LSB Resources: Additional Indexes
For a number of years I’ve had lofty goals to catalog my music library — not just the books, but also the individual pieces within the book, associated hymn tunes, composers, when I used a piece, etc. While I haven’t made much progress on the cataloging, awhile back I did create the underlying structure that would link everything back to Lutheran Service Book and the associated hymn tunes. Through that project I had the data to create several indexes that had more detail than those provided in the back of the LSB editions — primarily around the hymn tunes used in LSB.
LSB 334: O, Lord, How Shall I Meet You
Some of you may have already discovered this, but I’ll pass it along for those that don’t know.
The stanza numbering for O, Lord, How Shall I Meet You (LSB 334) is incorrect in the LSB pew edition (or at least the copies I have seen). The six stanzas are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, but omit 5. The Hymn Accompaniment edition and the Guitar Chord edition have the stanzas numbered as 1-6.
11/24/09 UPDATE: I have been informed that some pew editions don’t have this stanza numbering issue. Perhaps later print runs fixed it. My editions are probably from the initial print run.
The Concordia Organist
I received an e-mail today from CPH that startled me even though I “knew” their new product would be coming eventually.
Wanted: One Outstanding Church Organist.
Music adds much to our worship, but musicians can be hard to find. Well, look no further.
The reality is that many churches have a difficult time finding an organist or even someone who can play the piano for worship services. Enter CPH. They have created Concordia Organist, a 31-CD set of all the hymns in LSB which can be used to accompany hymn singing.
LSB 334: O Lord, How Shall I Meet You
Some of you may have already discovered this, but I’ll pass it along for those that don’t know.
The stanza numbering for O, Lord, How Shall I Meet You (LSB 334) is incorrect in the LSB pew edition (or at least the copies I have seen). The six stanzas are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, but omit 5. The Hymn Accompaniment edition and the Guitar Chord edition have the stanzas numbered as 1-6.
If you ever choose to sing selected stanzas of this hymn, you should verify the stanza numbers in your editions to minimize confusion during singing.
The Liturgical Fruit Basket
“The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of with the least surprises . . . Today it is a liturgical fruit basket upset.” — David Scaer from the Advantage of Liturgical Ruts (Logia 6:2 pg 53-54)
At one time a typical American Lutheran church would be using the Lutheran Hymnal or Service Book and Hymnal depending on which acronym of Lutheranism it was affiliated with. The worship service each week was familiar (which to some meant repetitious). The young children learned the liturgy and hymns next to their siblings, from their parents and grandparents. New members to the church or the Lutheran faith learned from being immersed each week in the Divine Service and catechesis.
LCMS Approves 100 "Worship / Praise" Songs
In 2006, the LCMS through the Commission on Worship published its new hymnal Lutheran Service Book. Now it looks they have moved on to a new project – reviewing “worship and praise songs” for use in LCMS churches. According to a Reporter (official LCMS newspaper) article, 100 “worship and praise songs” have successfully made their way through the Synod’s doctrinal review process (13 of them appear in LSB or earlier publications). And more are on the way. In the future these songs will be sorted based on the church year.
And what are these 100 songs? The list has yet to be released — it isn’t on the Commission of Worship’s website. Evidently, they used CCLI data from LCMS churches to determine frequently used songs. I am interested to see what songs made the cut of the Synodical reviewers — what do these songs proclaim?
Singing Difficult Hymns
It is unfortunate that many of Luther’s hymns and other Lutheran chorales have fallen out of use in the typical Lutheran congregation. I have been told more than once that those old chorales are difficult to sing. My response: These hymns have to be taught to be appreciated. Otherwise we get in an endless circle of: we don’t sing those hymns because they are unknown/difficult and they are unknown and seem difficult because we never sing them.
Powerpoint and Hymnals
Do we even need hymnals given that more and more churches are getting on the Powerpoint bandwagon? That question was posed to me by a leader in my church during a discussion on Lutheran Service Book. To be honest, I was taken aback. No hymnals?
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