A couple of years ago there appeared an article in the magazine Teen Ways entitled “If Martin Luther Came to Your Church.” It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? The writer asks, “If the wheel of time could bring Martin Luther back to earth and he visited your church, would he be surprised? excited? thrilled?” The writer answers his question by saying “All three!”

Frankly, I cannot become quite as excited as this writer about the situation in our churches today. Of course, there are many factors concerning which one can become very excited. But there are also some most depressing things in the church today. Let’s take a 1ittle time to look at these.

The Situation in Our Churches Today

There are certainly many factors concerning which we can become excited. For one thing, we have excellent hymns. This was not true in Luther’s day. Our hymnals, usually containing in the neighborhood of 600 hymns, are gleaned from the thousands of hymns written in the last four centuries. Of course, we can find fault with any hymnal. There are hymns in our hymnals which some of us don’t like. We may even find some which we consider poor selections. It goes without saying that no one can prepare a collection of hymns that will be suitable for anyone else. The best we can do is to entrust this work to a representative group of people and ask them to gather what they consider the best hymns available. It must also be remembered that hymnals are not prepared solely for use in church services. They are also books of devotion for private use, for family use and for use in informal settings such as retreats, Bible camps, and organizational meetings. It is true, nevertheless, that the hymnals currently in use contain a fabulous number of excellent hymns. The fact that committees preparing hymnals for use in other sections of the Christian church, as for instance the Methodist Church or the Roman Catholic Church, are including large numbers of what we call “Lutheran” hymns is proof that we have the best hymns in our hymnals. This is basic for good hymn singing. One cannot develop a good singing congregation without good hymns.

We have a tradition of good hymn singing. We could argue the point today, but the fact remains that the Lutheran Church has for a long time been “the singing church.” It is doubtful that this honor can be given to the Lutheran Church today, but this is something else. We do have a tradition of good hymn singing. If we have failed to continue the tradition, this is our fault.

We have a sophisticated membership as far as music is concerned in the Lutheran Church. Here, too, we might argue the point. But it is, nevertheless, true compared with Luther’s day. Our people are musically knowledgeable. Most of the people who worship in our Lutheran churches are able to read notes. We teach music in our public schools, and though we might wish the teaching were better in many instances, and though we might wish that more work were done on sight singing instead of rote singing, it is true that most of the people who belong to Lutheran congregations have learned to read notes. The simple fact that most of us have played in high school bands and have learned to read notes is evidence that we are far more sophisticated than were the members of the churches in Luther’s day. If we have failed to capitalize on this, this is also our fault.

We have good leaders in our churches. For a half century, and particularly during the last 25 years, we have been training leaders in music, especially in our Christian colleges. Almost every congregation has members who have sung in college choirs. These people have at least some knowledge of good music, and many of them have training in conducting and playing.

All of these factors are on the credit side. Now let’s look at the other side of the coin. The picture is not quite as rosy as it might be.

In most congregations, at least those I have visited, and that means approximately 125 congregations of the American Lutheran Church during the past three years, there is much to be desired in our hymn singing. There is a deadness in our hymn singing. People in the congregation seem to take no real interest in singing a hymn. One misses the sense of joy and enthusiasm that there ought to be in singing hymns. Sometimes one gets the impression that the people in a congregation sing hymns simply because it is the thing to do. Sometimes one also gets the impression this is something that should be gotten over just as soon as possible. A visitor like me asks the question again and again, “Why does this congregation sing hymns?” It might be better in some congregations if this exercise were omitted completely.

In most congregations hymn singing is monotonous. No one does anything to make hymn singing interesting. Let me illustrate this point. Last summer I visited a small congregation and worshiped with that congregation on Sunday morning. It was during the summer, and the choir was on vacation, so there was no leadership from that part of the church. The congregation sang four hymns. It so happened, and I am sure it was an accident, that two of the hymns had the same melody. In the one hymn there were 5 stanzas and in the other there were 6. This means that we sang the same melody 11 times. The organist did nothing to make the hymn interesting. Admittedly she didn’t have much to work with, for she had only a “juke box” and so had really only one tone quality. There were still things she could have done. By the time we had sung the 11 stanzas to the same melody, I was quite disgusted and certainly sick of that tune. Hymn singing can be made interesting but we do so little to make it interesting.

In most churches nothing is done to create interest in the singing of hymns. How long is it since you heard someone make a comment concerning one or more of the hymns sung in the service? There are so many things that can be said about our hymns, and all of them help to create interest.

Of course, we have problems. One is that our Lutheran people are today a mixed crowd. We are continually receiving members from other Christian denominations or who have previously been members of no church. In some congregations the number of adults coming into the congregation is equal to or greater than the number of young people being confirmed. The adults who come from other churches or from no church are not acquainted with our Lutheran hymns and do not understand the place of the hymn in a Lutheran service. They have not grown up in the tradition of good hymns and good hymn singing. In other words, education is necessary to help these people understand and appreciate our tradition of good hymn singing.

Another problem is the mobility of our American people. We are nomads. We move from place to place. More than 22 percent of the American people change their addresses every year. In addition to this, there are the people who are away for a month or more on vacation. There is the traveling public and the student population. These people are on the move. We are, as someone has said, “evangelizing a procession,” and this affects our hymn singing as well as everything else in our churches. In one congregation they sing one group of 50 to 100 hymns. In another congregation they sing another 50 to 100 hymns, and they are not the same hymns. So visitors find themselves confronted with unfamiliar hymns. This contributes to poor hymn singing.

Summarizing the situation in our churches today, that is, putting side by side the positive and negative aspects, we would have to say that hymn singing ought to be good in our congregations, but it isn’t good. We have the wherewithal, that is, the hymns, the good tradition, musically an intelligent membership, and good leaders. But even with these positive factors, our hymn singing is dead and monotonous.

What Can Be Done

Remembering what Luther and his co-workers did in their day, let us look more carefully at our situation and suggest things which we might do to make hymn singing “come alive” for our people.

Hymn singing, first of all, cannot be taken for granted. We will never have good participation in our hymn singing as long as hymns are announced on a hymn board or on a church bulletin and left at that. If one of the hymns announced is unfamiliar, people will go away from church saying, “Wasn’t that an awful hymn we sang this morning? No one knew it!” Something must be done to create interest in the hymn and a desire to learn an unfamiliar hymn. And this is true not only of unfamiliar hymns, it is true of all hymns. For too long we have assumed that people like to sing hymns. We must again teach them to love the hymns of the church.

Secondly, the leaders must be trained to lead. One of the most discouraging things I have observed is choirs who do not lead the hymns. The principal function of a church choir is not to sing an anthem. This is the number-three function of a church choir. The primary function of a choir is to lead the congregation in its worship, and this includes the singing of hymns. Richard Nixon said in one of his campaign speeches some years ago, “it is the responsibility of leaders to lead.” But so often the leaders in our congregations do not lead. They must be trained to lead the congregation in singing hymns.

In one way or another we must find opportunity for every congregation to rehearse hymns. At this point I am somewhat at a loss. Some people feel that the Sunday morning service ought not to be interrupted with rehearsals. Certainly there is something to be said for this attitude, but not at the expense of good hymn singing. Perhaps our brethren in the Roman churches can teach us a lesson. In most of the Roman churches, at least in this country, rehearsals are held preceding the Sunday morning service. Perhaps we need to inaugurate rehearsal periods preceding every Sunday morning service. The fact is that a five-minute rehearsal preceding the service would do wonders for our hymn singing.

In every congregation there ought to be a program for introducing new hymns. This ought not to be overdone, but in every congregation at least one new hymn ought to be introduced each month. This would mean 12 new hymns learned in a year and 60 new hymns in five years. If this were done, a congregation’s repertoire of hymns would be doubled in five years in some instances. This kind of a program requires work on the part of the entire leadership in the congregation, but it is well worthwhile. People like to learn new hymns, but they must be taught to like the experience of new things just as the advertising industry has taught people to like new models of automobiles or new styles in fashion.

One important item in the singing of hymns is that of rhythm. Some have the mistaken notion that hymns should not be sung rhythmically. We need to correct this notion. Hymns should be sung rhythmically. In fact, it would be well at times to make use of drums and cymbals and other percussion instruments to emphasize the rhythm of the hymn.

Organists and choir directors should do everything possible to make singing interesting. There is the old tradition of alternation in hymn singing. This needs to be recaptured. The instance I mentioned of 11 stanzas sung without any variation is an example of the kind of thing done in most churches. Organists need to learn that the stops on the organ should be changed from one stanza to the next. That’s really why there is more than one rank of pipes in the organ. Organists also must learn to use alternate harmonizations for some stanzas of the hymns. We hope someday to have a hymnal in which there are alternate harmonizations, including contemporary harmonizations of traditional hymns. Many are published, and these should be used. Then, too, we ought to make more use of alternation as far as the singing is concerned. One stanza in a hymn can very easily be sung by a choir or by a solo voice. This creates interest. There can be alternation in the congregation with the Epistle side of the congregation singing one stanza and the Gospel side singing the next stanza and then perhaps, if the hymn has an uneven number of stanzas, the entire congregation singing the last stanza.

We ought also to make use of instruments in hymn singing more than we have done. Every congregation has many members who play instruments. These ought to be used. Not just the trumpets but the reeds and strings and even the percussion instruments ought to be used regularly in our hymn singing. This not only gives those who play instruments opportunity to use their talents for the honor and glory of our Lord, but it puts life into the hymn singing. We have been much too slow in using the talents we have in our congregations for hymn singing.

Every congregation should have at least an annual hymn festival, and three or four times during the year there ought to be informal hymn sings. These occasions, if well planned and prepared, can be extremely interesting and popular in a congregation. They provide opportunities both for education and training in hymn singing. They are also an inspiration to all who participate.

One of the developments during the Reformation was the hymn of the week. As we mentioned in the previous essay, the hymn of the week is the hymn related specifically to the propers for that day. This very important item has been virtually forgotten during the past century or more. During the last couple of years, our churches have rediscovered this important use of hymns. In the American Lutheran Church we have this year published a booklet called the “Hymn of the Week Song Book.” This book contains 62 hymns, one for each week plus hymns for the festivals designed to be sung at home in the family. With two or three exceptions, each hymn fits for the particular Sunday. The exceptions are hymns like “Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now,” which is an opening hymn. This and a few more were included because they are hymns our people ought to know well. To supplement the song book, we have prepared an album of three records in compatible stereo which contains all 62 hymns sung in such a manner that the record can be used in the home as a “sing along” record. The hymns are not unfamiliar, but some hymns are unfamiliar in some congregations, therefore they need to be learned. If in our congregations we can make a core of good hymns well known to our people, this would be similar to our use of the catechism. The catechism is the basis of Christian doctrine and is well known. Paralleling the catechism ought to be a core of good hymns that can be used both in family and congregational worship.

Lastly, congregations must be encouraged to secure good instruments. For a number of years too many congregations have been purchasing inadequate instruments. These instruments may be pleasant for listening, but they are not adequate for congregational singing. If an instrument is to be good for congregational singing, the tone must have “body” and not just volume. We do not have time to go into the details at this point, but a real program of education must be undertaken to make certain that every congregation has an adequate instrument. Only then will hymn singing be revitalized.

There is perhaps no other medium through which Christian people can honor and worship their Lord as effectively as through the singing of hymns. Everyone can participate in this activity. Everyone can give full voice to the love which is in his heart. Everyone can express his feelings through the singing of hymns. It is up to us to give leadership and to use our God-given imaginations to the fullest to recapture the singing of hymns as a means of worship. Let us never take hymn singing for granted. Let us give our best to it that our Lord and Savior may be honored.

From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume VII (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1970). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House.