An Update from the Rites Committee
The Rites Committee has been busy in 2018. We have completed work on several services, while we continue to make progress on others. Here are some projects we’ve been working on during the last several...
View ArticleThe Daily Office
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3).“Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Psalm...
View ArticleDesigning for Accessibility
Our Lord Jesus had the utmost compassion on those with sensory impairments. He had the power to heal them and often did just that. We, on the other hand, are not granted such power. Nevertheless,...
View ArticleA Child Is Born In Bethlehem
Singing certain hymns merges us together with a long line of Christians who have sung these hymns before us. Puer natus in Bethlehem is one such hymn.In addition to being the word for ministers...
View ArticleAn Update from the Executive Committee
The Executive Committee of the WELS Hymnal Project comes into 2019 with four regular face-to-face meetings remaining before most of the content of the core products of the new hymnal is due to turn...
View ArticleThematic Sundays
Thematic Sundays are a chief feature of the new lectionary. For example, rather than a series of continual readings through an epistle, the second reading will fit the theme for each Sunday. But what...
View ArticleThe Daily Lectionary: A Personal Devotional Tool
The new hymnal will aid your devotional life by providing a daily reading plan for Scripture. This tool will get you into God’s word and provide a pattern for piety.A lectionary appoints scripture...
View ArticleThe Agenda: Things that Need to Be Done
One aspect of the WELS Hymnal Project that has not received much public attention is the revision of that book which contains various rites for use in congregational life. That's natural, in a sense....
View ArticleThe Agenda: Getting Rites Right
"The pastor-elect presents himself before the altar…"The Agenda is a book of details. An example of such is the sentence above, what we call a rubric. Rubrics are worded to be clear and designed to...
View ArticleSupporting Volumes: How to Worship With Your Hymnal
The WELS Hymnal Project has established an ambitious goal of declaring the grace of God to a generation yet unborn. The project has identified a number of valuable tools to reach that goal. Among those...
View ArticleDevotions for Worship and Life
You see them so often that you might not even notice that they’re there: the well-worn hymnals neatly racked beneath or behind each pew. For many people, those hymnals that we use each weekend are part...
View ArticleAn Update from the Musicians Resource Group
With what variety and freedom the Lord has blessed his Church! The Musicians’ Resource Group (MRG) of the WELS Hymnal Project has been tasked with making that variety readily accessible to the...
View ArticleA Palm Sunday Devotion on Psalm 24
Christians all over the world are praising their Lord on this Palm Sunday with words from Psalm 24:“Lift up your heads, O you gates; Be lifted up, you ancient doors, That the King of Glory may come in”...
View ArticleA Holy Thursday Devotion
Can something be beautiful and ominous at the same time?Think of billowing storm clouds. The sun glints brilliantly off their contours and edges. Their majestic beauty can be breathtaking.Unless you’re...
View ArticleGood Friday - Son of God, by God Forsaken
Until you’re faced with the cold, chilling reality that your days are actually numbered, you might not notice it so much. But ask the hiker stranded for four days in sub-zero temperatures, ask the...
View ArticleEternal Easter Sunshine
One value in repeated use of familiar worship material is that certain phrases become embedded in one’s memory. One of my favorites: “Better than life is your love” (Morning Devotion, CW page 152;...
View ArticleAn Update from the Psalm Committee
It’s the home stretch. It’s really exciting.We have chosen all of the Psalm settings for the hymnal. We have chosen all of the alternate settings for those Psalms as well. Congregations that like the...
View ArticleSearching for Modern Music for the Hymnal
As the hymns committee began its search for the 200 or so new hymns that will be included in the next hymnal, that search included scouring dozens of published hymnals from all corners of...
View ArticleAn Update from the Project Director - Summer 2019
Introduction There is a noticeable shift taking place these days. Things are definitely moving from research and development of content to production of content. In plain language, this means that what...
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