Foretold in sacred story.
Oh, blest is He that came
In God the Father’s Name!
How much there is in that stanza! And it is only the first stanza of a truly great Lutheran church hymn. In all this, which may seem quite commonplace, there really is something truly wonderful; an old, old story about the life of faith and its expression in song and worship—an exceedingly beautiful testimony about the fulness of God’s work in the history of spiritual life on earth.
Our hymnological annotations must draw to a close. They may be regarded as observations and reflections during the study of a great subject: Our Lutheran church song. Perhaps they will be of some value to those who have much to do with Lutheran hymn singing as well as to those who teach and instruct our young people in this branch of our ecclesiastical inheritance.
Much must be done before we can really claim that the American Lutheran Church has fully taken over this rich legacy.
A church hymn sung by a Lutheran congregation as it should be sung—that may at first thought seem to be a very simple and insignificant matter. But taken in its historical and religious connections, the matter is far from simple or insignificant. And taken as a problem—it is not easily solved. Its relations to the facts and conditions of spiritual life extend far and wide. Hymnological study gives us an idea of these things. Our Lutheran hymnody is four hundred years old—many of our best Lutheran hymns are four hundred years old—four hundred years, think of it, full of ups and downs, ecclesiastically and politically—four hundred years of sacred song through all kinds of significant life experiences. Four hundred years—turn to mediaeval and modern history.
Looking at the history of the church hymn, we may lay down as a fundamental principle that the church hymn cannot live without connection with the life that has passed through the ages, from the prophets of old, Christ, the Reformation, and down to the present. Only in this connection does the church hymn possess a positive significance or the significance of a life-promoting factor.
The correctness of this principle may be confirmed from actual experience. In the history of languishing and dying church song, we can read about languishing and dying Christian nations—nations in deplorable condition both ecclesiastically and nationally—nations of emigration, non-patriotism, and of little or no sense of duty—nations of imported religious thinking and poorly translated songs.
The question has often been raised: Does the American Lutheran Church really sing? Yes and No—for the most part No. Most of our American Lutheran country congregations do not sing. How about the city churches? A sad affair! In most cases the situation is far from ideal. A church hymn, a Lutheran church hymn, cannot be sung properly by those who forget God, Bible, history, etc., in order to practise a little general culture and enjoy a little tasty personal aesthetics. If a noble Lutheran church hymn is sung, it is usually sung by the choir, perhaps as a concert number, disconnected from its vital connection. And detached from its connection, the noble Lutheran church hymn becomes, like everything else that has vital significance, nothing. That which does not really hang together, becomes patchwork, bandages, finery, rags—we may praise it enthusiastically. Very much like American culture—sorry to say. Uniting, cementing, productive LIFE is lacking.