Lutheran love of music
John saw in his vision of heaven: “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’” (Revelation 7:11-12)
Lutherans love to sing. It is because our music here on earth will be repeated, exemplified and glorified in heaven. Here are some quotes on the importance of music to our Lutheran worship.
Hymns are the faith we Christians sing. The lyrics are the fabric of our theology. Each hymn is a sermon in song. The melodies and texts are often retained after most other memory has faded. When the elderly cannot make it to church because of health, it is singing with the saints that they miss the most.
We love to sing because our theology is carried on the melody of the music. It touches our hearts and minds in a way no sermon or devotion can.
Why is that? Why is our music so important to our theology? Martin Luther answered that when he wrote, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. Music controls our thoughts, minds, hearts and spirits. The precious gift of music has been given to man alone that he might, thereby, remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being … he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
Music for Luther was a powerful proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He again wrote, “I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours; it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music; he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us.”
“When we sing,” Luther proclaimed, “we pray twice.”
Humorist Garrison Keillor had a sketch a number of years ago on “Singing with the Lutherans.” He said, “I have made fun of Lutherans for years – who wouldn't, if you lived in Minnesota? But I have also sung with Lutherans and that is one of the main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh sweet corn. We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like they do.
“If you ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Lutheran-less place, to sing along on the chorus of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore', they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their under-wear. But if you do this among Lutherans they'll smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!
“Lutherans are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony. It's a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Lutherans to sing in harmony. We're too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment.
“I once sang the bass line of ‘Children of the Heavenly Father’ in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us and partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.
Keillor concludes, “I do believe this: These Lutherans are the sort of people you could call up when you're in deep distress. If you're dying, they'll comfort you. If you're lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you're hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!”
“After all, a man can make music on a tin whistle to the glory of God, and God will be pleased to hear it. True, true, true – if God has given him nothing but a tin whistle; but God has given us so infinitely much more. When He has given us all the instruments under heaven with which to sing His praises, then the tin whistle is no longer humility but a perverse sort of pride … Rather let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, and then we shall inevitably find, sing, and produce the best” (p. 96) … Martin Franzmann “Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets.”
What a privilege that on Sunday, April 25, we glorified God at Epiphany with more than a tin whistle. We used the pipe organ, piano, electric guitar and violin, two trumpets and two baritones, tambourine, shaker and bongos. “Let every instrument be tuned for praise. Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise.” (Christian Worship Supplement #734)
734 When in Our Music God Is Glorified
1 When in our music God is glorified,
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
2 How oft, in making music, we have found
A new dimension in the world of sound
As worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia! Alleluia!
3 So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
In faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
Borne witness to the truth in ev’ry tongue:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
4 And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
When utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
5 Let ev’ry instrument be tuned for praise;
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise,
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
This hymn—with new tune and setting—points out the blessings that come to us through our use of musical gifts in celebration of God and his love.
Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903–2000, alt. © 1972 Hope Publishing Company,
Carol Stream, IL 60188. All right reserved. Used by permission.
Lutherans love to sing. It is because our music here on earth will be repeated, exemplified and glorified in heaven. Here are some quotes on the importance of music to our Lutheran worship.
Hymns are the faith we Christians sing. The lyrics are the fabric of our theology. Each hymn is a sermon in song. The melodies and texts are often retained after most other memory has faded. When the elderly cannot make it to church because of health, it is singing with the saints that they miss the most.
We love to sing because our theology is carried on the melody of the music. It touches our hearts and minds in a way no sermon or devotion can.
Why is that? Why is our music so important to our theology? Martin Luther answered that when he wrote, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. Music controls our thoughts, minds, hearts and spirits. The precious gift of music has been given to man alone that he might, thereby, remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being … he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
Music for Luther was a powerful proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He again wrote, “I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours; it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music; he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us.”
“When we sing,” Luther proclaimed, “we pray twice.”
Humorist Garrison Keillor had a sketch a number of years ago on “Singing with the Lutherans.” He said, “I have made fun of Lutherans for years – who wouldn't, if you lived in Minnesota? But I have also sung with Lutherans and that is one of the main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh sweet corn. We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like they do.
“If you ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Lutheran-less place, to sing along on the chorus of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore', they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their under-wear. But if you do this among Lutherans they'll smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!
“Lutherans are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony. It's a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Lutherans to sing in harmony. We're too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment.
“I once sang the bass line of ‘Children of the Heavenly Father’ in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us and partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.
Keillor concludes, “I do believe this: These Lutherans are the sort of people you could call up when you're in deep distress. If you're dying, they'll comfort you. If you're lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you're hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!”
“After all, a man can make music on a tin whistle to the glory of God, and God will be pleased to hear it. True, true, true – if God has given him nothing but a tin whistle; but God has given us so infinitely much more. When He has given us all the instruments under heaven with which to sing His praises, then the tin whistle is no longer humility but a perverse sort of pride … Rather let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, and then we shall inevitably find, sing, and produce the best” (p. 96) … Martin Franzmann “Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets.”
What a privilege that on Sunday, April 25, we glorified God at Epiphany with more than a tin whistle. We used the pipe organ, piano, electric guitar and violin, two trumpets and two baritones, tambourine, shaker and bongos. “Let every instrument be tuned for praise. Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise.” (Christian Worship Supplement #734)
734 When in Our Music God Is Glorified
1 When in our music God is glorified,
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
2 How oft, in making music, we have found
A new dimension in the world of sound
As worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia! Alleluia!
3 So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
In faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
Borne witness to the truth in ev’ry tongue:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
4 And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
When utmost evil strove against the light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
5 Let ev’ry instrument be tuned for praise;
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise,
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
This hymn—with new tune and setting—points out the blessings that come to us through our use of musical gifts in celebration of God and his love.
Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903–2000, alt. © 1972 Hope Publishing Company,
Carol Stream, IL 60188. All right reserved. Used by permission.
April 25 was a beautiful and fun service.
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