Review: Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELCA)

I was able to pick up a copy of the new Lutheran hymnal recently. Published in 2006, it represents the first in what will probably develop into a wave of new denominational resources for congregational song in the next several years. The PC(USA) has a project in the works. The United Methodist Church had one going until funding issues led to its suspension. There are others also.

The new volume fits in the same spaces in sanctuary pew racks as previous books did. It's red. (Youth at a conference where Presbyterian Congregational Song Project chair David Eicher was present suggested yellow for the new PC(USA) hymnal!) It seems to weight ever-so-slightly more than their previous worship hymnal.

After preliminary resources at the outset of the volume, the book includes the complete lectionary of the church year, plus a prayer for each Sunday. Then follow prayers for other commemorations and events.

Next follow ten (yes, 10) settings of the service for Holy Communion including music. Then come services of the Word, Baptism, liturgies for confession and forgiveness and, special liturgies for Lent and Lenten holy days, funerals, healing and daily prayer. At page 335 begins a complete psalter, in a translation "intended for common sung prayer and proclamation rather than a translation for study." Nice. Until the Psalter, the pages were numbered sequentially (growing out of lessons learned in previous books on the part of various denominations). But, oops, the service music section begins with #151. It's not quite clear where that number came from, because we're actually on about page 390. Following the extensive section of service music, hymns proper begin with #239 and open with hymns for the church year. The last hymn is #893, giving us a total of about 650 songs.

The last section includes a daily lectionary (that's in addition to the Sunday lectionary at the front of the book). This makes this truly a book for church and home use. There is also a brief catechism, and then the standard indices expected in a church hymnal.

A couple of remarkable points stand out. There is a lot of global music, representative of the ELCA's global mission outreach and the ethnic make-up of some of its American congregations. There is a dearth of Praise and Worship contemporary songs. (A cursory read through the volume revealed none; they may be hiding in there somewhere.) There are quite a few new hymns and songs drawn from the contemplative traditions of Taize and Iona.

I heard this summer the Augsburg-Fortress is also in the process of releasing a multi-volume set of resources for the hymnal: a piano setting and an organ setting of each hymn in the book. Several hymnals have such supplemental resources for the accompanist, but if this as complete as advertised (a piano piece and an organ piece for every hymn), then it's a remarkable undertaking and boon for the church musician.

All in all this is a commendable volume. I was at a conference at St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 1998 when there was an initial flush of buzz about the new hymnal undertaking. It's neat to see what that buzz led to. I am curious to know what the denomination is going to put forth to support the use of P&W contemporary music, or if they are going to sort of side step that issue. Every church musician needs a copy on the shelf; persons interested in hymnody and liturgy also need a copy. The average lay person, not so much. + + +