Thursday, November 09, 2006

The Propers

I had been completely unaware of how often I referred to the section in TLH with the propers.

As things were being discussed for the new hymnal, I thought it was good to have propers in the hymnal, but, hey, y'know, there's limited space, and something has to go. I didn't much care for the idea of ditching the propers from the pew edition, but I didn't realize until the last couple of months what a huge thing it is that they've done.

I prefer the one-year pericope series. Some others prefer the three-year series. Although I have lots of excellent reasons why my preference is better ;-) I figure they probably think the same thing. But now, missing the collects and introits and graduals from my LSB, I am beginning to think that that reason alone (having the propers in the pew edition of the hymnal) is reason enough for the synod to go back to the one-year series across the board.

5 comments:

  1. Received a copy of the new LSB Altar Book today. At 7 1/2" x 10" & 2 3/4" thick (!) this book comes in at a whopping 1004 pages. The propers alone represent 450 pages.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Y'know, it is just NOT gonna work for me to buy one of those and have it handy like I do my hymnal! LOL.

    I've heard it's a fantastic book, though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I also use the propers often. Our church is not using the LSB but I use the one I have for daily home devotions. My LW is always by me because the children and I go over the propers for the upcomming Sunday. I wonder if the propers differ at all between the LW and LSB.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charity, I don't think there's a lot of difference between the LSB and TLH propers, but I don't know about LSB and LW. I know that Pr Stuckwisch was on the committee that was working on collects for the three-year series, so those at least probably changed (to some extent).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Frankly, I find settings 1 and 2 of the Divine Service to lack the same quality of adoration as setting 3. It really feels watered down. I can see the people of the worship commission sitting around a table talking about how they could update the liturgy to make it more “upbeat” and “accessible.” I don’t know why it needs to be decommissioned completely. If I needed something more “modern” and “accessible” I would go to a mega-church, mainline protestant church, or not go to church at all. The settings of the TLH still had the sense of awe that post-modern culture has destroyed. Gone is “Where Wilt Thou Go Since Night Draws Near”, “We Now Implore God the Holy Ghost,” in exchange for a trite updated version. It looks pretty and some things are easier, but I really wish the TLH would be kept in print.

    ReplyDelete