Give Me My Lutheran Melodies
Rosa Young (1890-1971)
Advocates of church-growth, multiculturalism, and anti-liturgicalism in our midst often resort to the canard that the liturgy is “too European” and our hymns are “too German.“ The issue is framed in such a way that any disagreement or pushback results in accusations of a cultural nature, of not caring about the lost, and that one does not love the Lord (and in the deep south, with apologies to the late Lewis Grizzard, this may be wedded to the corollary that the transgressor puts sugar in the cornbread and does not fear, love, and trust in Southeastern Conference football above all things).
From a purely utilitarian view, it’s a good strategy. For nobody really wants to answer the question “When did you stop beating your wife?” Clearly, if you insist on the real “best practices” as the Lutheran liturgy, Lutheran hymns, and Lutheran hymnals, you must not care about the faith. So it’s best just to ask what time the game is, and move on.
The “too German” strategy is often used by anti-traditionalists to move toward pop music in tandem with their efforts to abolish the Mass. And indeed, there are some LCMS congregations that have no hymnals at all, that have replaced the entire corpus of the Lutheran chorale and our five hundred year Lutheran-specific history of Gospel hymnody with vacuous - if not doctrinally effluvious - pop songs from other, less Evangelical traditions. And this is always done as a “best practice” and to be “missional.” This is also often couched in ethnic terms, along with the horrid accusation that we in the LCMS are “too white.” That said, I attended a parade the day before writing this draft, and my sunscreen-naked face absorbed a felicitous dose of happy sunshine and natural vitamin D. I might not be able to pass for a Laplander today, for whatever that may be worth to our more woke brethren who are quick to judge by appearances.
Some of our readers might be interested in what one of the synod’s most successful church planters among minority groups had to say about our traditional hymnody and worship.
Rosa Young (1890-1971) was the daughter of an AME preacher from Alabama. She converted to Lutheranism, and helped to establish LCMS schools (and churches) among black Southerners. Her autobiography, Light in the Dark Belt, includes some statements that might sound shocking to modern “missional” ears.
She was not a fan of using non-Lutheran hymnody - even though she was raised on it as a non-Lutheran pastor’s daughter. In fact, she had this to say regarding the specifically German Lutheran corpus of hymnody:
“Those words of praise to Jesus and the sweet German melodies made a lasting impression upon my heart. I thought then, and still think to this day, that the Lutheran melodies are the sweetest in the world. Give me my Lutheran melodies.”
Her praise of our hymns is born out by the fact that - with the exception of some American congregations that have abandoned those “sweet German melodies” - what we find around the world is that all Lutherans sing A Mighty Fortress, Dear Christians One and All, and Lord, Keep us Steadfast with gusto. In addition to the hymns of Luther, the words and the music of Gerhard, Nicolai, Crüger, Kingo, Hermann, Selnecker, and others, have been translated into many languages. And far from being a German-only phenomenon, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach resonates with people on every continent - even with unbelievers in places where there are very few Christians, let alone Lutherans. Sadly ironic is the fact that many American Lutherans may have no idea who he is, would never imagine his music being played in their services, and maybe have never heard a single piece that he composed. Conversely, those that are intimately familiar with Bach may not realize that he was a Lutheran musician and lay theologian, and that his best-known works are Lutheran chorales sung in Lutheran churches: those “sweet German melodies.”
Of course, each language and country also has its own sub-tradition of hymnody, as well as the ubiquitous pre-Reformation heritage of chant and polyphony. It is not an all-or-nothing matter. But the multi-culti snobbery and nose-in-the-air “missional” and “best practices” rejection of our traditional hymnody as somehow out of sync with “Those Of Us Who Know So Much More About Evangelism and Our World’s Diversity,” ought to be laughed out of court.
It’s just not true.
Miss Young also defended the traditional dignified Lutheran Gottesdienst. She did not want our traditional orderly and dignified Lutheran worship to change to be like it was in the non-Lutheran church that she had left. This was certainly not this missionary’s way of being “missional.” In fact, she was a critic of that kind of approach. In her own words:
“They praise noise; they applaud and approve noise. If one wishes to succeed…he must be noisy. The more noise he makes, the more quickly he will succeed. One has to be a real novelist, keeping something new before them all the time.”
There is a modern paternalism among many that all-but says that some ethic groups are simply not capable of using traditional, theologically-rigorous Lutheran liturgy and hymns. Meanwhile, Lutherans around the world from every ethnic background and language are doing just what myopic Americans say can’t be done at home.
”Give me my Lutheran melodies!”