The
Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement
is the second official hymnal of the
Lutheran Church of Australia
, first published in its present form in 1989.
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Precursors
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Prior to 1966,
Australia
was home to two separate Lutheran synods - the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA.), both based in
South Australia
. Both used liturgical material inherited from their ancestors in Europe, mainly in the German language, together with some material from the
Lutheran Church?Missouri Synod
in the
United States
.
Australian Lutheran Hymn Book
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In order to standardise the music and liturgies found across their congregations, the ELCA. decided, in or about 1920, to produce a completely home-grown hymnal. According to the Preface to the
Hymnal with Supplement
, this work, the
Australian Lutheran Hymn Book
, was first published as a word edition in 1922, with the accompanying tune edition following in 1925. It contained, in addition to over 600 hymns, two settings of the
Divine Service
(one translated from German sources, known as the 'Common Service', and the other from the United States, known as 'Another Order of Service'),
Collects
and
Propers
, Orders for
Matins
and
Vespers
, and various other liturgical material, together with several
chants
. Though some hymns were of English origin, the overwhelming majority of the hymns in this book were translated from German, reflecting the heritage of the Lutheran Church. None of the hymns were of Australian origin.
Dissatisfaction first arose with the
Australian Lutheran Hymn Book
in the late 1940s, when, again according to the Preface of the
Hymnal with Supplement
, the UELCA decided to publish a supplement and a new tune edition to the
Australian Lutheran Hymn Book
. Both of the Lutheran Churches in Australia subsequently resolved not to revise the existing hymnal, but to produce a completely new one.
Lutheran Hymnal
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The first meeting of the committee that was to produce this new hymnal was held on 23 August 1951, in
Adelaide
, South Australia. The committee was composed of members of both churches, all pastors, with Dr. M. Lohe of the UELCA elected chairman. In 1966, after over a decade of work, the committee had prepared new orders of service, using similar orders to those found in the Lutheran Church?Missouri Synod of the United States, but with musical settings adapted from those in use in the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany
. Orders of Divine Service with and without Holy Communion and of Matins and Vespers were prepared. These became official in 1966, though the hymnal they were to appear in had not yet been produced at that time.
In June, 1973, the hymnological material had been prepared, and the
Lutheran Hymnal
was published by the Lutheran Publishing House in Adelaide. At this time, the
Australian Lutheran Hymn Book
became obsolete. It is from this
Lutheran Hymnal
that the
Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement
is revised. The
Lutheran Hymnal
contained 729 hymns, in addition to the Orders of Service noted above, with the propers for the
Christian year
, Morning and Evening Prayer, and lists of suggested hymns. It was a conservative hymnal, and continued to use the now-dated forms of 'Thou' and 'Thy' instead of 'You' and 'Your' when referring to the
Trinity
. Such usage was reflected in the hymns, again mainly of German origin, but with a higher proportion of
Anglican
hymns, and several composed by Australians. This book remained in use for the next decade, and is referred to by many Australian Lutherans as the
Black Hymnbook
because it came in only one colour, black.
Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement
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The
Lutheran Hymnal
was the last, and possibly the best, hymnal for an age that was, even as it came off the printing press, passing away. Through the 1970s, many fine spiritual songs were composed, and the dignified but conservative nature of the Orders of Service prepared in 1966 no longer found ready appeal among the younger members of the Lutheran Church of Australia, which subsequently resolved to revise the existing hymnal. The result was the
Supplement to the Lutheran Hymnal
. Its Preface states that the times were "rapidly changing", and that there was an "ever-growing demand for hymns and orders of service which are not available in the current hymn books...this Supplement is not meant to displace the hymn book of the Church, but to be...a supplement."
The supplement was first made available in 1987, in the form of a small red booklet containing the revised Orders of Service, with 174 newer hymns which did not appear in the
Lutheran Hymnal
. The two works first appeared as a combined edition in 1989, and the
Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement
was born, known as the "Red Hymnbook".
While the hymns which appeared in the 1973 edition remain unchanged, the Orders of Service have been revised and updated, though they are substantially the same as they were in 1973. The Propers, with the lists of suggested hymns, have been deleted as being of little or no use to the layman. The
Hymnal with Supplement
also contains a second setting of Divine Service, called the "Contemporary Order". Confusingly, around the same time, a completely new setting of Divine Service was printed, to go with the
All Together, Now!
series of spiritual song-books, themselves of Lutheran origin. These orders have supplanted the
Hymnal with Supplement
in some congregations.
The
Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement
remains the official hymnal of the Lutheran Church of Australia, though in recent years even its revisions have been regarded as conservative, and it has fallen out of use in some congregations where a more contemporary approach is taken.
See also
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References
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