of joy amid
W
ashes of gloom Morsels
e use it at every service with- out giving it much thought. We seldom follow the pages since we already know the words of the liturgy. Only when it comes time to sing a hymn do we check out the number and then mutter, “I don’t believe it, the pastor/cantor finally picked one I know.”
Our church hymnal, Evangeli- cal Lutheran Worship, represents an incredible treasury of world spirituality. While so much reli- gious news reported by both public media and church periodicals can be depressing (church splits, doctrinal conflicts, declining memberships),
Dickson is a retired chemistry professor, adjunct instructor in a community college, ELCA pastor, and author of 11 books on chemistry and religion.
While older Lutheran hymnals 16 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
DESIGNPICS
Tribute to the hymnal, a rich devotional treasury By Charles Dickson
we can turn to this worship resource and at least momentarily recover some morsels of joy from these oth- erwise ashes of gloom.
Renowned scholar Huston Smith often referred to world religions as the “distilled wisdom of the human spirit.” The book we hold in our hands each worship service contains, in a real sense, the dis- tilled musical response of the world Christian experience.
I cannot enjoy using it without being reminded of the magnificent variety of contributors who have made it possible. So, right from the start, let’s hear it for the men and women in our church who have orga- nized the contributions into this rich devotional treasury. We need some- thing to cheer us on.
often reflected the dominant ethnic background of the church, ELW contains a much broader scope of musical selections. Of course, the ELW has not forgotten our roots— there are still about 35 Scandinavian origin hymns and about 100 from German sources. But compilers have challenged us to appreciate musical responses from such diverse sources as Brazil, the Philippines and the Dakota American Indians. So our hymnal invites us to experience the haunting tones of a Hebrew melody (“The God of Abraham Praise”) and the pain of an African-American spiritual (“There Is a Balm in Gilead”) plus the joyful beat of a Hispanic melody (“¡Ale- luya! Cristo resicitó”), to cite but a few examples. If indeed music is, as the 17th-century English writer Joseph Addison described it, “all of heaven we have below,” then we search for a part of that tranquility on our earthly scene. The ELW is not only multilingual and multicultural, it is also multi- denominational. We are heirs of a rich variety of traditions, all of which have contributed to the unique fiber that constitutes our religious experience. It’s much like the driver who feels his vehicle is solely the product of his nation until he does some research and discovers that the functioning of the car is dependent upon the discov- eries of inventors from a multitude of scientific disciplines, in several nations and over many years. This fact was brought to mind by a Christmas service that opened with a stirring Latin Catholic hymn (“O Come, All Ye Faithful”) and included a Gospel processional based on the words of a Methodist cleric accom- panied by the music of a Jewish- born composer (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”).
Other music during the service included carols written by an Epis-
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