“a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.”

And because of the rich gifts God gives in Baptism (forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation) I can say:

God’s own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth’s treasure many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity! (LSB 594)

Amen.

Thanks for reading God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It.

I remember as a teenager reading TLH #315. (While I haven’t been at a congregation that uses The Lutheran Hymnal for a few years now, I still have the hymn numbers deeply ingrained in my mind.) Without picking up TLH, which hymn is it? If you answered “I Come, O Savior, To Thy Table”, you are correct. You get bonus points if you also remembered that it has 15 stanzas. As best as I can remember, I have never sung the entire hymn in one service. For better or worse, LSB broke the hymn into two hymns – LSB 618 and 619 – each with 5 stanzas and eliminated the remaining 5 stanzas. Perhaps the later stanzas will be sung more often now.

This all leads up to a memorable quote from my current lunch time reading — Robin Leaver’s study of “Luther’s Liturgical Music”. In the essay on Vater unser im Himmelrich (Out Father, Who from Heaven Above – LSB 766), Leaver recounts that Martin Franzmann was concerned that Luther’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer was infrequently sung because it was perceived to be too long — with 9 stanzas. Franzmann wrote a three-stanza hymn (LBW 442 — LBW did not include Luther’s hymn), as did Henry Letterman (LW 430). Leaver concludes with:

These shortened forms of hymnic versions of the Lord’s Prayer are symptomatic of our modern age, which is impatient with hymns longer than three or four stanzas and with services of worship that last longer than fifty-nine minutes. But worship and prayer require time if we are to become attuned to what we are doing and why. (133-134)

Sometimes it gets to the point of sound bite hymnody — first and last verses — or the “Best of the Divine Service” to fit the “allotted” time. Why? I would gladly stay longer to be nourished through the entire Divine Service and hymnody.

Thanks for reading “There’s Just Too Many Hymn Stanzas”.

And after reading this chapter, what do I remember? This practical bit of advice from Luther regarding the starting pitch of a song: “No one should try to sing such a song in a higher key, for he will surely become hoarse and make a botch of it before he reaches five notes.” Thus saith Luther.

Thanks for reading Singing Advice from Luther.

Not surprisingly, many of Luther’s hymns are not the easiest to sing. However, one of the hymns that should be moderately difficult to sing because of its rhythmic pattern turns out to be one that many congregations can sing quite well — Luther’s communion hymn “O Lord, We Praise Thee”. Because of it’s familiarity, some might even say that it is one of Luther’s easy hymns.

Why does it seem so easy? One clear reason is that it is sung frequently and is hence reinforced throughout the years and generations. The young and new people to the Lutheran faith learn from the leading of those around them.

Difficult hymns don’t have to remain difficult. By a careful and deliberate plan, difficult hymns can become beloved and familiar.

Are there any “difficult” hymns that your congregation does not find difficult? How do you introduce new hymns?

Thanks for reading Difficult Hymns That Are Not Difficult.