I thought I was finished with my American hymnal compilation. Wrong. I decided to add to the compilation two other hymnals: the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal (1904, 1908) and the American Lutheran Hymnal (1930). Both hymnals were used by my paternal grandparents. The church they grew up in seems to have been affiliated with the Joint Synod of Ohio and Adjacent States (estab. 1818). Mergers over the years lead the church from the Ohio Synod to the ALC, and finally the ELCA. I am not sure when my grandparents' church was formed (at least one hundred years ago). It's an old German-American Lutheran church. I don't know if it utilized German or not. The church exercised the best form of "church growth" by establishing daughter congregations throughout Baltimore. I know of at least two ELCA churches in Baltimore that have direct ties to St. Paul Lutheran Church. My grandparents were actively involved in both of these daughter churches. Sadly, St. Paul Lutheran has fallen on difficult times (like so many other Lutheran churches), and she is located in a really run-down part of Baltimore. But the faithful continue onward grounded on the Word and Sacraments.
When the ELCA's Reclaim publishes an alternative hymnal to ELW, I will most likely add those hymns to my compilation list.
6 comments:
Hi!! Your profile came up because of some common links to my own. (I do a Christian Nature blog.)
I "R" one of those Missouri-Synod folks (even married to a pastor), but I like some flexible thinking.
We got a great new hymnal. Neither our blue LW or your green LBW was laid out well. And it seems like the harmonies were created by Harry Connick for some jazz licks!!!
Take care & God bless. I hope the 21st century can find more American Christians being faithful to the solidity & reliability of both the Bible itself and of grace.
Hi, I just found your blog....I like the old hymns a lot, but I'm just learning many of them. They are very pretty, and have complex themes in them, as opposed to the contemporary stuff, which I am already bored with.
New stuff would be cool, but I can't stand the "praise and worship" stuff.
Boring!
A fair number of the old German hymns have lots of verses (8, 10, 12); I think the most I've seen is 20 verses for a single hymn! Many times, when these hymns were translated into English, not all the verses were translated. I think part of this is that it is challenging and difficult to translate some verses into English. I've taken my hand to it off and one each year, and at times it is quite daunting. Also, the Norwegian (Scandinavian) Lutherans have some really hymns, especially for Christmas that often don't make it into the average American Lutheran hymnal.
Yes, the hymns quite often have a TON of lines! I have to get used to the music patterns of them, they are not like the English type hymns most Americans know. The notes jump around, up-down-up-down. Not sure how to explain what I mean, but the English ones follow a more familiar progression.
I wish I could recall the one I love so much, I think it's one of Luther's. Very happy, like a drinking song, you wanna jump around and dance to it...;-)
Many of Luther's hymns have a distinctive musical sound to them. I'm not sure which hymn you are referring to off the top of my head, but I know that there are several that seem to fit your description.
Glad to read. I am a Lutheran from India. I wish to get a German Lutheran Hymnal and Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal(English). Can anybody provide me information to get these hymnals? Thanks...
-Joseph
Post a Comment