The Hammer of God - Heaven on Earth

Periodically I will take a well worn paperback book off the bookshelf.  Over the years the binding has begun to crack and some of the pages are loose (I’m not too worried since I have a duplicate copy in the overflow box of books in the garage).  And what is this book?  “The Hammer of God” by Bo Giertz.

I discovered it about 9 years ago when I was boxing up my father’s office after he unexpectedly joined the church triumphant a few short days before Christmas.  During that time I found that it was the English translation of 3 novellas by the Swedish Lutheran bishop Bo Giertz.  Each novella focused on the spiritual growth of a pastor and the surrounding Swedish community.  I’ve heard that it’s required reading in seminary (at least it was for my dad back in 1975), but it’s still a good read for the layperson (check out the Amazon.com reviews).

The following excerpt from the first part of the novel is a good commentary on what is happening in the Divine Service.  As a brief background, Curate Henrik Savonius reluctantly relented to make a pastoral call to a dying man (Johannes) who needed some spiritual comfort.  Savonius’ florid words and philosophical education were not what Johannes needed.  Johannes needed the assurance of the forgiveness of sins which came through the body and blood of Christ.

He [Savonius] distributed the bread. . . Then he gave them the cup.  It was then that Johannes suddenly began to speak in a strangely distant voice.

“Listen!  Don’t you hear the organ tones?  I hear the rush of white wings.  I hear the sound of many waters.  Now Johannes is sitting in Ravelunda church, and never before has the organist played like this.  I hear them singing, ‘Holy holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.  Heaven and earth are full of His glory.’  On the altar the Lord’s chalice shines like fire.  But the wall is of crystal and the church without a roof, and the angels of heaven ascend and descend.  They bow before the chalice, they cover their faces.  They say, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’  Now an archangel takes the cup in his hand. It is like pure fire.  Now he comes toward me.  Sparks fly from his fingers, he will burn me to death!”

Johannes laid one of his hands over his eyes as if to shield them from too bright a light.  The other hand seemed to push something away.  But then both hands fell.  He became calm again, and his next words were whispered.

“You wanted only to cleanse me, Lord, to cleanse and redeem.  You wanted only to save, and now your angel says, ‘Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away.  Now you can behold the living God’”

“He is delirious,” whispered the wife. . .

“He is wiser than any of us,” Savonius answered somewhat abruptly.  “Let us give thanks and pray!” (pg 34-35, 1973 edition)

As Wilhelm Loehe wrote in his hymn “Wide Open Stand the Gates”,

The sacrament God gives us
Binds us in unity,
Joins earth with heav’n beyond us
Time with eternity. (LSB 639, st. 3)

As an organist it is a privelege and humbling experience to play for this heavenly host.  If there is any time to “pull out all the stops,” this is it.

O Lord, Open My Lips

These familiar words from Psalm 51 - “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise” - prepare us as we pray through Matins and Vespers. It is good to pray these words since our sinful nature does not have the words or desire to praise God.

In a short article I recently acquired, Kevin Hildebrand reflects on the import of these familiar words.

We are by nature sinful and unclean. Therefore we ask with the psalmist, “O Lord, open my lips,” as we cannot open our own dead, sinful lips. Only with lips that have been touched with the words of absolution, drenched with the waters of Holy Baptism, and quenched with the Blood of the chalice can we then say with confidence, “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

** An excerpt from “The Organ Also Sings: Some Brief Thoughts to Introduce an Organ Reading Session” in the 2004 journal of the Good Shepherd Institute - Singing and Preaching the Close of the Year: “Zion Hears the Watchmen Singing)

Our praise is a result of the great gifts God gives us through His word and sacraments. Thanks be to God!

“There’s Just Too Many Hymn Stanzas”

How many times have you heard this: There’s just too many hymn stanzas? Or for that matter, how many times have you thought this on a Sunday morning?

I remember as a teenager reading TLH #315. (While I haven’t been at a congregation that uses The Lutheran Hymnal for a few years now, I still have the hymn numbers deeply ingrained in my mind.) Without picking up TLH, which hymn is it? If you answered I Come, O Savior, To Thy Table, you are correct. You get bonus points if you also remembered that it has 15 stanzas. As best as I can remember, I have never sung the entire hymn in one service. For better or worse, LSB broke the hymn into two hymns - LSB 618 and 619 - each with 5 stanzas and eliminated the remaining 5 stanzas. Perhaps the later stanzas will be sung more often now.

This all leads up to a memorable quote from my current lunch time reading — Robin Leaver’s study of “Luther’s Liturgical Music”. In the essay on Vater unser im Himmelrich (Out Father, Who from Heaven Above - LSB 766), Leaver recounts that Martin Franzmann was concerned that Luther’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer was infrequently sung because it was perceived to be too long — with 9 stanzas. Franzmann wrote a three-stanza hymn (LBW 442 — LBW did not include Luther’s hymn), as did Henry Letterman (LW 430). Leaver concludes with:

These shortened forms of hymnic versions of the Lord’s Prayer are symptomatic of our modern age, which is impatient with hymns longer than three or four stanzas and with services of worship that last longer than fifty-nine minutes. But worship and prayer require time if we are to become attuned to what we are doing and why. (133-134)

Sometimes it gets to the point of sound bite hymnody — first and last verses — or the “Best of the Divine Service” to fit the “allotted” time. Why? I would gladly stay longer to be nourished through the entire Divine Service and hymnody.

Reviving the Introit

Raise your hand if you know what the Introit is? The point of the question is not to encourage a self righteousness for those liturgically or musically aware folk, but instead to get us thinking about the people in the pews each Sunday. Does the average parishioner know (or care) about the Introit (or the rest of the Propers)? Should they?

I started thinking about this after I received a recent eBay purchase - “The Concordia Liturgical Series for Church Choirs: The Introits for the Church Year” from Concordia Publishing House (1942) - now long out of print. I ordered the book because of the introductory essay by Walter Buszin - one of the prominent leaders in the restoration and renewal of Lutheran church music in the mid 20th century. Here’s a link to a previous blog post on Buszin.

The introductory essay by Buszin is alone worth having this collection in my library. A side benefit is having the Introits for the one-year lectionary set to Gregorian chant tones. Here are several excerpts regarding liturgy in general and the Introit in particular

The revival of interest in matters liturgical which is found in many sections of the Christian Church today is largely responsible for the restoration of liturgical practices which had been abolished during eras in which, unfortunately, the Church was largely insensible to the beauty and import of her liturgical heritage.

. . .

The Introit was among the first elements of the liturgy dropped in the eras dominated by an antiliturgical spirit. In the era of Pietism it was regarded as superfluous and the Rationalists of the 18th and 19th centuries saw as little need for Introits as they did for other constituent parts of the Christian Liturgy.

. . .

The Introit marks the beginning of the church service proper. The word Introit means entrance, so called because it was chanted while the officiating clergyman entered the chancel and took his place before the altar.

. . .

The Introit consists of three parts: the Antiphon, a Psalm verse, and the Gloria Patri. From a liturgical point of view, the Antiphon is the most important part of the Introit, since from it sounds forth the keynote of the day. Friedrich Lochner, a trustworthy and well-informed authority said: “The Introit should be regarded as the herald of the day of divine worship, who announces to the assembled congregation from the very beginning of the service proper the import and significance of the Sunday, the festival, and the festival season. Its most important part is the Antiphon, which in a short passage from the scriptures proclaims not only the significance of the day, but also the cardinal truth concerning eternal salvation which is to be stressed on that particular day of worship.”

Now back to my initial set of questions. Does the Introit have a place in weekly worship? Yes — it heralds the significance of the day. In the case of today, the Introit’s Antiphon for the 4th Sunday of Easter was “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” That is quite the message to open a service with — succinct, yet so much to learn.

It is the responsibility of pastors and church musicians to introduce and reinforce why we do what we do as Lutherans. We are not being arbitrary or capricious, but walking in the footsteps of the past; not for the sake of history, but because it is beneficial, has worth, and assists in the proclamation of the Word (in the case of the Introit, it IS the Word).

Te Deum at Kramer Chapel

While reviewing some discussion threads over at Wittenberg Trail, a comment by Susan reminded me of my first experience singing Stephen Starke’s paraphrase of the Te Deum - “We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God” (LSB 941). Susan wrote, “Go to Kramer Chapel and hear those men singing Starke’s Te Deum. When you can breathe again, you’ll want to sing it to.” That is exactly where I first sang it — at Kramer Chapel at Concordia Theological Seminary during Matins at morning Chapel — along with Susan, a number of other organists, and the seminary community.

Starke’s paraphrase of this early hymn of praise, with its rich language, and coupled with Gustav Holst’s tune Thaxted is a joy to sing. Granted, Thaxted is best known as the theme from Jupiter in The Planets. However, now when I hear Jupiter on KBPS 89.9, I start singing the Te Deum — I dare say not necessarily a negative association.

If you have never heard (or even if you have) Starke’s paraphrase, I have two audio recommendations for your listening enjoyment:

• Concordia Publishing House has released a festival setting for choir and organ (with optional orchestra) by Mark Bender. CPH has a complete performance with orchestra for listening on their product page. Even if your choir does not sing this setting, I would recommend your organist have a copy of the choral score since the opening organ introduction is alone worth the $1.75 and would be a fitting hymn introduction.
• The Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary concludes their CD titled “Te Deum” with a mostly a capella (last verse with organ and brass) setting by Thomas Lock. Full length audio is available for streaming at the Kantorei site. While the Bender setting pulls out all the stops, I would characterize the Kantorei’s performance of the Lock setting as “reverently triumphant”.

Now don’t get me wrong; I’m still fond of the Anglican chant setting of the Te Deum from TLH and will continue to sing it. Yet, Starke’s Te Deum is a worthy inclusion in Lutheran Service Book and I hope congregation’s will take the opportunity to learn and use it.

His Voice - Newsletter of Good Shepherd Institute

I’ve been waiting for some to write this blog post, but was waiting for the new semi-annual installment of His Voice to be published by the Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary. I knew it had to be coming in either March or April and it was posted on the GSI website today. Definitely visit their website and download the latest version (in PDF). For that matter, why not download all five issues (current and the last two years)?

His Voice is a wonderful resource for those interested in the current events of the Good Shepherd Institute and provides:

• Recommended Pastoral Resouces - Reviews by John Pless
• Recommended Choral and Organ Music - Reviews by Kevin Hildebrand
• Recommended Reading and Listening Resources - Reviews by Daniel Zager

I have a great amount of respect for the GSI and take their recommendations seriously. My personal library is a reflection of this.

Highlights from the April 2008 edition include the topic of the 2008 Annual Conference, notification of the release of the “Singing the Faith: Living the Lutheran Music Heritage” DVD, and comprehensive music suggestions for Pentecost and Trinity 2008 by Kevin Hildebrand.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Good Shepherd Institute of Pastoral Theology and Sacred Music for the Church, it is “dedicated to hearing and discerning the clear voice of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, through preaching, historic liturgies, substantive catechesis, and hymns that communicate faith in Christ in the church’s trinitarian teaching and worship.” You can learn more about their mission and vision by going here.

They have a number of resources available including published journals from their annual conferences and a book on the life of Walter Buszin.

The Good Shepherd Institute is a blessing to the church. Thank You!

Sanctus: Singing With All the Saints

During my lunch time for the past few weeks, I have been reading The Blessings of Weekly Communion by Kenneth Wieting. As the name of the book suggests, the author explores and encourages the practice of weekly communion. He definitely makes a compelling case based on history, scripture, and the Lutheran Confessions.

In today’s reading, Wieting discusses the singing of the Sanctus in the Communion liturgy by referencing a selection from They Will See His Face by Richard Eyer.

At this point in the Divine Service the curtain separating this life from the next is drawn back and we sing with those who have gone before us the glory of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Here, in the Divine Service, as nowhere else on earth, we are together as one, saints above and saints on earth. Here, more than anywhere else in this life, we are near to those who have died in Christ. No memories or private devotions can rival the reality that all the community of heaven worships with us when we worship together in the Divine Service on a Sunday morning. What better place to find healing and reunion with loved ones than in the gathering of God’s people before the altar? (Eyer quoted in Wieting, page 202)

One of the great joys I have as an organist is leading this earthly and heavenly host in song. This is the time in the service when all the stops on our 7-rank pipe organ get pulled out and I would use the zimblestern (if I had one). It is both a humbling and exhilarating experience.

I’d be interested to know how others interpret the Sanctus. Do you and/or your congregation see it as singing with all the saints?