Or is it the other way around?
Hymnal hypocrisy among WELS and ELS Synodical Lutherans - Both sects hold themselves above ELCA, yet both hymnals use ELCA material extensively. Look at the credits.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A. Ring on the Lectionary":
No-one has responded to this posting on the modern synodical "Lutheran" periscopes followed via ALL the modern synodical hymnals.
I needed no convincing of what this posted material provides necessary proof of..
The very great gaps of necessary Scriptural doctrine/content that LUTHERANS are no longer given opportunity of learning of, through the public lessons, is dismaying.
Even if the "problematical" sections of Scripture highlighted were never preached upon, their inclusion in the Scriptural lessons read for the Day, would have opportunity via the Holy Spirit's leading, to impart their truth.
But how can the Holy Spirit, do His work concerning those parts of Scripture now stripped from being read in the Lessons of the Day ?!
Many necessary sections of the Scriptures in the One Year Series are now cut out - quite purposefully - from the 3 year Lectionary Series.....
Perhaps you may dismiss this as unimportant, and that's why you did not respond to this posting ?
I want to say to you, you are wrong to be unperturbed by these omissions, and dismiss them as unimportant...
We are living in a day when so many of the doctrinal points highlighted in the article above NEED TO BE KNOWN BY US.
What that article does not say is that these omissions are altogether user-friendly to the all-pervasive modern ecumenical agenda so vigorously persued not only by ROME, but also by all who are kowtowing to her agenda within our Lutheran synods in our day.
A very long time ago, I purchased a copy of each one of these new hymnals produced by ELCA, MISSOURI, WELS, & ELS; and ALL of them, in varying degrees, are found sorely wanting ...AND, NOT ONLY on account of the periscopes they use.....
This is a very big subject with immense consequences.
Compare the wording of the Orders of Service contained in the 1941 The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) and which, thankfully, Pastor Jackson still, and quite unapologetically, uses for his own independent orthodox Lutheran BETHANY CHURCH services.
Compare TLH with any one of ALL of the other above-mentioned modern "Lutheran" synodical hymnals....and when you have done so, you will hang your head before God in shame...that so many of us have allowed the synodical beaurocrats and "expert theologians" to rob us of our Scriptural heritage with what is now served up to us by them...via these hymnals that are Lutheran in name alone..
I'm not saying the TLH is "perfect"...I have a collection of old and sound hymnals earlier than the 1941 TLH...which, and in some of their hymn renderings,these ARE better.
But the 1941 joint synodicaly produced TLH is far far better in every way than anything else now available in our day, and the point is, the TLH is still available in our day. For now anyway.
If anyone would like to pursue a comparison on some of these hymnals, please say so, for I for one, will be most happy to contribute in whatever small way I can to any such a discussion....(I am most familiar with CWALH/WELS problems)
Should we think only of ourselves ? Perhaps, individually - past grounding we personally have in the Scriptures - we possibly are ABLE to cope with the gross onslaught (the watering down of doctrine contained in ALL the new "modernized hymnals"),but should we think only of ourselves ?
WHAT OF OUR POSTERITY ? Our own grandchildren ? Shall we let them down ? Or shall be be true to our Lutheran Confessions ?
Are we prepared help in whatever ways we can for the ongoing possibility of their salvation, and that the GLORY OF GOD, IN HIS SON, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST...maybe known by them, too ?
May we be found faithful...in however the small the ways open to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Orthodox Lutheran
KJV DEUTERONOMY 12:16
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.
***
GJ - I was appalled at the way WELS pastors accepted and purchased
All that happened during the Mischke-Gurgle Terror, when pastors knew how easily they could be forced out for lifting an eyebrow about the apostate agenda. WELS pastors talked tough while trembling in their rabbit warrens.
A large number of WELS pastors were trained by James P. Tiefel, GA Pope, who considered the hymnal his project to be run his way. He revealed himself as a unionist a long time ago. His affection for Church Growth is more covert. The result is a series of Sunday clown acts by his students.
17 comments:
Could you give some examples please for us to chew on...
You wrote,"Many necessary sections of the Scriptures in the One Year Series are now cut out - quite purposefully."
Thank you!
Are all congregations in WELS forced to use the new hymnal in preference to TLH or is this lockstep hymnal selection just another example of WPG, Wisconsin Pastoral Groupthink?
If reading this post makes you cry, well, it should. It brought me to tears. The ESV Study Bible shipment arrived at my church. Needless to say, I did not order a copy. Someone always wants to reinvent the wheel just to make a chunk of change.
Let us talk about that CW Supplement. "Oh Christ, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world. Have mercy on us. You set at the right hand of God the Father........." This section is performed with the piano. With the TLH, and even the CW, it comes across spiritualy motivated. The melody has been changed. The TLH and CW can be sung with organ or just alone.
Far worse than hymnal style, is this dumping of the liturgy. This ultimately leads to "enthusiasm". This is nothing new. Please read the Concordia, because the Reformation church fathers were very aware of enthusiam and other false teachings. My in-laws' Confessional WELS pastor did a whole sermon on how important the liturgy is and if we loose it we have no foundation. My own pastor said, "This is good stuff, you could have a service with just the liturgy." You would have The Word, Prayer, Confessions, Creeds, and Sacrements. When you start implementing contempory worship styles, how many of the listed things begin to dissapear?
I am a women; therefore, I can not usurp authority over the church leadership. You pastors and lay leaders have got to get together and just say "No". This sanctamonious concept in the WELS will lead to our destruction. UOJ versus JBF, Willow Creek, Mars HILL, Fuller, Purpose Driven, Exponential, Drive and where is the so-called unity now? Stay quiet for the sake of unity and that list will get longer if it is not already.
I approve SP Schroeder's direction and I pray that he stays in office. He would not want to leave and be replaced with a CG enthusiast.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
Some of the ILCW texts are difficult texts for presenting clear Law and clear Gospel. As Luther commented on the Historic Pericope, as he quoted in the article, one sometimes needs to make up the difference in preaching.
Having just read the entire article, I do appreciate the presentation of the "omissions" in the ILCW texts. I see in my preaching (having just look over several months of my sermons in response to this article), I find that I have consistently included the materials which are listed as being omitted. (None of my sermons are kelmed, not even the Lenten ones from the WELS annual series.)
I find it tedious to write sermons that overlap in context too much. This is especially true of the many Gospel readings on John 6 over a period of several weeks. It is difficult to develop a unique theme for each Sunday and to not repeat material.
Possibly this is why the service Propers were by and large omitted in Christian Worship. I always had the feeling that the WELS hymnal committee would have been further ahead to revamp the propers so that they clearly expressed the theme of the day, using passages from the rest of the Old Testament as well as the Epistles and Gospels to accomplish that goal.
Originally, the Introits were complete Psalms or longer portions of Psalms. When they were shortened, the verses containing the theme of the day were often omitted leaving an Introit that did not clearly fit in with the rest of the service. The Gradual, by definition, was walking music used as the worship leader walked from the Epistle side of the chancel to the Gospel side of the chancel between the two readings. As first the Graduals did not even have words. Later the choir sang as the worship leader made his way from one side of the chancel to the other. Possibly the use of the Gradual no longer exists as very few of our churches use the Epistle and Gospel side of the chancel for readings. I know of only one WELS church which follows the practice. The Collect, too, often did not clearly reflect the theme of the day. The Collects, too, should have been improved to leave no doubt as to the theme of the day.
I have been using Christian Worship, A Lutheran Hymnal since it came out. However, there is a solidness about The Lutheran Hymnal which has not been matched in any subsequent hymnal in liturgy, style of music, and wording.
That said, a deficiency in all hymnals, including The Lutheran Hymnal, is a lack of hymns that clearly pinpoint the theme of the day as portrayed in the lectionary. Sometimes one needs to pick general hymns, due to a lack of specific hymns on a certain theme or text.
The Church of Rome has a message for Lutherans.
Guess what, Groeschel and Ski are preaching on the same topic again: Mind Your Own Business.
Craig Groeschel should stop borrowing Ski's ideas.
Or is it the other way around?
- with the conclusion drawn from this statement, you condemn the "green books" that have been produced and Luther's own book of sermons written to help clergy preach better.
This blog rails on all the various methods CG people use. Sadly your accusations sound a lot like the accusations the Jews of Jerusalem made against Paul, who used various methods and means as he spread the word.
I second cd's motion! Also, GJ, what do you mean by "dreadful hymn selection" and "feminist Creeds"? How in the world do you get that out of the "became fully human" translation?
Yes, the lectionary of The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) was great ... if you never wanted your congregation to hear any lessons from the Old Testament (3/4 of God's revelation).
A new lectionary, found in CW: Supplement, seeks to minimize the number of lessons from the OT prophets and let the people hear more narrative texts (i.e. Bible stories) read and preached on. It also has readings from almost every book in the Bible. Not a perfect lectionary, of course, but a good attempt (in my opinion) to broaden and deepen Biblical knowledge.
As for the NIV as "the only possible WELS Bible" (and that for Missouri as well) -- you must surely be aware of the new Lutheran Study Bible recently put out by CPH that uses the ESV text, not the NIV. That's the direction I sense that they are going with an "official" translation for use.
I highly commend the ELH to anyone who hasn't seen it, and Orthodox Lutheran’s post makes me think he hasn’t. It is a fine confessional hymnal that was produced not by committee, but by consultation among three pretty solid theologian/musicians. The ELS broke away from the WELS Christian Worship project for a reason, and you can see why in the pages of the ELH. Here’s a catalog of what you can expect to find:
The historic lectionary is right there, on pages 202-203. The Bible translation is NKJV. The creeds are preserved intact with very little manipulation (“world without end” changed to “forevermore,” “quick” changed to “living,” are the two main examples that come to mind). The liturgy is printed in lovely, singable full four-part harmony. Chanting is built into the service (once you hear a pastor chant the words of institution in this quasi-Gregorian mode, it’s hard to go back). And not only do you get the old TLH liturgy, you also get Bugenhagen's Danish (later Norwegian) liturgy.
The hymn selection likewise is fantastic; it even contains some Reformation classics that are missing from TLH. For example, see hymn #247, "To Jordan Came Our Lord" for Luther's amazing 7-verse baptism hymn set to Osiander's perfectly-matching renaissance tune. Even some of the “contemporary” settings of hymns are reverent and tastefully done. Compare the antiphonal hymns 316 and 317, in which the verses of Luther’s “Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Savior” are split between Klug’s original 1535 arrangement and Tollefson’s twentieth-century arrangement.
Last but not least, the ELH has the ultimate insurance policy against a bad sermon: it prints the Augsburg Confession and Small Catechism in their entirety. Just flip to page 7 or 31 if the pastor’s pop culture references are eclipsing the Scripture lesson.
The ELH may not be perfect—I’m not a fan of “Rite III,” for example—but I think it may be the most Lutheran hymnal produced in the last seventy years. When I was at Bethany, I finally had to admit after 4 years that the ELH had even edged out my original prejudice for TLH. Now, if there are any major “holes” I’m missing, I’m willing to take the criticism. But give the ELH a serious try. Flip through it, play out the liturgy, examine the texts. You might find yourself shocked that such a fine hymnal could make it to print in the modern, withering synodical climate. I believe that if WELS could ever be convinced to switch to its sister synod’s hymnal, it would have a greater effect than all the synodical resolutions and confessional protests combined.
-D.J.J.
"Last but not least, the ELH has the ultimate insurance policy against a bad sermon: it prints the Augsburg Confession and Small Catechism in their entirety. Just flip to page 7 or 31 if the pastor’s pop culture references are eclipsing the Scripture lesson."
You speak as if no one had access to the Book of Concord. Abominable sermons abound in the Lutheran Synods while the BOC could be obtained for less than the price of taking a family to dinner - the ability to read and apply it though would cost more than 99% have been willing to pay.
"I believe that if WELS could ever be convinced to switch to its sister synod’s hymnal, it would have a greater effect than all the synodical resolutions and confessional protests combined."
Really?
I haven't read the hymnal and I don't know you so I assure you I'm not trying to bash you but I disagree with your statements.
Anonymous WELS Pastor -
Agree "There is a solidness about the TLH which has not been matched in any subsequent Hymnal in liturgy, style of music, and wording."
TLH hymns to match the theme may be a problem for you ... but pales into insignificance against other BIG problems CWALH has.
TLH not found wanting in doctrinal and Biblical accuracy in Liturgy, or hymnody....CWALH fails seriously on all counts.
WELS revision of TLH Order of the Holy Communion drops all mention of "Absolution" (taught in BoC as the Sacrament of Repentance). WEL's Absolution offends in doctrine.
In 1941, as part of Synod. Conf. WELS agreed to TLH Absolution : "Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Compare to WELS 1993 revision !
Divine inst. emphasis gone. Ordination gone...but attests a man proficient to be in this divinely instituted Public Office, and therefore able to announce the grace of God in the stead and by the command of His Lord Jesus Christ.
Its a total cop-out to the "Everyone a minister" CG lobby (General Priesthood of all believers & Office of The Ministry (DO NOT BOTH "ly on the same
plane" as WELS NOW TEACHES. It also makes way for women into the Public Office The Ministry.
This is an immense doctrinal change reflecting "New" Wisconsin's doctrine on The Ministry (since 1967)
Compare TLH's Hymn No. 491, with Wisconsin's Hymn no. 545. SAME HYMN.....formerly useful for ordination, or installation.
Via a clever device of making plural what singular in TLH, the entire hymn has been doctrinally neutered into inclusive language, for future inclusion of women in The Ministry.
eg. "Let him prove a faithful shepherd" (TLH), has become "Let them ALL be faithful shepherds" In fact, some 14 his, him;s and he's are deleted from this TLH hymn.
Orthodox confessing Lutheran.
I find it interesting that the ELS churches in my area (two of them) are both using Christian Worship: Lutheran Hymnal. Both advertise under Wisconsin Synod, instead of the Evangelical Luthern Synod in the Yellow Pages, and both have WELS on their church signs. It doesn't raise one's confidence in ELH if the ELS's own churches do not see it superior enough to use it. Nor can their image of WELS be too bad if they are willing to lie in the Yellow Pages and on their church signs.
“You speak as if no one had access to the Book of Concord.”
Well, not in the pews generally, no. My tongue-in-cheek point was that one could discreetly scan the AC in the ELH during the sermon itself if it were especially bad. This was not an uncommon practice at Bethany chapel.
“Abominable sermons abound in the Lutheran Synods while the BOC could be obtained for less than the price of taking a family to dinner - the ability to read and apply it though would cost more than 99% have been willing to pay.”
And if one has internet access, he can read the BOC for free. I agree, it is sad. We need to be taught explication and application of the confessions from the ground up.
“Really? I haven't read the hymnal and I don't know you so I assure you I'm not trying to bash you but I disagree with your statements.”
Well okay, look: I shouldn’t give the impression that the ELH or any hymnal is a magical cure-all. That’s wrong, and I’m sorry to mislead in that respect. My point is that a good hymnal opens a possibility for effecting tangible positive change in congregations whereas the benefits of synodical politics and confessional protest are rather slower in coming. How often do we pin our hopes on some such political process only to be disappointment in the end? How often have the Missouri Synod men said, “oh, just one more convention, and we’ll get one of our guys in the presidency; THEN the synod will right its course”? Political process may indeed bring about positive effects—I pray for President Schroeder’s success, for example—but it is a slow going, nasty process with many setbacks. And as for confessional protest, it is needful and wholesome, but if pressed too far in the (W)ELS, it leads to expulsion (witness the Motley Magpie, or ELS doctrine of the ministry debate) or dissolution of the protesting party (whither art thou, Issues in WELS?). Confession to the point of expulsion may be the right and salutary thing to do, but it likely will not help change the congregations still in the synod.
Meanwhile, what do congregations and their pastors see every single week? You already know, the hymnal. What’s the one thing lazy congregants might memorize? The liturgy (and if we’re lucky, a hymn or two).
One wishes the laymen would study the Confessions and then engage with their pastors in substantive Bible study. But at least they’ll be reminded that such a thing as the Augsburg Confession exists when they page through their ELH before service starts. And perhaps they will even read a few of its articles. Again, I’m arguing that a good hymnal creates a condition of possibility for a congregation to learn Lutheranism. A bad hymnal facilitates the decay of doctrine. Wouldn’t you agree that switching out the CW for TLH would work a substantive change in WELS congregations? Of course WELS would never take such a step “backwards”; and in fact, it would probably be almost as averse to humbling itself to the point of adopting its little sister’s hymnal (aw, isn’t that sweet, the widdle ELS had a tantwum and made its own widdle hymno), but it could happen on a congregation to congregation level. WELS does not require CW. My rhetorical point is that arming congregations with the best possible version of the theological document they see the most week-in and week-out could be one of our most powerful weapons for promoting Lutheran orthodoxy. Hence, I shill the ELH. (Again, don’t just take my word for it—check it out when you get a chance).
-D.J.J.
"It doesn't raise one's confidence in ELH if the ELS's own churches do not see it superior enough to use it. Nor can their image of WELS be too bad if they are willing to lie in the Yellow Pages and on their church signs."
It should raise your confidence in the ELH, actually. After all, I'm not defending the ELS, per se; the ELS has something of a split personality, and the powerful WELSian faction is precisely where its church growth influence comes from. The fact that WELS-loving congregations who obscure their ELS identity use CW indicates that the ELH is, in fact, too openly Lutheran for them. Your statement above is kind of like saying: "it doesn't raise one's confidence in the TLH that the Church and Changers don't see it as superior enough to use it."
-D.J.J.
Luther sagt:
"Let everyone, therefore, who knows himself to be a Christian, be assured of this, that we are all equally priests, that is to say, we have the same power in respect to the Word and the sacraments. However, no one may make use of this power except by the consent of the community or by the call of a superior. (For what is the common property of all, no individual may arrogate to himself, unless he is called.) And therefore this “sacrament” of ordination, if it is anything at all, is nothing else than a certain rite whereby one is called to the ministry of the church. Furthermore, the priesthood is properly nothing but the ministry of the Word—the Word, I say; not the law, but the gospel. And the diaconate is the ministry, not of reading the Gospel or the Epistle, as is the present practice, but of distributing the church’s aid to the poor, so that the priests may be relieved of the burden of temporal matters and may give themselves more freely to prayer and the Word. For this was the purpose of the institution of the diaconate, as we read in Acts 5 [6:1–6]."
Note also AC XIV: Ordination maketh not the pastor. The divine call maketh the pastor.
D.J.J., I appreciate your explanation. You should post more often.
Brett Meyer
Last Anonymous/ Nov 11, 3:42pm
Thanks for emphasizing the Divine Call...quite agree with GJ's and your divine Call correction..My post had to be much shortened (originally far too long for posting....AC XIV quote also got cut out of it...As a result, what was posted is less clear, and wanting in numbers of places. places. (Thanks to you both for for making clearer).
Glad DJJ/ELH supporter not keen on III Rite. Is he aware the World Council of Churches specifically use this liturgy; AND attribute it to LBW ?
In in one form or another this
setting now found in all the "new Looseran" hymnals; the Roman Trojan Horse.
Should not faithful Lutheran Pastors be leading their sheep out of the synods, into the setting up of independant churches ? (I think Jackson was right to do so; and pray many more shall do so).
The Apostle Paul says: KJV PHILIPPIANS 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have toldyou often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
..........KJV PSALM 134: 3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
Orthodox confessing Lutheran.
What's wrong with Rite Three. I love all four rites in the ELH. I grew up with the CW, but upon discovering the ELH I have decided that the new hymnal is far superior to the CW. The only shortcoming I see is the lack of chords for guitar, in case a congregation didn't have an organist, but they had a guitarist amongst them. I'm not promoting CG, mind you, but some congregations don't have the resources to go all out with an "ideal" service. That actually was why four-part harmony in the liturgy was included so a separate edition would not have to be brought.
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