Review of The Service Hymnal: A Lutheran Homecoming
Meanwhile, Lutherans in ELCA became restless over the new hymnal. Many had grown up with the Service Book and Hymnal (SBH). Alas, the SBH is out of print. And that brings us to the review this week.
James Sucha has updated the Service Book and Hymnal. His effort, dubbed The Service Hymnal: A Lutheran Homecoming does not contain "Lutheran" in its title (but then SBH didn’t either). It also resurrects the term "Hymnal."
The intent stated in the beginning of this hymnal is that it be used in rotation with LBW and With One Voice (WOV), ELCA’s multi-cultural hymn book (almost all synods have such books. WELS has Let All the People Praise You (LAPPY)).
In many regards this is a teaching hymnal. Notes attached to the service explain what each part of the service means. Each service is preceded by an introduction that explains how the service was developed and the high points of each service.
The hymnal also contains a brief history of Lutheranism, hymn singing in the Lutheran church, a blurb about the recent Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), and a bio of the author.
A unique feature of this hymnal are the photos or drawings of hymn writers and composers. One finally gets the chance to see what the hymn writers looked like.
The hymnal also arranges the hymns topically. The church year comes first, starting with Advent. Then various doctrinal topics are addressed by groups of hymns. Finally, a body of Johann Sebastian Bach's work is included. With the Bach selections is a biography of J. S. Bach written by Mr. Sucha (which he shared here previously).
I have checked out some hymns which I've found problems with in LBW and LW. Sucha includes all seven verses of "Built On A Rock." Great! LBW and LW and CW all cut back to five; LBW and LW left out the "means of grace" verse ("Here stands the font before our eyes…"). I applaud Mr. Sucha for keeping this Lutheran teaching in his hymnal. Unfortunately, he retains Charles Wesley’s original wording in "Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending." He followed LBW with "Once for favored sinners slain." WELS’ CW rephrases that section "Once for every sinner slain." While both are technically correct, Wesley was a believer in double predestination. And in this context it seems to this writer that Wesley would attach a different meaning to those words.
The Service
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