reserved for congregations needing replacement copies, although I was able to finagle the purchase of one copy). Together these two synods set out to create a new hymnal. Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal (CW) was begun. (The name has come under derision from Christian News because it didn't have "Lutheran" in its title.) Yet again their was a split once development was begun. The ELS soon decided they had to develop their own hymnal. Wisconsin refused to include the Norwegian favorite Bugenhagen service. Thus the ELS set out to develop the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (ELH).