LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

90 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW IX
And stanza eight proclaims:
Your Baptism, Supper, and Your Word
My comfort here below afford;
Here lies my heart’s true treasure.
Help that Your body and Your blood
May be my soul’s consoling food
In my last moments! Amen.
One final area where the ELH shines is in its devotional aspects. The
hymnal was clearly fashioned not only for congregational use in the Divine
Service, but also for personal and family devotional use. For example,
instead of leaving empty space on a page, the editors chose to fill that space
with prayers and portions of the Holy Scriptures. Hymns that are favourites
of young children as well as fondly remembered by adults, such as
“Children of the Heavenly Father” and “God Loves Me Dearly”, have been
included. A hymn that might be considered more appropriate in Sunday
School, “Jesus Loves Me”, has with the composition of three new stanzas
been given a churchly emphasis. For example, the final stanza says,
Jesus loves me! He is near.
He is with His Church so dear.
And the Spirit He has sent
By His Word and Sacrament.
The section on Holy Baptism is void of the sweet sentiments occasionally
expressed in the baptismal hymns of TLH and LW. What is offered instead is
solid, thoughtful, catechetical hymnody, “to give every Christian enough to
learn and to practise all his life in regard to Baptism” (Luther). This
baptismal emphasis is present throughout the hymns of the ELH. For
instance, Kingo’s Easter hymn, “Like the Golden Sun Ascending”, says in
part,
For Thy resurrection is
Surety for my heav’nly bliss,
And my baptism a reflection
Of Thy death and resurrection.
Another devotional strength of this hymnal is its powerful piety surrounding
death and dying. Where TLH had 18 hymns in its section on death and
burial, and LW has a mere 6, ELH has 19. In keeping with the theology of
the cross, one of the characteristics of classic Lutheran hymnody was often a
final stanza on death. Where this focus has been muted by LW, the ELH is
not afraid to sing a godly approach to death, a helpful corrective in our
society fixated in one way or another on dying.
The absence of the LW Divine Service Two and the repeated use of the
isometric chorale prevent a whole-hearted endorsement of ELH.