{"id":56382,"date":"2021-08-11T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=56382"},"modified":"2021-08-05T17:41:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T21:41:52","slug":"the-advantage-of-using-hymnals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/08\/the-advantage-of-using-hymnals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Advantage of Using Hymnals"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2021\/08\/lsb-at-10-RPT-IN.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-56470\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2021\/08\/lsb-at-10-RPT-IN.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Worshipping with a hymnal has many advantages over projecting praise songs over a screen.\u00a0 And those advantages are not just matters of musical \u201cstyle,\u201d as in preferring traditional songs to contemporary ones.\u00a0 You can find hymnals that include contemporary and praise songs.\u00a0 Rather, the advantages are highly practical.<\/p>\n<p>So argues Dominic Pino at <em>National Review<\/em>, no less, in his article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/08\/the-hymnal-advantage\/?utm_source=Sailthru\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Hymnal Advantage<\/a>.\u00a0 Read it all, but here is a sample:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The hymnal front-loads the difficulty in selecting songs for worship. By selecting a hymnal put together by experts you trust, you don\u2019t have to vet every song before singing it in a church service. Someone already studied the songs and gave them a thumbs-up. They also organized the songs so it\u2019s easy to find one that fits a particular service. By the time the hymnal reaches you, it has been looked over by countless people who are supposed to have the best interests of your church in mind. There\u2019s real security in that. Without a hymnal, that sense of security is lost.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"premium-content\">\n<div class=\"author-module-ad-container show-on-desktop\">\n<aside class=\"aside-module aside-module--also-from-author\" data-remove-read=\"true\" data-component=\"articleFromAuthor\" data-mobile-count=\"1\" data-author=\"dpino\">\n<div class=\"aside-module--also-from-author__inner\">\n<blockquote><p>Hymnals also ensure a certain degree of familiarity throughout the congregation with the songs being sung. It\u2019s difficult to worship God and learn a brand-new piece of music at the same time, especially for people who aren\u2019t musically inclined to begin with. Songs in hymnals are also written to be sung along with, not performed by professionals, so they should be easier to follow for those of us who don\u2019t [take] singing lessons. By having a common body of songs to pull from, churches can ensure that congregants have at least some idea of what\u2019s coming and will be able to participate in worship more easily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He also points out that hymnals provide more variety.\u00a0 A hymnal will include hundreds of songs, far more than the oft-repeated handful of songs that are typically put up on a screen.\u00a0 He says that hymnals, especially those prepared for specific theological traditions, draw on legions of musical and theological experts, who make sure that the songs are in accord with the congregation\u2019s theology and that the musical arrangements are singable and playable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA good hymnal,\u201d he says, \u201callows for plenty of variety while also offering familiarity and staying within secure boundaries for theological soundness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I can attest to the work and expertise that goes into the production of a hymnal.\u00a0 I was the chairman of the Translation Committee for the <a href=\"https:\/\/music.cph.org\/lutheran-service-book\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lutheran Service Book<\/a>, a busy group that studied the different translations of hymns, as well as related issues.\u00a0 But we were only one of many other committees\u2013on music, on selecting and vetting the hymns, on the liturgies, etc., etc.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what church Mr. Pino goes to, but another factor in hymnals for liturgical churches such as us Lutherans is the liturgy or liturgies that are included.\u00a0 <em>The Lutheran Service Book<\/em> includes both the old service beloved by so many and the modern setting many congregations had gotten used to, plus some newer arrangements.\u00a0 A digital supplement, the <a href=\"https:\/\/cph.idevaffiliate.com\/idevaffiliate.php?id=106&amp;url=297\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lutheran Service Builder,<\/a> allows for customized services for every occasion.\u00a0 \u00a0As Mr. Pino says of good hymn books in general, the LSB combines the virtues of variety and familiarity, flexibility and order\u2013and, above all, theological faithfulness and spiritual richness.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the <em>Lutheran Service Book<\/em> includes the Psalms; services for Matins, Vespers, Compline, and others; services for Baptism, Marriage, and Funerals; confession and absolution, both corporate and individual prayers; and the Catechism.\u00a0 The result is a comprehensive resource for the church and the spiritual lives of its members.<\/p>\n<p>The project took 10 years to complete, including field testing, doctrinal review, and getting approval from the synod, including ratification by the convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.\u00a0 It came out in 2005 and has since sold more than a million copies.\u00a0 It did a great deal to bring our synod together and to alleviate the \u201cworship wars\u201d that were tearing us apart.<\/p>\n<p>Go <a href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/hymnal\/LSB2006\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a> for a detailed table of contents and samples of the <em>Lutheran Service Book.\u00a0 <\/em>You can buy the Lutheran Service Book <a href=\"https:\/\/cph.idevaffiliate.com\/idevaffiliate.php?id=106&amp;url=294\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I should also mention the recently-released <a href=\"https:\/\/cph.idevaffiliate.com\/idevaffiliate.php?id=106&amp;url=295\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns<\/a>, a massive two-volume work that gives the history, analysis, and other information about each of the over 900 songs in the hymnal, plus biographies of all of the composers and lyric writers.\u00a0 This was a mammoth undertaking, which I was privileged to contribute to, along with 126 other scholars.\u00a0 It breaks new ground in hymn research, and anyone\u2013Lutheran or not\u2013who is interested in hymns will want to consult this work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo:\u00a0 from <a href=\"https:\/\/reporter.lcms.org\/2016\/10-years-of-lutheran-service-book\/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=10-years-of-lutheran-service-book\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">LCMS Reporter<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"aside-module--also-from-author__inner\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worshipping with a hymnal has many advantages over projecting praise songs over a screen.\u00a0 And those advantages are not just matters of musical &#8220;style,&#8221; as in preferring traditional songs to contemporary ones.\u00a0 Rather, they are very practical.  So argues a writer for National Review.  I also offer my experience helping with the development of the Lutheran Service Book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":56470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,32,34,47],"tags":[11029,1064,11032,11035,2386],"class_list":["post-56382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-music","category-personal","category-theology","tag-hymnals","tag-hymns","tag-lutheran-service-book","tag-lutheran-service-book-companion","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Advantage of Using Hymnals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Worshipping with a hymnal has many advantages over projecting praise songs over a screen.\u00a0 And those advantages are not just matters of musical &quot;style,&quot; as in preferring traditional songs to contemporary ones.\u00a0 Rather, they are very practical. 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