The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When I first became a Lutheran at age 18 in 1982, our congregation had two hymnals in the pew: The elder statesman of the Lutheran world: The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and a little red new generation paperback volume called Worship Supplement (1969). We would soon ditch the TLH for the green Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) - the joint project with the churches that became the ELCA, and which was rejected by the Missouri Synod - over the objection of the congregation’s Worship Committee, which recommended the adoption of the LCMS-approved variation of LBW, the blue Lutheran Worship (1982). I don’t know all of the political machinations of the congregation, but I did later learn that the senior pastor had authored a resolution that the Missouri Synod join the ELCA. Maybe that had something to do with the congregation being strapped with the ***A hymnal for many years.

Being a new Lutheran, I actually read through the TLH and the WS. The rubrics in TLH, which more resembled Adam’s loincloth than the historic vestments of the church - were bolstered by more detail in WS as to how to worship as a Lutheran.

Like the 1966 Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, WS was a mixed bag: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But in the interest of starting with the Law and ending with the Gospel, let’s look at them in reverse order…

The Ugly

The ugly would include things such as the horrible rewording of the Lord’s Prayer. This was, after all, the year of Woodstock. I think some of the folks on the Commission on Worship (COW) had been tripping on some bad acid while listening to Country Joe and the Fish’s “Vietnam Song.” This is an example of pure progressivism: change for change’s sake. Even the option for the version of the Our Father that English speakers of every liturgical denomination has said for 500 nearly years was excised. And our liturgical overlords were very determined on this point. The boomers tried for more years than the Beatles were together to foist this “New and Improved - Now How Much Would You Pay” verbiage on a church that didn’t want it. A modernized version of the Lord’s prayer made it to LBW and LW, as like unto cockroaches, it proved hard to exterminate, but was finally put out of our Missouri in the latest hymnal, Lutheran Service Book (2006). It seems like the Commission on Worship had, by this point, gone through rehab, kicked the habit, and had come to Jesus. The traditional wording hath won the victory. Thanks be to God.

The other “ugly” is the introduction of the Reformed ceremony of the fraction in The Holy Eucharist II (page 61). Again, LSD is the only reasonable explanation. Just say no, kids.

The Bad

The Bad parts include the goofy pictographs indicating the rubrics for when to sit, stand, or kneel. I think this was about the same time when international road signs with stick figures were making their grand debut, and who knows how confusing the words “sit” and “stand” and “kneel” would be as rubrics in a hymnal? Again, the modern COW - no longer on its dope bender - has seen the light, as these silly ideograms have been replaced by plain English in LSB. After all, if English was good enough for King James and Jesus…

Also, the COW aped the papacy and the Green New Deal, I mean, the Novus Ordo, by introducing the Holy Handshake ritual. Sometimes, this is called the “passing of the peace” - but to me, it is like passing a kidney stone.

Another Bad is more along the lines of inexplicable: there is no confession of the Creed in Holy Eucharist II and III. There is no explanation for this.

The Good

The Good includes the restoration of the word “catholic” in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds (which was deep-sixed by the Blue Hymnal Boys). Also a Good is the rubric for the sign of the cross at the crescendo of both creeds in which we boldly confess the resurrection. The Nicene Creed includes the restoration of the first person plural “We believe…” instead of the first person singular “I believe…” This is how the Creed was written, and how it was confessed by the Church for centuries. It is not our individual confession only, which is implied by our modern American penchant for “I believe…” but is rather the Church’s collective confession - “We believe.” This change did not survive the transition from LBW to LW - itself a mélange of Good, Bad, and Ugly.

The inclusion of the prayer offices of Prime, Noonday, and Compline are indeed very good. The COW renamed the Office of Sext to “Noonday.” This was, after all, the year after the Summer of Love. I suppose they didn’t want to give people ideas about some new form of contemporary worship. The Office of Compline is one of the greatest additions to our hymnals’ services - and LBW/LW rounded it out with its inclusion of traditional chant tones and extended rubrics. Compline got its toe in the door and was reintroduced into the North American Lutheran life by its inclusion in WS.

One of the best features is the “Suggestions for the Worshiper” on pages 15-16. It consists of rubrics for the laity, and goes into more detail than did its equivalent in TLH on page 4. This section explains the sign of the cross, and gives instructions for doing it. It encourages crossing oneself “at the Trinitarian Invocation, at the last phrase of the Creed, before and after receiving the elements of Holy Communion, and at the Benediction.” Such rubrics actually help in the restoration of liturgical practice in American Lutheranism, as it will placate some “concerns” that “people are having, pastor (but I can’t say who)” that this stuff is “too Catholic.” After all, if CPH says it’s okay, it must be okay. At least some people will accept the imprimatur of the Holy Office of the Publishing House from the Violet Vatican. Others will still demur, but a half glass is better than an empty glass, as Gottesblog’s whiskey-drinkers believe, teach, and confess.

This section also includes rubrics for bowing:

“on entering the church, during the first half of the Gloria Patri, on approaching the altar for Holy Communion, and on leaving the pew after the conclusion of the service. Bowing more deeply or kneeling is customary at the words of the Nicene Creed ‘he was born… and became man.’ Bowing only the head is appropriate at any mention of the sacred name of Jesus, especially where this occurs in the Creed.”

I learned the profound little prayer upon receiving the elements from this section, a variation of which I still say as the celebrant:

Lord, I am not worthy that You have come under my roof, but only say the word, and Your servant will be healed.

These rubrics also teach the reader to confess his “Amen” when receiving the elements after the pastor has said, “The body of Christ” and “The blood of Christ.”

This Worship Supplement’s rubrical catechesis shaped my piety as a new Lutheran attending Divine Service. Inexplicably to me, precious few in the pews actually followed these rubrics. But some did.

There is also “A Form of Private Confession and Absolution” including helpful rubrics. There was no such liturgy in TLH.

Another enhancement of TLH is the fact that the pastor’s chant tones are indicated, thus giving the celebrant “permission” to chant the liturgy - something that was missing in TLH. I’ve heard several theories, such as the World War II paper shortage or a hurried effort to publish the book, but people often make such assertions with no evidence. The TLH version of the Pastor’s Chant Tones did come out as a separate volume a couple years later, but by that time, the weird hybrid of the pastor speaking and the congregation chanting had already calcified, like clogged arteries. Some pastors are still accused of secret Romanism to this very day if they chant their parts of the liturgy - even though our hymnals have indicated these chant tones now since the days of John Cougar’s “Hurts So Good,” Asia’s “Heat of the Moment,” and Van Halen’s “Pretty Woman.” That’s almost 40 years, as long as the Israelites wandered in the desert. And we know what the purpose of that timeframe was.

Maybe some of our members of a certain age see LSB as a Russian conspiracy to put us back under the pope. OK boomers.

Perhaps the best Good of the Worship Supplement is the hymn section. So much of the hymnody that we now take for granted was introduced to North American Lutherans by this resource. And, believe it or not, many of these hymns are stronger versions than what eventually filtered its way into LSB - including some hymns that retain gendered language and even Elizabethan English. Apparently, not everyone was dropping acid. There were clearly a few Nixon voters in the old COW

Some of the “new” hymns include:

Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending
Creator of the Stars of Night
O Savior, Rend the Heavens Wide
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Angels We Have Heard on High
Let All Together Praise Our God
In Dulci Jubilo (in Latin and English)
Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
What Child is This
O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair
My Song is Love Unknown
Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle
At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing
With High Delight, Let Us Unite
O Sons and Daughters of the King
The Victimae Paschali Celebration (LSB: Christians, to the Pascal Victim)
This Joyful Eastertide
I Bind Unto Myself Today
Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness
O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High
Son of God, Eternal Savior
Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling
From All Thy Saints in Warfare (LSB: For All Your Saints in Warfare)
In Adam We Have All Been One
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
In Thee is Gladness
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
God of Grace and God of Glory
Before the Ending of the Day

There are also improved tunes for some hymns, such as:

Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding
The Royal Banners Forward Go
Come Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
Lord God, Thy Praise We Sing (Luther’s antiphonal Te Deum)

One glorious hymn that was introduced in WS, made it to LW, but did not make the cut in LSB is:
O Kingly Love, That Faithfully

So although Worship Supplement is largely forgotten, like the fact that a band named Quill played Woodstock - there seems to be no relation to the eponymous Fort Wayne professor - it has been influential in the shaping of our worship in the LCMS. It has retired and sits on pastor’s shelves, only being thumbed through for the sake of nostalgia or research. And like the 1960s itself, it is a mixed bag.

And so as a tribute to Worship Supplement, here is a video of the earworm that we are all hearing right now.

You’re welcome.