There’s a rich history to all of the hymns in Lutheran Service Book. This history easily lends itself to beautiful devotional materials that blend seamlessly into the Church Year. Read these excerpts from five different hymns spanning the entire Church Year from Lutheran Service Book: Devotional Edition to see how this fantastic book can bring you deep, meaningful devotions.
Devotion for Lent
As you take time to reflect and repent on your sins, the hymnal also takes a more somber and repentant turn. During Lent, many hymns are sung by the congregation in a minor key. Their words are all about Christ’s sacrifice, the trials Christ faced leading to His crucifixion, and our need for His mercy. Take a look at this devotion from hymn 571, “God Loved the World So That He Gave.”
God Loved the World So That He Gave (LSB 571)
Stanza 1 is an almost literal versification of John 3:16, that God “gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should … have eternal life.” Stanza 2 says that Jesus, who was made flesh and suffered death on our behalf, is the only ground of our faith, and that all who believe in Him have built on this chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). Stanza 3 reflects the trinitarian character of our faith: that God the Father gives us His Son, Jesus Christ, who is near with His saving grace, and the Holy Spirit declares through the Word how we are heirs of heaven through Christ Jesus. The fourth stanza offers encouragement to be of good cheer because God’s Son forgives us all our sins. Thus justified by Jesus’ blood, we, in our Baptism, are given the highest good: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Stanza 5 is a reminder that Jesus is the “firmest ground of faith,” especially in sickness and at the hour of death. The hymn concludes with a resounding trinitarian doxology to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Easter
From the somber tone of Lent, we move into the bright and joyous celebration of Easter! Christ has won against His battle with the devil, giving us His forgiveness for our sins. The ultimate price was paid and now, as Christians, we can rejoice. During the Easter worship services, the narrative of Christ’s resurrection is read out and the hymns echo the same narrative. Read this devotion for “Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands” below to see how.
Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands (LSB 458)
The hymn begins by echoing the words of St. Luke: “God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Christ’s resurrection brings us life and salvation: “He will swallow up death forever” (Is. 25:8). In faith, the Christian joyfully praises the Lord.
In stanzas 3 and 4, Martin Luther restates in poetic form what he had written in The Freedom of a Christian (1520): “Here we have a most pleasing vision not only of communion but of a blessed struggle and victory and salvation and redemption. Christ is God and man in one person. He has neither sinned nor died, and is not condemned, and he cannot sin, die, or be condemned; his righteousness, life and salvation are unconquerable, eternal and omnipotent. By the wedding ring of faith he shares in the sins, death, and pains of hell which are his bride’s. … He suffered, died, and descended into hell that he might overcome them all. Now since it was such a one who did all of this, and death and hell could not swallow him up, these were necessarily swallowed up by him in a mighty duel; for his righteousness is greater than the sins of all men, his life stronger than death, his salvation more invincible than hell.” (AE 31:351–52)
Finally, in stanza 7, Luther interprets the Passover lamb imagery in light of the Sacrament of the Altar: “Christ alone our souls will feed; He is our meat and drink indeed; faith lives upon no other!”
Season of Pentecost
Pentecost is both a day and a season in the Church Year. Typically, the season of Pentecost takes up half of the calendar year, going through narratives from both the Old and New Testaments. Read this devotion, written for “A Multitude Comes from the East and the West,” to see how hymn writers consistently used narratives from both Testaments to teach what Christ proclaims.
A Multitude Comes from the East and the West (LSB 510)
Magnus Brostrup Landstad’s text uses broad scriptural references to retell the parable of the great banquet from Luke 14:15–24. A hymn for end times appropriate for use around the end of the church year, Landstad’s text is neither thankful nor celebratory. Instead, the language used is a strange blend of confidence and the need for assurance, of longing for and fear of what is to come.
The biblical language of the first stanza comes from Matthew’s account of the faith of the centurion whose servant was healed by Jesus (Matt. 8:11–12). Conflating these two festal references, the text emphasizes the broad nature of the invitation the Messiah issues to all nations (Mal. 1:11).
The second stanza employs the imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd (John 10). Slightly more introspective than the preceding stanza, the stanza draws the conclusion that yes, He has issued a broad invitation, but He also knows His sheep personally. He calls them and cares for them. He, their “mighty defender,” delivers them from physical and spiritual harm. The hymn writer’s imperative “find Him” confirms that the Shepherd is calling and that believers answer and follow Him
by faith.It is fitting that each stanza of this hymn—with its text that looks past the suffering of this world to the promised rejoicing in the next—concludes with a supplication echoing the Kyrie. The cry to Jesus for His mercy expresses not only a sense of humility and unworthiness but also a confident faith and a firm trust that He graciously hears us, has pity on us sinners, and helps us in our needs.
Reformation
The Reformation is celebrated on October 31 each year, and is especially celebrated by the Lutheran church. Many hymns of Martin Luther are contained in Lutheran Service Book, along with hymns that profess His biblical teachings. One based on the teaching of justification by grace through faith is “Salvation unto Us Has Come.”
Salvation unto Us Has Come (LSB 555)
Article IV of the Augsburg Confession (1530) is a concise statement concerning the chief doctrine of the Lutheran Reformation—justification by grace through faith. Paul Speratus’s hymn of 1523 proclaims that same doctrine in poetic form. Stanza 1 by itself beautifully summarizes this chief doctrine and its biblical foundations (Eph. 2:8–9; Rom. 3:23–24). In stanzas 2–4, Speratus preaches the Law, revealing our sinful nature. In stanzas 5–7, he proclaims the Gospel, concluding stanza 7 with the ultimate comfort: “And I shall never perish.” In stanza 8, he summarizes the previous six stanzas of Law and Gospel by concisely distinguishing Law from Gospel. Stanza 9 then provides a proper understanding of the relationship of faith and works (Rom. 6).
The last line of the hymn, “Your blessed name we hallow,” refers to the line “hallowed be Thy name” in the Lord’s Prayer; the final German stanza is a paraphrase of the remainder of the Lord’s Prayer, excluding the doxology at the end, which had not yet been added to the prayer at the time this hymn was written.
Advent and Christmas
Perhaps the most well-known season in the Church Year, Advent and Christmas surround the story of Christ’s birth. It also signals the start of a new Church Year, where people can rejoice and celebrate that Christ, the Savior, was born to save us all. As His people come together to find a baby in the manger, so does all the earth rejoice. See how this rejoicing can be with this devotion on “Let All Together Praise Our God.”
Let All Together Praise Our God (LSB 389)
As the shepherds returned to their flocks, “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (Luke 2:20), so Nicolaus Herman calls upon all Christians to return praise to God (stanza 1). Christ’s state of humiliation begins at the time of His conception and birth and ends at His death and burial for sinners. He who was enthroned between the cherubim (Ps. 80:1; 99:1) and was Creator of all things (John 1; Gen. 1:3; Heb. 1:2; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16) came as a baby, born of the Virgin Mary (stanzas 2 and 3). He descended from heaven, assuming human flesh on earth in order to suffer on the cross the death we sinners deserve and win for us eternal life (stanza 4). Our loving and true friend, Christ voluntarily humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant that through faith in Him we might be royal heirs of heaven (stanza 5), the gate of “blessed paradise” now open to us through Him (stanza 6).
Excerpts taken from Lutheran Service Book: Devotional Edition copyright © 2024 Concordia Publishing House.
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