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.

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.

Singing Difficult Hymns

It is unfortunate that many of Luther’s hymns and other Lutheran chorales have fallen out of use in the typical Lutheran congregation. I have been told more than once that those old chorales are difficult to sing. My response: These hymns have to be taught to be appreciated. Otherwise we get in an endless circle of: we don’t sing those hymns because they are unknown/difficult and they are unknown and seem difficult because we never sing them.

Take for example this last Sunday - The Baptism of Our Lord. The “official” Hymn of the Day from Lutheran Service Book was Luther’s wonderful baptism / catechism hymn “To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord” (LSB 406/407). How many of our Lutheran congregations sang this hymn? My congregation didn’t, but they did get to hear an organ prelude by Zachau.

Lutheran Service Book has made an attempt to make some of these unsung hymns more accessible. In addition to the tune Christ, Unser Herr typically associated with “To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord,” LSB also has a new tune Elvet Banks. This last tune also happens to be paired with another of Luther’s hymns “May God Bestow on Us His Grace” (which happened to be the Office Hymn for Morning Prayer at Concordia Theological Seminary on 1/16/08). There are a number of other hymn texts in LSB that have been paired with “new” tunes in hopes they get sung more frequently.

Here’s my plea:

Dear Choir Directors and Choirs - Take the time to learn unfamiliar hymns and gradually share and teach them to your congregation. See my previous post on The Lutheran Choir.

Dear Organists and Instrumentalists - Take the time to learn chorale preludes on unfamiliar hymn tunes and introduce the tune over several weeks or months in different parts of the service. You are preparing the people.

Dear Pastors - Take the time to talk to your parish musicians about choosing hymns. Don’t shy away from a hymn because it is difficult or unfamiliar. Your musicians are valuable assets in introducing and leading the people’s song.

Dear People in the Pews (and Choir Directors, Choir, Parish Musicians, and Pastors) - Take the time to read and meditate on the hymns in the hymnal - at home and church. Deepen your familiarity with the church’s song by listening to CD’s that focus on this hymnody. For example:

• Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth
• Concordia Theological Seminary Kantorei
• St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Children’s Choir
• Hymns for All Saints
• Paul Manz Hymn Improvisations

All of these resources should be available by contacting the bookstore at Concordia Theological Seminary. Many are available by contacting Concordia Publishing House.

Blessings as you grow in your understanding of our rich hymnic heritage.

Powerpoint and Hymnals

Do we even need hymnals given that more and more churches are getting on the Powerpoint bandwagon? That question was posed to me by a leader in my church during a discussion on Lutheran Service Book. To be honest, I was taken aback. No hymnals?

I shouldn’t be surprised — many churches that have hymnals increasingly relegate them to the pew rack (assuming they have pews) and instead use a self contained printed worship folder. And for those churches that have “contemporary” worship services, it is trendy to project the service on the “big screen.”

Why would I recommend a printed hymnal?

• Worship folders and Powerpoint slides are transitory. They lack the permanence of a bound book.
• A hymnal is a prayerbook and sung confession of the congregation and the individual Christian. It is a resource to be used during corporate worship and at home and should be a resource of the best material available — in our case material that is Christ centered, cross focused, and in harmony with the Word and the Lutheran Confessions.
• It is sometimes difficult to sing liturgy and hymns without at least a printed melody line. Often times “music readers” can enliven singing because they can see where the music is going. Powerpoint slides usually don’t contain any musical notation. Worship folders start looking like books when music is included.
• When a hymnal is purchased, you don’t have to gain copyright permission to use the materials straight from the hymnal (this assumes no photocopying, projecting, recording, etc.). Projecting the text or liturgy via Powerpoint slides or printing text and/or music in a worship folder requires permission of all affected copyright holders. Even churches have to follow the copyright laws.