# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S611
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PUBLICATION MATTERS 611

setting or two of one or the other of our liturgies, or of certain
of their individual parts, may be added; the same applies to a few
excellent hymn-texts and tunes found in other standard Amer-
ican hymnals today. The hymns we have in mind will be a credit
to our hymnal, they will fit well into a Lutheran service of worship,
and we are reasonably certain that they will be enjoyed by our
people. We believe the revised edition can be so prepared that
it will not create undue confusion; we believe that it will help
to unify us as a worshiping people.

In view of the fact that the actual work of revising
The Lutheran Hymnal has been entrusted to the chairman of our
committee and has been begun by him, the task of continuing this
work might be left in his hands with the provision that he be
permitted to solicit help from those within Synod well qualified
to supply such help. It is imperative that such work be done by
men who are at home in the field of hymnology and liturgics,
chiefly because they will be more inclined to apply practices which
have stood the test of time and which will thus insure a longer
life for our hymnal. That our Lutheran Hymnal is basically a very
good hymnal may be realized from the fact that its influence may
be seen in other hymnals of our day. An excellent hymnal for
schools and colleges will soon come from the press which leans
heavily on our Lutheran Hymnal. Along more popular lines,
there is being prepared today a paper-covered hymnal (to be
sold in bookstores, drugstores, etc.) which has derived much of its
material from our Lutheran Hymnal. Hymnological standards are
rising in America, and also among the so-called fundamentalist
groups one does note the growing tendency to abandon the Sankey
and Rodeheaver type of hymnody in favor of hymns of higher
musical and literary quality.

In view of the fact that the converts gained for our church
have backgrounds which vary widely and which call for concerted
effort on our part, as instruments of the Holy Ghost, to seek to
integrate them with our people that we all might unite in the
earnest endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace” (Eph. 4:3); in view also of the fact that the hymns, liturgies,
and music given to the church are expressive of our Lutheran
theology and are gifts which God has bestowed upon us to edify
the church and to unite us as members of the body of Christ,
therefore we, as members of Synod’s Committee on Hymnology
and Liturgics, do urge that our Synod and her many congregations,
schools, and homes use and study more diligently and with higher
regard these wonderful agencies of the Holy Ghost. Our request
does not conflict with the important statement of our Confessions