Walther's Hymnal

So I had a slight A to Z Challenge slip-up by not posting last night, but since Sundays are free days, I figured I could get away with waiting to post until today.

By this point in the month, I had hoped to explore Walther's Hymnal in depth, but that didn't happen.  Even though I'm not as familiar with it as I had hoped to be, I would still highly recommend this book as a must-have resource for the church musician and anyone who is interested in church music.

This book is an English translation of the German-language hymnal, published in 1847, that C.F.W. Walther put together for Trinity Congregation in St. Louis.  While it doesn't include all of the liturgical resources that the original did, it still includes translations of all the hymns, the order of service, prayers, and selected readings.  It also includes a brief historical introduction and music to tunes that aren't found in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, or Lutheran Service Book (LSB).

Some of the hymns are still used in modern hymnals, but unfortunately, many have fallen out of use.  I spent a little bit of time reflecting on some of the hymns in the "Passion of Christ" section.  One of the hymns, which isn't in LSB, really caught my attention.  Because the translation is copyrighted, I won't print the text of it here, but if you can get your hands on a copy of Walther's Hymnal, translated and edited by Matthew Carver, it is listed as hymn 72.  It's a beautiful hymn that ties Christ's passion to our salvation and is a great hymn for Good Friday.  Because of the fifth and final stanza's reference to our own death and the hope we have of eternal life, I also think that it would work well as a funeral hymn.

I can't wait to explore this resource in greater depth and I would encourage anyone interested to consider adding Walther's Hymnal to his or her library!