“One little word can fell him.”

Do you know what word Martin Luther had in mind? If so, you might be a better Lutheran than I am. I have to admit that even with all the times I’ve sung the hymn, I never bothered to find out the answer to that question.

Maybe I sort of assumed it was something like “Jesus” or “grace.” Maybe I assumed Luther didn’t necessarily have one specific word in mind but rather was making the point that the Word of God in general — even in the smallest of quantities — holds total power over Satan.

But then a recent sermon on verses from Revelation led me to investigate the question further. The verses in front of me were Revelation 14:6,7. They describe an angel, a messenger sent from God, who delivers the gospel to every nation on earth until Jesus’ return. From the earliest days of the Reformation, many have identified Luther as at least part of the fulfillment of this comforting promise. These verses served as the sermon text at Luther’s funeral and have been used on anniversaries of the Reformation for centuries.

The beauty of the picture of that angel is highlighted by the surrounding context. John had just seen a vivid vision of the Church’s greatest enemies: a ferocious red dragon and his two allies, the beasts. That dragon represents Satan, whose goal it is to lead “the whole world astray” (12:9).

As Satan carries out that work, lies flow out of his mouth like water. His liquid lies seep into every nook and cranny of our world. They seep into our homes, our churches, and our hearts. They come in many different shapes and sizes. But one common thread ties them all together. More than anything else, the devil wants us to believe one grand lie, the same lie that he used to get Adam and Eve to bite: God doesn’t love you.

But then amid all of those lies, this angel goes out to do his work. He implores people to worship God and give him glory rather than paying homage to the dragon by listening to his lies. Why? The angels tells us. “The hour of his judgment has come” (14:7). Against all of the devil’s lies that God doesn’t love you stands one accomplished fact. One finished event demonstrates beyond doubt that the devil’s greatest lie is just that, that God most certainly loves us: Jesus’ death on the cross.

“He’s judged. The deed is done.”

So when the devil tries to convince you that God doesn’t love you because of the sins you’ve committed… When the devil tries to convince you that God doesn’t love you because of the suffering you’re enduring… When the devil tries to convince you that God doesn’t love you because of the struggle he’s asking you to take up against the deeply-rooted desires of your heart... Rather than listening to those lies, remember Jesus’ cross as indisputable, irreversible evidence to the contrary.

Then answer the devil with that one little word that, as Jesus has clearly demonstrated, describes him so perfectly: “Liar.” ¹

Thank you to all those who took the time to share their thoughts on, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." We hope you enjoy hearing a recording of this hymn and seeing some of the comments that we received.

Next week we'll feature another hymn from the list of Fifty Favorite Hymns: "Jerusalem the Golden" (Christian Worship Supplement #728).

“Look at the finish line, not your feet.” When my daughter Priscilla and I were running in a race, those were the words I told her. The Third Sunday of End Time, Saints Triumphant, is that sort of Sunday. It’s a day where we lift our eyes up to the finish line and those waiting for us there in heaven. One of the hymns we sing on that Sunday is “Jerusalem the Golden.” It was written by Bernard of Cluny in the 1200s. With beautiful words it lifts our eyes up above the crosses we bear and the trials we endure to the finish line of heaven. In the first stanza, he writes:

Jerusalem the golden, With milk and honey blest—
The sight of it refreshes The weary and oppressed:
I know not, oh, I know not What joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory, What bliss beyond compare:
To sing the hymn unending With all the martyr throng,
Amidst the halls of Zion Resounding full with song.

There are so many pictures and promises of heaven in God’s word. Bernard reminds us that even though we do not know exactly what heaven looks like, we have every right and joy of pondering what these pictures and promises in God’s word are portraying. In verse 2 he writes:

Oh, sweet and blessed country, The home of God’s elect!
Oh, sweet and blessed country That eager hearts expect,
Where they who with their leader Have conquered in the fight
Forever and forever Are clad in robes of white.
Jesus, in mercy bring us To that dear land of rest
Where sings the host of heaven Your glorious name to bless.

Can you see yourself there in heaven? Can you see your sins washed away in Jesus’ blood, wearing the white robe of his righteousness? Can you focus in on the victory that the Lamb of God has won for us and gives to us? Do you yearn for “that dear land of rest?” That’s why this is one of my favorite hymns. It focuses our faith on the finish line. It gives us the privilege of singing a heavenly song knowing that even this song is nothing compared to singing with all the assembled hosts and martyrs when we get to heaven. That is a finish line worth lifting our eyes up to.

Thank you to all those who took the time to share their thoughts on, "Jerusalem, the Golden."

A good number of people shared their thoughts about the tune paired with this text. Some expressed their preference for EWING (Christian Worship #214), while others enjoy the newer pairing with THAXTED (Christian Worship Supplement #728). Please know that these comments are very valuable as we wrestle with this and many similar decisions. It's not unthinkable that a text could appear with multiple tunes in the next hymnal, as is the case in Christian Worship.

Some of you are aware that this text paired with THAXTED has been the closing hymn at the National Worship Conference since its beginning in 1996. For the 2014 conference, a special setting was commissioned and written by Mr. Dale Witte. We thank Mr. Witte for giving us permission to use the recording of the performance of his setting for the video above.

Next week we'll feature another hymn from the list of Fifty Favorite Hymns: "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel" (Christian Worship #23).

As a child, I remember my parents having us count down the days to Christmas with an Advent calendar. There was the usual haranguing among siblings over whose turn it was to open that day’s door. But each door revealed something about the coming Savior—an Old Testament reference, a picture of Gabriel, Mary or Joseph, a shepherd or sheep—all leading up to the manger behind the December 25 door. We looked ahead to the celebration of our Savior’s birth by looking back to God’s promises.

The hymn “Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel” has us looking forward by looking back. We look back to the Old Testament pictures of the coming Savior: Emmanuel, Root of Jesse, Dayspring, Key of David. The coming Savior will be God with us. He will be descended from the family of King of David. He will be the key that opens the gates of heaven. He will be the light shining in the darkness of this evil world.

This ancient (12th century) and well-loved hymn with its chant-like melody also directs our thoughts forward to what the coming Savior accomplishes for us.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Like the people of Israel in captivity in heathen Babylon, we were enslaved by our own wickedness in this evil world. The blood of the Son of God made flesh is the ransom price to set us free.

Oh, come, O Root of Jesse, free
Your own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell your people save,
And bring them vict’ry o’er the grave.

Jesus has rescued us from the fear of death and the reality of hell by his death and resurrection.

Oh, come, O Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Pain. Suffering. Sadness. Death. They hang over us like a black cloud and can sap the joy out of life. But the good news of our Savior’s coming comforts us and cheers us.

Oh, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home.
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Even though our sins cause great trouble and would keep heaven closed to us, great David’s greater Son has opened the door to the joys of heaven.

As children, we anticipated the opening of gifts on Christmas. As children of God, we also anticipated the celebration of the Gift in Christmas services. We looked back at the Old Testament promises and saw their fulfillment in the baby laid in Bethlehem’s manger. As we look back to God’s promises and “look back” by singing an ancient Advent hymn, may we look forward and rejoice at what our Savior’s coming has done and won for us.

Thank you to all those who took the time to share their thoughts on, "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel." We hope you enjoy hearing a recording of this hymn and seeing some of the comments that we received.

Next week we'll feature another hymn from the list of Fifty Favorite Hymns: "What Child Is This?" (Christian Worship #67).

The poetic device of asking a question is not uncommon. When Elizabeth Barrett Browning posed the rather famous question, “How do I love thee?” she was not intending to leave the question open. Fast on the heels of the question came the answer: “Let me count the ways.”

The poetry of hymns includes any number of examples which use this same device. Frederic Baue’s hymn “What Is This Bread?” (Christian Worship Supplement #742) is reminiscent of catechetical question and answer methodology. The African-American spiritual “Were You There?” (Christian Worship #119) acknowledges that we weren’t there at the crucifixion but places us there in spirit simply by asking the question. Isaac Watts asks, “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” (The Lutheran Hymnal #445) so that the singer, through all the trials of being a Christian, will know that the answer is, “Yes,” and will pray, “Increase my courage, Lord!” Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And Can It Be,” includes the question, “How can it be that you, my Lord, should die for me?” and provides the answer: “Amazing love!”

So, during the Christmas season, when we sing the question of hymn writer William Dix, “What Child Is This?” (Christian Worship #67), we understand that the stanza is going to unfold the marvelous answer.

What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the Son of Mary!

With the current world population, a baby is born every four seconds. In the lesser populated world in which Mary and Joseph lived, the birth frequency rate was undoubtedly a little lower. But still, plenty of babies were being born. Of all of those births the question could be asked, “What child is this?” Of only one of those births—the firstborn son of a virgin, a birth greeted with angel anthems, a birth announced to shepherds—of only one of those births could the answer be given, “This child is Christ the King!”

What is the King of kings doing lying in a manger?

Why lies he in such mean estate where oxen now are feeding?
Good Christians, fear; for sinners here the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through; the cross he'll bear for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary!

The answer of the hymn is the answer of the scriptures. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him” (John 19:17-18). “One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear” (John 19:34). This particular child wouldn’t be any more precious than any other child born in Bethlehem or anywhere else were he not the God-man whose holy sacrifice removed from the sight of God the sin of the world.

With the child’s identification and mission clearly delineated, the questions fade and the invitation is extended.

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; come, peasant, king, to own him.
The King of kings Salvation brings; let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise the song on high; the virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the babe, the Son of Mary!

The invitation is to believe (“Let loving hearts enthrone him.”), to worship (“Raise, raise the song on high.”), and to rejoice (“Joy, joy for Christ is born.”).

The haunting melody of GREENSLEEVES reaches a highpoint twice in each stanza. In two of three stanzas the melody soars where the answer to the question is being given. “This is Christ the King!” “Nails, spear shall pierce him through.” And in the third stanza, that melodic highpoint fittingly cries out, “Raise the song on high. Joy, for Christ is born.” It is well worth it to take in an extra measure of breath to belt out those phrases that fall on the high notes. Why?

You are reading these words in December, the month during which we celebrate the birth of the King. In this article’s treatment of this hymn, you may not have come across anything that is startlingly new to you. That of itself reminds you of the priceless gifts you’ve been given. The Lord has given you the answers to these questions and the faith that holds them fast. This child is Christ my king. Nails and spear pierced through him in my place. I have a song to raise on high. I have reason to rejoice, for Christ is born for me.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Dear friends in Christ,

I often have to remind myself that not everyone is as familiar with what’s going on with the hymnal project as I am. As I write this winter update in December 2015, I have been doing the full time work of a project director for three years. And yet, even our own hymnal project subcommittees have not been “at it” for all that long. An Executive Committee first met face to face in September 2013. Thereafter, other project committees began to meet online or in person (Scripture Committee – November 2013; Psalmody, Rites, Communication, and Technology Committees – January 2014; Hymnody Committee first face to face meeting – May 2014). While the hymnal project website launched in July 2013, it didn’t contain a great deal of information in those early days before the committees had even met for the first time.

So, while I have been fully engaged in this work for three years, the hymnal project subcommittees have only been fully functional themselves for approximately eighteen to twenty-four months. It took a while for the committees to become orientated to the work and to lay the groundwork for all that they would be doing.

Now, however, all the subcommittees are fully engaged. We have been mapping out a timeline which will allow them to cover all the work necessary to release a new hymnal and its attendant resources somewhere in the early 2020s. (We’re not yet at the point of knowing a firm release date.)

Thus, with the committees just beginning to churn out tangible materials, we readily recognize that not everyone in our church body has a clear grasp of where things stand. At this point we wouldn’t expect that to be the case for a hymnal which is projected to be released more than half a decade from now. On the other hand, we do want to bring people along as best we can in providing information relative to the status of the work that’s being done.

The Communications Committee completed four national surveys in calendar year 2014. Those surveyed were pastors, teachers and Sunday School teachers, musicians, and all WELS members. The results have been processed and consulted repeatedly as the project subcommittees have set about their work. A review of each week’s appointed scripture lessons, hymn and psalm choices, and other worship information, slated to be covered over three years and accelerated to be wrapped up in two years, has also now been completed. This brings the Communication Committee to the point of working with focus groups around the country to field test individual items on which the other subcommittees wish to receive feedback. Thanks to all who have (and who yet will) provide this very important and helpful information.

Active since the summer of 2013, the project website has brought us over 700 submissions of individual items, the majority of which have been hymns. Individual comments received through the website now number over a thousand. All comments and submissions have been reviewed and archived. Many comments and submissions also make their way into a pipeline which has been set up as a way for subcommittees to treat and potentially act on the materials and comments received.

The Scripture Committee has spent countless hours creating first drafts of a church year calendar and a revised lectionary (three-year set of scripture readings for use in public worship; cf. Christian Worship, pp. 162-166). This committee has responded to the preference of our church body’s pastors by providing a lectionary draft which has a unified theme across all three lessons appointed for the Sundays and festivals. The lectionary is being and will continue to be reviewed and critiqued on a number of different levels over the next several years.

On a regular and frequent basis, the Psalmody Committee now reviews upwards of twenty to thirty musical settings of a particular psalm. The committee is on a path toward providing not only approximately seventy psalm settings for the front pages of the next hymnal (similar to Christian Worship, pp. 64-122) but also textual and musical presentations of all 150 psalms in an additional, self-standing volume (called a Psalter). As the Christian Worship psalmody format has in so many cases brought back to our congregations regular singing of the psalms, the work of the Psalmody Committee will make many more psalms available for singing (and for personal devotion) in both regular public worship settings and other settings as well (school chapel services; congregational meetings; group devotions; etc.).

The Hymnody Committee has completed a first pass of reviewing all the existing hymns in Christian Worship and Christian Worship Supplement. It will be a few years yet before a “final hymn list” is identified. For now, rankings of hymns give an initial indication of which hymns are slated for inclusion in the next hymnal and which are not. In this regard there will be a fair amount of individual hymns shifting back and forth (inclusion/exclusion) as consideration is given to existing hymns and “new” hymns (new to us as far as being in our hymnal, but both ancient and recent in regard to when they were written). The text and music subcommittees of the Hymnody Committee meet monthly to treat approximately 20 existing hymns a month, and the committee is in the process of compiling a list of hundreds of new hymns for consideration.

The Rites Committee has spent well over a year working on the text and flow of what might most easily be called a “main communion service.” This historic service is very similar to Christian Worship’s Common Service (p. 15) and Christian Worship Supplement’s Divine Service 1 (p. 15). Envisioned for this service are both a new musical setting for the songs of the liturgy (printed in the hymnal), and alternate musical settings for the same service, available electronically. Various services from the current hymnal and supplement which are familiar to WELS worshipers will continue to be available in some form, to insure that when our next hymnal is released, congregations will have continuing access to familiar materials, while also being able to learn (at their own desired pace) musical service settings which are new. The committee will also be working on a service similar to The Service of the Word (Christian Worship, p. 38), and other services such as Morning Praise, Evening Prayer, etc.

We recently added one more committee to work on additional rites, referred to as “Occasional Services.” Pastors especially will be familiar with the current volume, Christian Worship: Occasional Services, which includes rites such as installations, dedications, reception of new members, and the like. We don’t anticipate that all of the services in the current book will need major overhauls, but this work will also allow for a review of language in the book and will allow us to add services that were not included in the current volume (e.g., anniversary of a congregation).

The Technology Committee continues to concentrate on three main areas or resources. A worship service planning application is being pursued. This program will take virtually all of the hymnal materials and make them digitally available for both planning worship services (church calendar based; hymn selection; service selection) and printing service folders. It is too early to promise what such an application might be able to do, but such a software program is a high priority for the committee. Additionally, the research work continues toward making available a personal digital hymnal (as an application for a tablet or phone) and developing a digital framework for musicians (an array of additional musical resources in support of what appears in the hymnal and psalter).

Work on an updated Handbook is in its initial stages. The Handbook provides background information on all of the hymns. An existing single volume called Christian Worship: Manual will most likely become four separate volumes, presenting a broad treatment of all of the hymnal resources, with target audiences of 1) pastors and worship leaders; 2) congregational groups and worship committees; 3) musicians and choirs; and 4) all congregation members.

On a regular sheet of paper, this winter update approaches three pages in length. It reaches all those - but only those - who subscribe to or visit the project website. In connection with field testing materials with focus groups, the Communication Committee also plans to soon release a more detailed report of the specific work of all of the committees. This report will go out through WELS Communications to all congregations. It is our hope that this update and that report will provide fairly comprehensive coverage of the hymnal project work. We remain committed to providing the best public worship resources we can compile, so that Jesus Christ might be proclaimed, believed, and honored.

On behalf of the WELS hymnal project,
Rev. Michael Schultz, director

During the past few months we've been drawing attention to a handful of hymns that many people would count among their favorites. Of course, not every hymn worthy of our reflection shows up near the top of a list of people's favorites. One such hymn is Martin Franzmann's, "O God, O Lord of Heaven and Earth" (Christian Worship #400).

We are pleased to be able to post here a devotional article about that hymn, written by Professor Emeritus Theodore Hartwig. In the author's own words, this hymn is like "a treasure hidden in a field." It may not be sung nearly as often as "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" or "Jerusalem the Golden." However, as the author puts it, it beautifully succeeds in "capturing the plight in today’s world while also enunciating the essence of the imperishable Gospel of Jesus Christ."

We thank Professor Hartwig for his article. If it succeeds in leading you to read and reflect on the words of the hymn it highlights, it will be well worth your time.

Projection technology has, for the most part, become ubiquitous in the world of business, academic, and scientific communication. Managers make pitches with clicker in hand. Professors deliver lectures from projected outlines. Engineers present findings to the team via PowerPoint. Projection technology has made its way into the church’s activities of preaching and worship too.

Those of us working on the WELS Hymnal Project have sensed that projection is an area where digital technology can exert a pronounced effect on the worship practices in our church body. Once installed, the projection system usually becomes the single most prominent digital technology in the sanctuary. For that reason alone the technology deserves careful consideration. Furthermore, the Technology Committee and the Executive Committee have recently taken up the task of deciding what sort of digital products to introduce with the new hymnal. Since our decisions about such technologies will shape worship practices for thousands of people we want to give this topic the careful thought it deserves. To assist us in our decision-making we are engaging congregations in a dialogue on the topic of projection in worship.

I believe that the time is right for such a dialogue. Digital technology has fully diffused into our culture and society. Everyone and their mother, as the idiom goes, uses such technology on a daily basis. The sort of communication, creativity, and efficiency that digital technology delivers is breathtaking. But we are also beginning to notice how the bright possibility of digital technology casts a shadow of its own.

Together we are learning that technology is a transaction. We gain certain benefits—sometimes amazing benefits, but we also relinquish something in exchange. The trick, of course, is to accurately assess the transactional cost of a technology and then to deliberate whether what we give up is worth what we receive.

We want to better understand what that transaction looks like as congregations adopt more prominent digital technologies in their worship life, particularly the large-format projection screen. Our dialogue will identify the benefits that congregations seek to gain from projection, while also increasing our understanding of what congregations may give up in exchange.

The dialogue began recently when we sent a follow-up survey to all the congregations who previously indicated to us that they regularly used projection in worship. We noted at the time that 17% of congregations reported the practice of projecting some or all of the service onto a large-format screen. Our first survey only asked some basic questions about what congregations projected, now we want to gather more information about how projection is used in worship. We also hope to gain some insights into the attitudes, emotions, and philosophies that surround the practice.

The survey is just the first step in the dialogue. We will publish more blog posts on the topic in the future and announce further opportunities to participate in the dialogue. In a year’s time we will have a wide range of insights to offer based on the dialogue. Our hope and goal is that through this conversation our church body be well-equipped to make wise decisions about projection in worship.

Note: As the WELS Hymnal begins to approach its halfway point, the members of the project are pleased to share this comprehensive update on our work. Over the course of the next several weeks, we will feature each individual section of this report here on our website's blog. As each individual section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Introduction and Background

A hymnal project is a synod-wide effort, and that makes it beneficial on a number of levels. This is a time for us as a synod to review our current hymnal and to give thanks for the gifts we have. It’s a time to think about future generations and the heritage we will pass along to them. It’s a time to work together and talk together about the most important thing we do together in the name of Jesus our Savior: worship. We recognize that a synod’s hymnal isn’t the only resource for worship that a local congregation has at its disposal, but it is a resource that carries the weight of synod-wide dialog, committee discussion, and careful study in light of God’s Word. That promises to make this new hymnal a unique and valuable resource for God’s people gathered around God’s means of grace.

When the Joint Hymnal Committee was finishing its work on our 1993 hymnal Christian Worship (CW), its members generally agreed that the fifty-two-year lifespan of our previous hymnal, The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH), had been too long. Thirty years seemed closer to the desirable lifespan of a hymnal, and the idea was to publish a hymnal supplement when we were halfway there. In 2008 WELS congregations welcomed the release of Christian Worship Supplement (CWS). Already then, the Commission on Worship was promoting the supplement as a bridge to the next hymnal. As congregations around the synod made use of CWS’s lectionary, psalms, rites and hymns in worship, they would be helping the next hymnal committee know which of those elements deserved a more permanent place in the worship life of the church.

In 2011, the synod in convention adopted a long range plan which included this goal under strategies for congregation and district ministry: “establish a committee to publish a new hymnal by the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnal (1524).” The Commission on Worship began preliminary work on the project’s aim, scope, and timeline, and in 2012 the Conference of Presidents called Rev. Michael Schultz to serve as project director. Soon afterward, the administrative structure for the project began taking shape.

Committee Membership

Names of committee members are listed here, with an asterisk (*) marking the chair of each committee.

Bryan Gerlach, Michael Marquardt, Michael Schultz, Daniel Sims, James Tiefel, and Jon Zabell* have been appointed as at-large members of the Executive Committee (XC).

Seven subcommittees are in place, with the chairman of each serving on the XC:

Psalms Committee

Samuel Hacker, Amy Hansel, Grace Hennig, Paul Prange*, Adrian Smith, Bill Tackmier, Dale Witte, Daniel Witte

Hymns Committee

Jeremy Bakken, Kevin Bode, Sara Buelow, Aaron Christie*, Mark Davidson, Brian Doebler, Benj Lawrenz, Holly Ledvina, Jeremy Mattek, Ruth Mattek, Phil Moldenhauer, Joel Otto

Rites Committee

John Bortulin, Timothy Buelow, Joel Gawrisch, James Hoogervorst, Wayne Laitinen, Jon Micheel*, Johnold Strey, James Tiefel    

Communications Committee

Jonathan Bauer*, Steve Bauer, Daniel Bondow, Linnea Koeppel, Amanda Kohlmetz, Mike Marquardt, Sarah Mayer, Jonathan Niemi, Mark Schutz

Occasional Services Committee

Phil Arnold, Steve Bode, Aaron Glaeske, Keith Wessel*

Scripture Committee

Steven Lange, Daniel Leyrer, Tyler Piel, Jonathan Scharf, Jonathan Schroeder*, Earle Treptow, John Vieths,

Technology Committee

Caleb Bassett*, Dave Gruen, Paul Lemke, Jonathan Pasbrig, Martin Spriggs, Don Vossler, Ian Welch, Matt Weseloh

In addition to the members of these seven subcommittees, the Executive Committee is assisted by a group of people who are responsible for producing the supplementary material currently found in Christian Worship: Handbook and Christian Worship: Manual. They include Mark Tiefel, Philip Casmer, Justin Cloute, Noah Headrick, Johann Caauwe, and Benjamin Tomczak.

Project Mission Statement

Early on in the project’s development, the members of the Executive Committee developed and adopted a project mission statement. That mission statement is as follows:

1. This hymnal will confess Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, who comes to us in the means of grace.

2. This hymnal will provide materials that enable believers to use the means of grace in public worship and other devotional settings.

3. This hymnal will be faithful to the scriptures and to the witness of the scriptures in the Lutheran Confessions.

4. This hymnal will respect and draw from the historic worship voice of the Christian Church and from our Lutheran heritage.

5. This hymnal will include texts and music of excellent quality from past and present sources.

6. This hymnal will be produced with thorough study of the character of worship in WELS and the prayer that it may be used joyfully by the people and congregations of our synod.

7. This hymnal will be accompanied by print and electronic resources intended to meet the needs of various worship settings in WELS.

Note: In early February, a comprehensive report on the work of the WELS Hymnal project was posted to our website and distributed through several synod-wide communication channels. We are also featuring each section of the report here on our website's blog. As each section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Hymnody Committee

Pastor Aaron Christie, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

The Hymnody Committee (HC) is responsible for what one would expect: the roughly 650 hymns found between the covers of the new hymnal. Our work, supervised by the Executive Committee, includes both the texts and music of the hymns. We are working hard to provide a body of hymnody for our synod that is centered in Christ, rooted in the means of grace, decidedly Lutheran in tradition, yet providing ample room for the best that the Church at-large has to offer.

One would expect the HC to work on the hymns of the so-called “pew edition” hymnal. However, the scope of the HC’s task is wider than that. The HC also has its sights set on providing a vast array of musical resources for each hymn, available apart from the pew edition. The HC will play a major role in producing resources that could include alternate accompaniments, settings in lower keys, descants, and other instrumental parts not included in the pew edition. In short, the HC is responsible for all things textual and musical in relation to hymns in our next hymnal. We are working hard to make the Church’s hymnic treasures as usable as possible by as many of our parishes and schools as possible.

Where We Are Headed

Some Old, Some New

We envision a book of approximately 650 hymns. Our new book will follow CW’s lead in bringing forward about two-thirds of the hymns from CW and CWS into the new book. This leaves about one-third of the book for new hymns. Some of these “new” hymns will be from centuries or decades past. Others of these hymns will be brand new - gleaned from materials which authors and composers have more recently released. When it comes to what’s new in this hymnal, our concern is not chronology, but quality.

How does a hymn earn a place in the new hymnal? What criteria is the HC using to determine if a hymn is worthy of inclusion? One of the first documents the HC produced was a list of hymn criteria. That document states:

Hymns considered for inclusion should…

1. be Christocentric.

2. be in harmony with the scriptural faith as confessed in the Lutheran Book of Concord.

3. be rooted in the Church year with its emphases on the life of Christ and the Christian’s life in Christ.

4. be drawn from classic Lutheran sources and deliberately inclusive of the Church’s broader song (including so-called International or Global music).

5. be superlative examples of their genre in regards to both textual content and musical craft.

6. be accessible and meaningful for God’s people at worship in both public and private settings.

7. be useful for those who preach and teach the faith.

8. be parts of a corpus that will find wide acceptance by the vast majority of our fellowship.

These principles are easy enough to articulate. Using them to evaluate each hymn is a little more difficult. What if, for example, a hymn is deep theologically and excellent musically (criterion #5), but is genuinely difficult to sing (criterion #6)? The HC is dedicated to taking each hymn on a case by case basis. The HC is also dedicated to making sure that the hymnal as a whole meets these criteria even if every hymn does not meet all of them equally.

Reviewing and Revising

In addition to searching for the best of what isn’t currently in CW and CWS, the HC is also responsible for reviewing the hymns currently in those volumes that will carry over to the next hymnal. The HC has some developed some philosophical guidelines pertaining to that part of its work.

We are generally content to keep the number of stanzas found in Christian Worship. However, when excellent content leads us to consider including additional stanzas, we will be open to doing so.

One frequent request has been that hymn keys be further lowered to aid singing. The HC is willing to consider lowering keys on occasion, especially if the upper range of the melody is deemed consistently too high.

That being said, we are cautious about lowering keys too frequently. A hymn’s key is part of what creates its overall “feel.” Think of a home builder. When putting in molding, he knows that oak and maple are two very different materials. When putting in flooring, he knows that laminate tile is very different from ceramic. We want to make sure that a hymn’s trim and flooring fit well with what the hymn is trying to communicate. For example, some have commented that CW uses the key of F-major rather frequently, resulting in a less-than-desirable “sameness” throughout the hymnal. We want to be sensitive to such issues when working with the key of each hymn.

Where the range of certain hymns is a bit of a challenge to some, we hope singers will be willing to continue to challenge their vocal range (a healthy exercise), and that congregations and schools will continue to be committed to supplying the instruction, instruments, and acoustics that help them do so.

One area where the HC is a little more minded to make some changes is in simplifying the harmonic language of the new hymnal. Some have stated it this way: “The pew edition should be a singer’s book more than a keyboardist’s book.” We envision the pew edition containing harmonies that are more rudimentary. We plan on supplying alternate, richer harmonies apart from the pew edition.

Other revisions will make this new hymnal more of a singer’s book. Instead of many alto and tenor notes being held while the melody and bass parts move, alto and tenor notes will generally be repeated. This should support four-part singing where it makes musical sense. We are also doing our best to align melody shapes and rhythms with usage in the wider Church so that alternate musical resources become more readily available and better match what our people have before them.

Note: In early February, a comprehensive report on the work of the WELS Hymnal project was posted to our website and distributed through several synod-wide communication channels. We are also featuring each section of the report here on our website's blog. As each section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Psalmody Committee

Pastor Paul Prange, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

One of most significant contributions Christian Worship made to worship life in our synod was the introduction of singing psalms as part of every service. An entire generation of worshipers has now grown up expecting to find an appointed psalm inserted between the first and second lessons in the service. Believers of every generation benefit from hearing and learning these divinely-inspired hymns, which sing both of the fallen human condition and its only cure, Jesus Christ.

A generation later, it was assumed that psalms would continue to play an important role in the worship life of our church body. The hymnal project’s Psalmody Committee (PC) has been entrusted with that component of our next hymnal. We hope to continue and even expand the opportunities congregations have to make use of psalms in worship. Our job is to provide musical settings for the psalms appointed for the various Sundays and festivals of the Church Year.

Where We Are Headed

Pew Edition

As is the case with Christian Worship, you can expect to find a selection of psalms printed in the main “pew edition” of the next hymnal. A congregation will have the option of turning to that section and singing those psalms directly from the book.

With the psalms printed in the pew edition, you can expect to find a little more variety of musical style than is currently in Christian Worship. However, for all the psalms printed in the pew edition, it is our intent that most congregations will be able to sing each psalm in its entirety.

Standalone Psalter

The PC also plans to make available a resource that our current line of worship products does not include, namely, a standalone psalter. We envision a softcover book that would be a bit smaller than a regular hymnal. Congregations that have both hymnals and supplements in their pew racks now would find it easy to transition to having a hymnal and a psalter there if they desired to make use of this additional volume.

A standalone psalter will enable us to provide the text and musical settings for all 150 of the Bible’s psalms. In the psalter, the full text of each psalm will be printed. This text will also be pointed so that it can be sung with any psalm tone or simply read aloud. Following this printed text will be the musical setting found in the pew edition, if there is one. Finally, additional musical settings of many of the psalms will also be printed.

Printing a standalone psalter will enable us to offer an even wider variety of musical settings for the psalms. Unlike the pew edition, not every single setting in the psalter will be able to be sung entirely by the congregation but will instead sometimes require the assistance of a choir or cantor.

In addition to its use in public worship, we envision this psalter being a blessing for personal worship. Individuals who want to pray through the psalms for their personal devotions might enjoy using the psalter, since it will contain all 150 psalms and have suggestions for personal devotional use.

Digital Files

In addition to these two printed resources, congregations that print the full order of service each week will be able to obtain necessary digital files (text and music graphics) apart from the pew edition and psalter.

Note: In early February, a comprehensive report on the work of the WELS Hymnal project was posted to our website and distributed through several synod-wide communication channels. We are also featuring each section of the report here on our website's blog. As each section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Rites Committee

Pastor Jon Micheel, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

In the worship life of the Christian Church, rites are nothing more than paths that guide us where we want to go. Every time we gather in Jesus’ name, we want to move together toward some common goals: we want to proclaim God’s love, to praise his name, to encourage fellow Christians, and to communicate clearly to those who don’t yet know our Savior. We look for routes to guide us toward those goals, rites that will help us listen, speak, and sing. And each time we worship we’re mindful of the fact that we’re moving a few steps closer to our heavenly home. The rites we use bring us the fuel we need for the journey: the promises of our God, delivered to us through his Word and Sacraments. The Rites Committee (RC) of the hymnal project is responsible for the orders of service that will be found in the pew edition of the new hymnal.

Where We Are Headed

One Main Rite: A Strong Framework

Sturdy, steel girders provide a strong framework for a large building. As God’s people gather together, an order of service can serve a similar purpose. The order of service, the rite, can give structure to the interaction between God and his people. It directs us to the Scriptures, the living and active Word through which our Lord speaks to us. The rite helps us join together—all our diverse voices combining as one through the Spirit—to speak and sing, to pray and praise. It gives structure to our celebration of Holy Communion, directing us to lift up our hearts and remember our Savior’s grace as we receive his body and blood. The main rite provides a sturdy framework for our time gathered together around Word and Sacrament.

The Rites Committee has been focusing its efforts thus far on the structure of the main order of service. Rather than several Communion services whose parts each flow in a different order (like CW’s Common Service and Service of Word and Sacrament), we are proposing that one progression will be the standard. Our goal is to provide one, strong framework around which edifying and beautiful services can be built.

Our goal is certainly not to put a stop to all variety. No, we envision that this basic rite will be adorned in many different ways. For example, the canticles may be set to several different musical settings.

In time, we will also be presenting other orders of service: Morning Praise (Matins), Evening Prayer (Vespers), Prayer at the Close of Day (Compline). We have begun work on a “preaching service,” that is, a versatile Word-centered service that does not include Holy Communion.

There will be other opportunities for variety and freshness within this structure. But we are proposing that each setting of the main Communion service will follow the same basic pattern.

What’s New in the Main Rite

“So,” you may be asking, “what does this main service look like?” It looks familiar. It fits comfortably within the framework of the historic Liturgy of the Western Christian church, a pattern we recognize from the services in CW and CWS. In short, we are not proposing any radical changes to the main service.

There are a few texts that are new. For example, the Confession of Sins is newly composed, yet it reflects the same Scriptural truths that we regularly include in our confessions now. The prayer “Lord, Have Mercy,” the Kyrie, will include petitions that may be new to us. Actually, though, they’re petitions that go back over a millennium to the Kyrie in the Eastern church. We are also including some time-tested texts that have served Christians in the past and still serve us today.

We are proposing that some parts of the service be condensed, while other parts be expanded slightly. We saw opportunities to add something to the service to enrich people’s faith. One example of this is our proposal to include the Prayer of Thanksgiving, an element included in one of CWS’s services. We see great benefit in this prayer in which we remember what our God has done for us, recall the incomparable gifts he gives in his Supper, and, as the name of the prayer implies, say a special word of thanks for his saving work. Other examples of additions are a few appropriately placed Bible verses: a verse highlighting God’s gift of forgiveness comes before the Confession of Sins, and after Holy Communion comes a verse about one of the blessings of the Sacrament.

In other parts of the service we are proposing that things be condensed a little. We certainly are not aiming to remove beloved parts of the service just for the sake of time. Yet we have heard from some congregations, especially those with multiple services on a Sunday morning, that it’s helpful to keep the service concise. Keeping that in mind, we are suggesting that some songs of the service be optional. One example is the Song of Simeon after Holy Communion. Certainly this biblical song is very fitting after the Lord’s Supper. And the song, originally part of evening services, has long been used in Lutheran churches. Yet we recognize that the service can also be concluded in an edifying way with the use of other songs, like “Thank the Lord” in the Service of Word and Sacrament. The Communion service can also be fittingly concluded in the way we are proposing: with responsive Bible verses, prayer, and the Lord’s Blessing.

All the changes we’re proposing—and again, they’re not radical alterations—are being presented after much thoughtful study and discussion. We’ve approached each part of the main service from theological, historical, and pastoral perspectives. We’ve listened to your survey responses and read your comments. We pray that the results of our labor will a blessing to the next generations of worshipers in our church body.

New Musical Settings

Our long term plan is to continue to make many of the familiar canticles in CW and CWS available for the benefit of those who wish to continue to use them. At the present time, new musical settings are being composed and submitted for consideration.

Our goal in exploring new musical settings is not to inundate congregations with a multitude of musical options. Many congregations need a long time to get acquainted with only one setting of the liturgy, and they are not seeking lots of new music to learn. Still, there are churches who desire the solid texts of the canticles set to fresh music. We hope to find a balance in the future as we present any new musical settings. In general, we want musical settings to be small in number and great in quality.

Additional Rites

In addition to the main orders of service printed in the pew edition, congregations can expect additional orders of service and devotions, including the kind currently found in Christian Worship: Occasional Services. These rites will be developed by a separate Occasional Services Committee, which is chaired by Professor Keith Wessel. That committee has just recently begun its work.

Scripture Committee

Pastor Jonathan Schroeder, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

The Scripture Committee (SC) of the Hymnal Project is responsible for developing the Church Year, the three-year, one-year, and daily lectionaries, the appointment of all readings for minor festivals and occasions, the Prayers of the Day, and a commentary on the propers. The SC will also review the texts for the creeds and the Lord’s Prayer, and will oversee the use of Scripture throughout the project.

The SC spent its first two years studying, analyzing, and proposing a new three-year lectionary and revised Church Year. The committee prioritized these projects because much of the hymnal project’s work is defined by the lectionary and the Church Year. Our work on the one-year and daily lectionaries, the calendar of minor festivals and occasions, and the texts for the creeds and various prayers will intensify once the three-year lectionary and Church Year have been finalized.

The SC greatly appreciates the work of the people who have been involved in the three-year review project. They have provided a wealth of information on the use of the CW lectionary in WELS congregations. We look forward to receiving and reviewing continual feedback on our proposed revisions.

Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matthew 13:52). It is a great privilege for us to dig through the Word of God on behalf of our synod, bringing out treasures new and old for the gathered guests.

Where We Are Headed

The Church Year

The hymnal project cherishes the worship treasures passed down from our Christian forefathers. One gift from history for the worshiping congregation today is the Church Year. This series of seasons and Sundays developed during the first millennium of the New Testament Church and has been used by the Church across the world ever since. The Christian calendar leads Christ’s bride through an annual journey that follows the great events in the life of Christ during the festival half of the year, from Advent to Pentecost. In the Season after Pentecost the Church focuses on the great teachings of Christ.

The SC will propose a Church Year that retains most of the familiar features of the calendar published in Christian Worship. The proposed changes are relatively few. Some changes will be nothing more than new terminology, like calling it the “Season after Pentecost” instead of the “Pentecost Season.” Some alternative Sundays will be designated, such as the Sunday of the Passion (for use on the final Sunday in Lent).

The SC intends to propose a Church Year that reflects the historic practice of the Church, that largely corresponds with other major calendars, and that provides God’s people with the patterns and rhythms, the Sundays and seasons, that form the context for their worship.

The Lectionary

A lectionary is a set of Scripture readings designated to be used on particular days. The blessing of lectionary-based worship lies in balance and breadth. Using a lectionary to determine the content of worship helps ensure that the congregation sees the great events in the life of Christ and hears the great teachings of Christ annually. Following a lectionary brings a wide variety of scriptural teachings before a congregation over the three-year cycle.

The great majority of WELS congregations (95%) currently plan their Sunday worship using the three-year lectionary that was published in Christian Worship. This lectionary appoints three readings and a psalm for every Sunday and festival of the Christian Year. The CW lectionary largely corresponded with the lectionaries used in other major denominations, most notably in the Gospel readings.

The SC will propose a new lectionary with the following features:

• It will largely retain the Gospels as they exist in the CW Lectionary. When possible, the Gospel will align with other major lectionaries to show our connection to the Holy Christian Church.

• The Gospel will establish the theme for the Sunday, and all of the readings will match that theme.

• The First Reading will be balanced between Old Testament prophecy and narrative. During the Easter season the book of Acts will also be used.

• Old Testament narratives will be used that commend themselves as preaching texts.

• The Second Reading will be thematic, not continual. Rather than a series of continual readings through an epistle over several Sundays, the Second Reading will match the theme for the Sunday.

• Three readings and a psalm will be provided for each Sunday. Alternate readings and alternate pericopes could be provided apart from the pew edition.

• It will provide a revised system for the Sundays after Pentecost (the date of Easter will impact the Sundays at the beginning of that period of the Church Year rather than the end) that will more closely correspond to other Lutheran lectionaries and attendant resources.

Commentary on the Propers

The SC plans to produce a commentary on the lectionary similar to the well-received Planning Christian Worship 2. The proposed commentary would offer an expanded treatment of the Sundays and festivals. It will provide a brief exegesis of the readings, thoughts on context of the Church Year, and hymn and psalm suggestions.

Note: In early February, a comprehensive report on the work of the WELS Hymnal project was posted to our website and distributed through several synod-wide communication channels. We are also featuring each section of the report here on our website's blog. As each section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Technology Committee

Pastor Caleb Bassett, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

The Technology Committee (TC) of the WELS Hymnal Project is responsible for vision, planning, and oversight of the digital and technical delivery of the next WELS hymnal. More than simply providing tools to generate the hymnal in a digital format, the TC aims to equip congregations to improve the way they produce and distribute worship resources. We work to enhance the content of the hymnal through tasteful and useful design, delivery, and format.

The TC also provides internal assistance to the various individuals and committees that make up the WELS Hymnal Project. We provide technical and organizational expertise and advice to streamline our work processes. The TC also works closely with the Communications Committee (CC) to manage the project’s public website.

Where We Are Headed

The TC is guided by a working philosophy that in, the context of worship, technology must serve a ministerial role. In an introductory blog post, the TC Chairman wrote the following:

I’d like this project to be an opportunity to do some careful thinking, some detailed research, and even some philosophical musing about how we want to use technology to accomplish our goals. I want to take the lead on a thorough, scholarly approach to technology as a ministerial tool in service to the worship in our congregations. There’s an assumption out there that all innovation is good innovation, that is, if something is new it is therefore better.

Note the emphasis on a “ministerial” approach to technology. We believe that a ministerial approach is humble, useful, tasteful, and simple. We want what we produce to meet those criteria above all else.

Much of what the TC envisions falls within the realm of “product development,” and as such we are not able to pre-announce any future products. There are two important reasons for this. First, from a business standpoint it is unwise to pre-announce products before they are ready for the public. In some cases, we are actually prohibited by contractual terms from making such announcements. Second, since technical development of future products will begin much later in the project it remains likely that major parts of our plans will change between now and that time. We cannot announce products that may not actually be produced. The TC is still very involved in research and is not yet onto development.

Nevertheless, readers of the WELS Hymnal Project blog and participants in our various surveys will likely be able to discern the general areas of emphasis we are pursuing. We see four major areas to move the state of the art forward in WELS.

1. Digital databasing of the hymnal content

2. Tools to aid in worship planning

3. Mobile applications for laypeople

4. Formats and protocols to assist worship musicians

Digital databasing of the hymnal content

We see the creation of a digital database of the hymnal primarily as an internal improvement that will bear fruit in other areas. By storing all the data related to a hymnal in a modern, cross-referenced, server-side database we enable the technical possibility for modern applications and services built on top of the hymnal data.

Tools to aid in worship planning

The TC considers worship planning to be a task where tasteful and useful technology can greatly enhance the worship at WELS congregations. The TC believes that if we as a synod are going to teach and encourage pastors to adorn the gospel with beauty and grace through the use of excellent liturgical materials, we should also provide excellent tools to assist them in the often complex and challenging process of worship planning.

To act on that conviction, the TC has been researching options for a system or application that would assist pastors and other worship planners to plan worship by using the aforementioned digital database of rites, hymns, psalms, and lectionary from the upcoming WELS hymnal. We are unable to field test any such application at this time since research is not yet complete. In the case of software development, such testing would start with a limited group of so-called “alpha testers,” after which it may progress to a broader “beta test.”

Mobile applications for laypeople

The TC believes that the WELS Hymnal Project should capitalize on the the widespread use of mobile applications on smartphones and tablets by building a mobile application for laypeople. There is evidence that the widespread use of such handheld screens may actually be increasing the number of people reading and studying the Bible on a regular basis. We see an opportunity to revitalize the use of the hymnal as a private and small group devotional resource by developing an application built to foster such devotional use. By integrating with the foundational digital database of the hymnal’s content, such an application can “repackage” the hymnal, so to speak, in a way better suited for private and small group use. We envision such an application being useful in these common settings:

• Around the dinner table with family

• As the focal point of private prayer and devotion

• In the classroom

• To open or close meetings

• In Bible study classes

Up to this point the TC has spent time researching existing hymnal applications to understand their strengths and weaknesses. So far we have determined that existing hymnal applications fail to offer much compelling innovation for the private and small-group use of a hymnal. We believe there is room to create something unique in this space.

So far this process of evaluation and analysis allows us to better understand the design challenge of a devotional hymnal application and write better product specifications to aid in future development, should such development take place.

Formats and protocols to assist worship musicians

Musicians may have noticed that the list of common settings for a hymnal application listed above does not include “on the music stand” or “at the piano bench.” This is not an omission but a conscious decision. While a hymnal application would probably work on the piano bench, we do not envision an application geared for the specific needs of church musicians but for laypeople. That does not mean, however, that the TC does not have the detailed needs of church musicians in mind—our committee includes three church musicians, each of whom is well-versed in digital technology and uses such technology frequently in his ministry and service.

These church musicians have reviewed dozens of existing applications and services and found that many products available today are very strong in terms of functionality and widespread adoption. Where “devotional use of a Lutheran hymnal” is a relatively niche task, “reading, annotating, and working with digital sheet music” is a much more common job. For that reason there are several outstanding applications, including mobile applications, to assist church musicians. The TC has concluded that there is no need to create a “WELS version” of such an application when existing applications do the job just as well or better than anything we could develop on our own.

The TC plans not to provide a specific application for musicians, but to offer formats and protocols to assist worship musicians in their service to the church. This means delivering the content of the hymnal in digital formats that work within the constraints of copyright law but also import nicely into the most common and useful third-party applications for musicians. We consider the generation of such digital assets to be part of the worship planning workflow that we hope to facilitate through a worship planning application (see above).

A new design

The TC includes a design working group which has been working to analyze a wide variety of well-designed hymnals from various traditions and denominations. The analysis of these hymnals has led to some preliminary work in achieving a new design for the look and functionality of the print and digital resources.

Achieving a consistent design across the wide variety of resources to be produced with the next WELS hymnal is a large undertaking. It is our hope that the new design we develop will bring beauty, legibility, and usability to the Christ-centered materials it serves.

Note: In early February, a comprehensive report on the work of the WELS Hymnal project was posted to our website and distributed through several synod-wide communication channels. We are also featuring each section of the report here on our website's blog. As each section is featured we invite your feedback using the contact form on the bottom of the page.

Communications Committee

Pastor Jonathan Bauer, Chairman

Our Responsibilities

From the time the hymnal project started, the Communications Committee (CC) has been assisting the members of the project primarily by seeking to gather information and input from the congregations and schools of our church body. This research has taken a variety of forms, including: conducting four major surveys, collecting hymn usage data, and receiving and processing feedback through the project website.

A summary of what has been learned about worship in our church body so far was shared in the summer of 2015. That summary was published in Forward in Christ and in the 2015 Synod Convention’s Book of Reports and Memorials. The feedback we’ve received thus far has been very valuable as the members of the project have begun their work, and we are very grateful for it.

As the hymnal project progresses, the CC’s work will eventually transition away from our current focus on research. We are also responsible for utilizing the natural opportunity that a hymnal project presents to renew people’s awareness and appreciation for Lutheran worship principles. As the publication approaches we will also work in tandem with the marketing department at Northwestern Publishing House to promote the new hymnal and its accompanying resources.

Where We Are Headed

As the hymnal project approaches the halfway point, its members are pleased to be able to share with the synod this comprehensive update on our work. This update is being distributed to the called workers throughout our church body as well as through other official synodical channels. It is available in its entirety on our project website and will also be posted section by section on our website’s blog.

Pastors and teachers are encouraged to share the report with those they serve through whatever channels are available to them. Feel free to use this as an opportunity to invite people to subscribe to have updates delivered to their inbox by registering their email address on our website.

We invite anyone’s feedback on the information being distributed. That feedback is best offered through the contact form on our website.

Field testing period

During the next year and a half, the CC will be busy assisting the other project subcommittees in putting some of their early materials in front of the congregations and schools of our church body for their use and review.

The materials that are distributed for testing will naturally lean heavily toward the components of the new hymnal that could potentially be new or revised. This shouldn’t be construed as an indication of the makeup of the final product, plenty of which will be unchanged from the material found in our current resources.

It is our desire for every congregation and school to have the opportunity to provide ongoing feedback on the various materials being developed. However, for most of the field testing process, we will be seeking the assistance of various random samplings of congregations and schools. In order to receive accurate and helpful feedback, it is necessary to engage sample groups that are representative of the synod as a whole (e.g. from varying locations and of varying sizes). It is also necessary to receive feedback not only from those who would otherwise gladly volunteer it on their own but from those whose feedback needs to be sought.

We look forward to sharing updates and results of this field testing process. As the project continues to progress, we plan to release to the church body as a whole a set of materials representative of each committee’s work to that point.

Over the course of the next two weeks, this update will be shared at the conventions of the twelve districts of our synod. In addition to the feedback received at those conventions, we welcome any feedback to the information provided in this update using the contact form below.

From May 31 through June 2, the Executive Committee of the hymnal project met at the synod's Center for Mission and Ministry. Highlights from the meeting included reviewing fresh content brought to us by various subcommittees, meeting with the production director from Northwestern Publishing House in order to better understand their production process, and further clarifying the relationship between the printed version and the digital version of the hymnal in a discussion led by the technology committee.

The final day of our meetings began with Professor Keith Wessel of Martin Luther College, chair of our Occasional Services subcommittee, presenting a devotional introduction to Isaiah 40:1-11. In his devotion, Prof. Wessel beautifully captured the purpose and benefit a hymnal serves among a group of believers. Excerpts from that devotion are shared below in the hope that they will be as much of a blessing to you as they were to us.

A hymnal is more than a book that gathers songs into a convenient place. A hymnal is all about voices – united voices speaking together. A hymnal is the voice of God’s people, the voice of the Holy Christian Church, the voice of faith. It is a voice of confession, in that it echoes what is in our troubled hearts, gives voice to what we humbly need to confess before our holy God – that we not just are sinners, but sinful and unclean. Words spoken together with one voice by the body of Christ… and yet so personal at the same time. A hymnal teaches us to sing together with one voice the contrite whisper of the publican: Oh God, be merciful to me. A hymnal teaches us all to cry from depth of woe, and flee for refuge to Thy infinite mercy, seeking and imploring Thy grace for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It also is a hymnal that speaks with God’s voice. Marvel of marvels that our pitiful confession is not met by a wall of silence – deserved silence – from a God who has every right to turn his back on us. But as Adam heard the voice of God in the Garden not only confronting him with his sin but also speaking the first words of the eternal Gospel, so also in our liturgy and song we hear the voice of God speaking to us his word of peace. So much does God want us to hear his voice in the Gospel that he even sends a called personal representative to that very place where we are confessing our sins to speak – not the pastor’s words – but to speak in the place and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to announce the grace of God unto all of you, to each of you: Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven.

It is from a hymnal that we learn to respond to such grace with a common voice of faith – the Gloria, the hymns, the offering (that too is a way we speak). It is from the hymnal we learn to pray together with one voice, a common voice: Create in me a clean heart, O God… and of course, Our Father, who art in heaven. It is from a hymnal that we learn to kneel side by side as one body and receive in faith the same bread, the same wine… just as we were all baptized with the same water into the name of one Lord. It is in the hymnal we first learn the unified voice of our common faith: I believe… We believe… And this is not a “WELS voice”; it is the voice that has gone out into all lands. It is the lingua franca of the Una Sancta. And it is from a hymnal, from a liturgy that we first learn to listen to the last word of the service – the words that God himself reserves the right to speak – the words of the Benediction.

Brothers, we aren’t really cutting and pasting into a book what we feel, in our sanctified estimation, are the best songs and liturgies for worship. We are shaping a voice – the voice of faith but also the voice of God’s people in the Wisconsin Synod. Not a solo, maverick voice that screams “Me!”, of course – as much of a challenge as it is in a self-absorbed age. But a voice that is clear, distinct, yet blends with the one voice of faith we can hear wafting down on the winds of the ages in one ongoing song; that one can hear echoing even now in all lands: …and from morn till set of sun, through the Church the song goes on... It began with Eve’s simple song: I have gotten a man from the LORD - a statement of thanks and praise spoken in response to God’s mercy and goodness. The song continues today. And it will never end.

The WELS long range plan, adopted by the 2011 convention, included a goal to “establish a committee to publish a new hymnal by the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnal (1524).” NPH agreed to fund the position of a project director and the work of various committees to prepare the hymnal and accompanying print volumes: pew edition, accompaniment edition, altar book, occasional services volume, pastor’s companion. The work began with the installation of project director Michael Schultz in April, 2013 and the formation of project subcommittees – 60 people serving various aspects of the project.

Now, roughly three years into the project, it is apparent that additional worship resources beyond printed volumes will enable planners, leaders, and worshipers to make best use of a new hymnal’s potential. Three additional resources are under consideration, pending sufficient funding to make them a reality. Research into recent hymnals and supplemental products created by other church bodies has discovered similar resources and shows the value of our WELS project producing such tools.

• A “service builder” computer program to expedite production of worship folders that take advantage of the hymnal’s flexible and vast resources, both print and electronic.
• A “musicians’ resource” – a powerful tool that allows musicians to print scores for a wide variety of instruments to better enable them to contribute their talent in worship.
• A personal digital edition of the hymnal – an app for tablet or smartphone. The goal for this resource is to make it easier for people to use hymnal contents as a personal devotional resource. Unlike a printed book, it could include audio files for personal or family devotions.

The “service builder” will greatly facilitate service planning and will vastly reduce the amount of time needed by the pastor and church office to create worship folders. It will assure that worship folder design is of the highest quality. In addition to presenting wonderful new hymns to our church body, this “service builder” is one of the most exciting goals of the hymnal project. (You can view a demo of a similar product created by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.)

Our synod's Christian Giving Counselors are assisting us in making this appeal for gifts that will provide the funding necessary for the development of these digital resources. “For a generation yet unborn” is the hymnal project motto. Your gift will help the project’s resources to be the best they can be as older generations pass to younger generations the awesome privileges of planning and leading…and worshiping. Development and production of all three resources is projected to cost several hundred thousand dollars.

To support the WELS Hymnal Project, click on the button below and select "CW: Hymnal Electronic Resources" as the designation for your gift.

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If you'd like to pass along this information to someone who may wish to support the work of the Hymnal Project, the brochure from the Congregation and Ministry Support Group in which it appears can be downloaded and printed below.