Some people do share your opinion. I understand the motivation to a certain degree. There are many wonderful things about The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941 (TLH). Unlike the scriptures, the canon of the hymnody can never be closed. Like preaching, there is always something new and useful to say regarding God’s Word to His people. Like preaching, the older things should not be thrown away. And they’re not. 340 of TLH hymns are preserved in the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). That’s greater than 50% of its hymnody (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). TLH is still in print today. There are also congregations that retain the use of both TLH & LSB, and even TLH exclusively.
There are some historical failures of the church, leading to the notion that TLH is the only right hymnal. Emotions, which are a poor standard of decision making in most contexts, notwithstanding, poor timing is among the chief concerns.
There were theological errors in the Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978 (LBW), causing a stir at a time when a new hymnal was needed and desired. Our (LCMS) participation with the other Lutheran groups produced a hymnal, whose use we could not encourage. We had to back out of the project, but retained copyright usage authority over the materials produced.
This led to a hasty publication of the Lutheran Worship, 1982 (LW). That was a bad move. Simply stripping-out and correcting theological errors didn’t produce a good hymnal. In fact, it produced a fairly poor hymnal. It was not well received. At LW’s peak, it was in use in just over half of LCMS congregations. As evidence of that, the old LWs are even difficult to give away.
Among the complaints about LW are these: the defaced common service, organ arrangements, and altered text. By “Common Service,” I mean TLH p. 5/15, LW Divine Service I, and LSB Divine Service, Setting Three. The TLH and LSB settings are quite similar. The LW setting updated the Jacobean English and stripped the chorale harmonies from the pew edition. Further, LW has also removed and/or rewritten common chorale harmonies to several hymns. These were not well received.
All of this failure has encouraged the notion that TLH might be the only good hymnal. Even the great TLH contains some noticeable weaknesses. Some translations of the German hymns are theologically sketchy, leading to some of the revised wording more recently. A more subtle, but more significant, error comes from the sequencing of the services. The Order of Morning Service without communion on page 5 for use on Sunday is followed by The Order of the Holy Communion on page 15 are a two-fold failure. Prior to TLH there was no printed chief service for Sunday without the Lord’s Supper. TLH not only introduced an innovation but also gave it priority by placing it first in the book. This may have been an editorial oversight. However, it leaves the impression that not only is Sunday without communion normal, it may be preferable.
At a time when the frequency of the celebration of the Lord’s supper may have been at an historic low, TLH inadvertently or deliberately reinforced the same. For LCMS congregations that celebrated as infrequently as once a month, once a quarter, twice a year, or once a year, TLH gave at least a nod to encourage the practice. Ask some of your own elderly members. You’ll likely hear about how infrequent it was. You may even hear like I have, “Well, p. 5 comes first. That’s the one we used most.”
LSB is also not a perfect hymnal. It is a good hymnal. A harsh reality at its publication was division in hymnal usage throughout the LCMS. In 1999, 35% of LCMS congregations retained TLH only, 60% had adopted LW, and scant number had even adopted LBW (h/t Rev. Dr. Paul Grime). There was no hope of returning to TLH more broadly. LW had demonstrated the peak of its acceptance. LSB achieved its goal of unifying a greater number of LCMS congregations under a single, common service book. By returning to the TLH, page 15 liturgy (LSB DS 3), as well as the LW Divine Service II: settings one & two (LSB DS 1 & 2), LSB struck a balance. LSB also restored the original settings and text of many of the TLH hymns with a few translation corrections.
LSB enjoys greater than 70% adoption among LCMS congregations. It’s not perfect by any means. It does, however, improve the likelihood of lifelong Lutherans like us and new converts finding a familiar hymnal in use, when they travel or move their families.
That’s good for the synod as a whole.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
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Jason, I enjoyed reading your little article. Thank you. You might be interested in few emendations to the details. First approximately 340 hymns from TLH made their way into LSB. If you own the hymn selection guide, you will find a list beginning on page 152 that shows the comparison. Second, a very thorough survey of congregations in 1999, just as we were beginning work on LSB, revealed that approximately 60% of congregations used worship at that time and approximately 35% of congregations retain TLH only.
Perhaps you can share those revised numbers, especially the total number of hymns. One of the likely reasons for the discrepancies is that hymns sometimes have slightly different first lines.
God bless.
Dr. Grime,
Thank you! I will add those corrections promptly.
😊 Thank you for this informative discussion.
Indeed
All I know is: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!
That’s a shame. You’re missing 634 excellent hymns that teach the Christian faith as we’ve received it from the LSB alone.
Jason, I appreciate your article that sums up the history of the various hymnals we’ve used in the LCMS since 1941. Of course, it’s tempting for many repristinationists among us to try and find the absolute purest of the pure and then disparage that which has come afterward. Your comments, therefore, on the weaknesses of the TLH are needed and spot on. As Dr. Grime rightly said, our hymnals are not closed canon, nor should they be. And in an era where the use of online resources can stand in our favor, anyone wanting to use hymns like “Watchman, Tell Us Of the Night” from TLH or “O KIngly Love” from LW can still get those hymns and others for use even though they are not in LSB. That’s why the supplement that I’ve heard will be published next summer in hardback (talked about on Gottesdienst) will complement what’s come before as the Church continues singing the her song from now into and through eternity.
Thank you David, We’ve inherited some rich hymnody and liturgy, haven’t we?
Thanks for this explanation of the differences in our hymnals as it’s not easy to explain. I add that one of my favorite things in LSB is the scripture references added.
You’re welcome. I couldn’t agree more about the scripture refs. I try to include them when printed in the bulletin too. It’s very important that we consistently demonstrate the scriptural basis of Lutheran Liturgy.
Loved the history. First began going to church at a university based contemporary service which did not use the standard hymnal.
Good! Stick with it. In the liturgy you’ll find and continue to discover a richness of the scriptures in a memorable form for the life of Christians.
Thanks for this article, Fr. Jason. As a relatively new Lutheran, I love the LSB. I know many of the older folk may prefer the TLH for nostalgic reasons, but the LSB made some important corrections to the TLH as you’ve pointed out.
Nonz,
Welcome to the household of Lutheranism. I’m glad you found the article useful.
Good article! I wonder if some of the move away from Holy Communion every Sunday had to do with rural congregations who only had an itinerant pastor who was there once a month. My now 99 year old mother grew up in a small Wendish farm community in central Texas who, for a time, saw a pastor once a month or even once a quarter. The pastor sent them sermons for the weeks he wasn’t present and an elder would read the sermon to the congregation. Without a pastor to consecrate the elements, there was no Holy Communion. Just a thought for the history behind that practice.
John,
You’re by no means wrong about that. The circuit riders were often the immediate cause of infrequent communion in US frontier settings. There was also the German pietist influence, which demoted the sacrament under a personal relationship and private study. These things with the English hymnal all contributed together to give us the early 20th century infrequent practice.