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Lutheran Service Book
This elegant resource offers more than 600 hymns that span the centuries and the continents. It includes hundreds of familiar hymns and nearly 200 fresh expressions of the Gospel. Lutheran Service Book presents a significant body of resources that faithfully proclaim our forgiveness and life in Christ.
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First published January 1, 1931
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 12, 2022
I am a Confessional Lutheran organist, composer, and seminarian. I have worshipped using the LSB in churches utilizing both the one and three-year lectionaries, and have sung quite a large sampling of hymns, and used (I think) every single liturgy in the volume.
Here is my honest appraisal of the LSB: It’s a mixed bag. If it were an option, I would give it 3.5 stars.
I know this is not likely to earn me many friends, especially in the Missouri Synod, but my frank opinion is that, when the LSB is good, it’s fantastic. When it’s bad, it ranges from slightly underwhelming to just flat awful. Don’t get me wrong - I gladly use this hymnal at church every Sunday, and regularly in my home devotions. It is the hymnal my wife and I used at our wedding. It is a treasure of the Lutheran Church, and I love it in many ways. But it has what I perceive to be some glaring flaws, which are fairly serious at times, especially if you believe in the theological importance of only using great music in public worship (which I do.)
The good:
Dozens upon dozens of the best Lutheran hymns.
A very good version of the Common Service (TLH page 15/Divine Service 3) is included. The TLH version oscillated between the key centers of F major and G major; the LSB version is mostly in F. This is a good change in my opinion, as it makes certain sections a bit easier for a congregation to sing.
Most of the psalter is included and pointed for chanting.
Luther’s Small Catechism is helpfully included.
The indexes are comprehensive and helpful.
The excellent four-part harmony of the old Lutheran hymns remains a pristine treasure of the Church, well-represented in this hymnal.
Four excellent brief liturgies included for personal devotion.
Matins, Vespers, and Evening Prayer are beautiful liturgies.
The pew, personal gift, and organist accompaniment versions are all superb, durable, beautiful, and printed on very nice paper.
The bad:
The chief issue with the LSB is that it is trying to be “all things to all people,” but really ends up being a bit of a camel (a horse drawn by committee). It tries to appease the Confessional conservatives, as well as the Boomer and “Evangelical style, Lutheran substance” crowds. The result is a bit of a mish-mash without a clear identity.
There are five settings of the communion liturgy. On a liturgical level, they are all very beautiful church orders. On a musical level, setting three is the only really good option. (Setting five is an exception, as the musical choices are flexible). Settings one, two, and four are predominantly written in dated 20th century musical styles. They are very pop-y, in that contrived style with its origins found in a generation convinced that rock music would save the Church from decline. (As with 1980’s fashion, I think we should all just agree to forget that Vatican II-era hymnody existed.) Settings one and two contain alternatives to the Gloria In Excelsis, each entitled “This is the Feast.” These are two of my least favorite pieces of music in the LSB. With no disrespect meant toward the composers, or the editors of the Worship Commission, both are dreadfully dull settings of the glorious text from Revelation. The organ accompaniments are atrocious, full of amateurish harmony. Morning Prayer is just as bad.
There are some 600 hymns, and I would estimate that about a quarter of them are quite weak, either musically or textually. The weaker inclusions range from the cheeseball (“Jesus Loves Me”), to the theologically-vacuous (“Amazing Grace”), to the schlocky (“Let the Vineyards Be Ever Fruitful”), to the manufactured and corny (“What is this Bread?”), to saccharine Vatican II-era Roman Catholic hymns (“On Eagle’s Wings,” “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”). Again, I don’t mean any disrespect to the composers or editors, but I genuinely believe that these hymns are far too weak to merit a place in our tradition, especially with how many better alternatives there are. (The recently-published Liber Hymnorum from Emmanuel Press has dozens of hymns that are both textually and musically perfect).
Many of the better Lutheran hymns have been retranslated, and are often quite a bit weaker than their TLH counterparts.
A great number of psalms are missing; it is disappointing that, for all the mediocre hymns in this volume, the entire Book of Psalms couldn’t be included.
Many of the more recent hymn settings contain poor voice leading.
Conclusion:
If you are selective, and willing to overlook its faults, LSB can be excellent. If the good parts of LSB could be added to the TLH, and the weaker parts of the LSB left out, you would have an exceptional hymnal to last a few generations. As it stands, the LSB tries too hard to be too many things, and so it lacks focus. Is it a hymnal for reverent, liturgical, Biblical congregations? For informal, Evangelical-influenced congregations with no taste for liturgy? The answer is both “yes” and “no” to both questions. Taken as-is, at face value, it’s a hymnal with many excellent uses - but I can’t help but acknowledge that it is disappointing at times. Given the size of the LCMS, I understand that they need to do their best to get hymnals to as many churches as possible. Given the context of its creation, I can’t really blame the LSB editors too harshly, but this is my honest opinion.
Here is my honest appraisal of the LSB: It’s a mixed bag. If it were an option, I would give it 3.5 stars.
I know this is not likely to earn me many friends, especially in the Missouri Synod, but my frank opinion is that, when the LSB is good, it’s fantastic. When it’s bad, it ranges from slightly underwhelming to just flat awful. Don’t get me wrong - I gladly use this hymnal at church every Sunday, and regularly in my home devotions. It is the hymnal my wife and I used at our wedding. It is a treasure of the Lutheran Church, and I love it in many ways. But it has what I perceive to be some glaring flaws, which are fairly serious at times, especially if you believe in the theological importance of only using great music in public worship (which I do.)
The good:
Dozens upon dozens of the best Lutheran hymns.
A very good version of the Common Service (TLH page 15/Divine Service 3) is included. The TLH version oscillated between the key centers of F major and G major; the LSB version is mostly in F. This is a good change in my opinion, as it makes certain sections a bit easier for a congregation to sing.
Most of the psalter is included and pointed for chanting.
Luther’s Small Catechism is helpfully included.
The indexes are comprehensive and helpful.
The excellent four-part harmony of the old Lutheran hymns remains a pristine treasure of the Church, well-represented in this hymnal.
Four excellent brief liturgies included for personal devotion.
Matins, Vespers, and Evening Prayer are beautiful liturgies.
The pew, personal gift, and organist accompaniment versions are all superb, durable, beautiful, and printed on very nice paper.
The bad:
The chief issue with the LSB is that it is trying to be “all things to all people,” but really ends up being a bit of a camel (a horse drawn by committee). It tries to appease the Confessional conservatives, as well as the Boomer and “Evangelical style, Lutheran substance” crowds. The result is a bit of a mish-mash without a clear identity.
There are five settings of the communion liturgy. On a liturgical level, they are all very beautiful church orders. On a musical level, setting three is the only really good option. (Setting five is an exception, as the musical choices are flexible). Settings one, two, and four are predominantly written in dated 20th century musical styles. They are very pop-y, in that contrived style with its origins found in a generation convinced that rock music would save the Church from decline. (As with 1980’s fashion, I think we should all just agree to forget that Vatican II-era hymnody existed.) Settings one and two contain alternatives to the Gloria In Excelsis, each entitled “This is the Feast.” These are two of my least favorite pieces of music in the LSB. With no disrespect meant toward the composers, or the editors of the Worship Commission, both are dreadfully dull settings of the glorious text from Revelation. The organ accompaniments are atrocious, full of amateurish harmony. Morning Prayer is just as bad.
There are some 600 hymns, and I would estimate that about a quarter of them are quite weak, either musically or textually. The weaker inclusions range from the cheeseball (“Jesus Loves Me”), to the theologically-vacuous (“Amazing Grace”), to the schlocky (“Let the Vineyards Be Ever Fruitful”), to the manufactured and corny (“What is this Bread?”), to saccharine Vatican II-era Roman Catholic hymns (“On Eagle’s Wings,” “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”). Again, I don’t mean any disrespect to the composers or editors, but I genuinely believe that these hymns are far too weak to merit a place in our tradition, especially with how many better alternatives there are. (The recently-published Liber Hymnorum from Emmanuel Press has dozens of hymns that are both textually and musically perfect).
Many of the better Lutheran hymns have been retranslated, and are often quite a bit weaker than their TLH counterparts.
A great number of psalms are missing; it is disappointing that, for all the mediocre hymns in this volume, the entire Book of Psalms couldn’t be included.
Many of the more recent hymn settings contain poor voice leading.
Conclusion:
If you are selective, and willing to overlook its faults, LSB can be excellent. If the good parts of LSB could be added to the TLH, and the weaker parts of the LSB left out, you would have an exceptional hymnal to last a few generations. As it stands, the LSB tries too hard to be too many things, and so it lacks focus. Is it a hymnal for reverent, liturgical, Biblical congregations? For informal, Evangelical-influenced congregations with no taste for liturgy? The answer is both “yes” and “no” to both questions. Taken as-is, at face value, it’s a hymnal with many excellent uses - but I can’t help but acknowledge that it is disappointing at times. Given the size of the LCMS, I understand that they need to do their best to get hymnals to as many churches as possible. Given the context of its creation, I can’t really blame the LSB editors too harshly, but this is my honest opinion.
October 8, 2019
LSB is used every Sunday in church worship. When I received a copy for personal use as a gift, I discovered it’s a wonderful resource for daily and special prayers; and the website hymnary.org offers many audio files to listen to while reading or singing.
March 25, 2013
I forgot the lyrics...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews