Today my husband and I attended one of the workshops for the new Lutheran Service Book (LSB), the new hymnal/worship book for the LCMS. I was interested to hear if others have looked at this yet.
It was very interesting to see how they took different settings for the Divine Service from both of the previous hymnals, so that no matter which setting you were used to using, you would find something familiar.
The seminar took us through the hymnal, pointing out the different parts of it and showing what is familiar to users of LW or TLH, and what is new or expanded. We also got to sing a number of the hymns, of course, and used some of the worship tools as well. It includes not only the service of Baptism, but the services of Confirmation and Holy Matrimony, so the congregation can read along. It has a new Service of Prayer and Preaching, which is designed to be used as a framework to teach points from the catechism.
A lot of the old hymns are included, some of the with restored text from before the Lutheran Worship book (which had not-so-gently updated and modernized some beloved hymn text). Also included are about 100 new hymns -- either new texts to familiar tunes or completely new (to Lutheran hymnals). I was pleased with the much stronger focus on Gospel-based hymns, which was one of the decision points in looking at which hymns would be included in the hymnal. In addition, there are eleven reciting tones of various major and minor moods by which to sing the Psalms, which are set out with specific markings to follow the use of the tones if your congregation sings the Psalms.
My husband was particularly impressed with how the book has been developed to be used not only in corporate worship, but as a home worship tool. It includes many more prayers, lectionaries, and the Table of Psalms. It includes settings for Daily Office and for Corporate and Individual Confession and Absolution. It even has the Small Catechism (including the Table of Duties and the Christian Questions and Answers, but not the commentary).
Granted, there will be hymns that are beloved that were not included. The section on National songs has been pared down a bit, too. And some of the wordings here and there have been changed a little. The keys of some of the responses have been lowered. But all in all, it looks like they did a fairly good job of field-testing it and getting comments on its usability in a congregational setting.
It was very interesting to see how they took different settings for the Divine Service from both of the previous hymnals, so that no matter which setting you were used to using, you would find something familiar.
The seminar took us through the hymnal, pointing out the different parts of it and showing what is familiar to users of LW or TLH, and what is new or expanded. We also got to sing a number of the hymns, of course, and used some of the worship tools as well. It includes not only the service of Baptism, but the services of Confirmation and Holy Matrimony, so the congregation can read along. It has a new Service of Prayer and Preaching, which is designed to be used as a framework to teach points from the catechism.
A lot of the old hymns are included, some of the with restored text from before the Lutheran Worship book (which had not-so-gently updated and modernized some beloved hymn text). Also included are about 100 new hymns -- either new texts to familiar tunes or completely new (to Lutheran hymnals). I was pleased with the much stronger focus on Gospel-based hymns, which was one of the decision points in looking at which hymns would be included in the hymnal. In addition, there are eleven reciting tones of various major and minor moods by which to sing the Psalms, which are set out with specific markings to follow the use of the tones if your congregation sings the Psalms.
My husband was particularly impressed with how the book has been developed to be used not only in corporate worship, but as a home worship tool. It includes many more prayers, lectionaries, and the Table of Psalms. It includes settings for Daily Office and for Corporate and Individual Confession and Absolution. It even has the Small Catechism (including the Table of Duties and the Christian Questions and Answers, but not the commentary).
Granted, there will be hymns that are beloved that were not included. The section on National songs has been pared down a bit, too. And some of the wordings here and there have been changed a little. The keys of some of the responses have been lowered. But all in all, it looks like they did a fairly good job of field-testing it and getting comments on its usability in a congregational setting.
) and had the liturgies printed in full in the bulletin. But since the beginning of December, we have been using the LSB liturgies exclusively. So when the hymnals arrived, there was no real transition... and the services in the hymnal are laid out just as they were printed in the bulletin.
