Customer Reviews

Lutheran Book of Worship: Pew Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree with the other reviewer that claims that the older hymnal is a better choice.

Much of the language has been simplified in this book, and in my opinion, the simplification is completely pointless. It doesn't make the songs any more relevant to our life, it just makes them less poetic and spiritual. I do believe that hymnals should change and evolve over time, but I think this change should be in the form of including new music with the same level of poetic and harmonic sophistication, instead of just watering down the old music or including new, simpler music.

One thing I like about the sections of this book used for worship is that they are structured in a way that makes it very easy to integrate musical chanting into the service instead of just reading text. This is in contrast to some other protestant hymnals, which don't really have this option, or don't make it as easy.

This is a pretty good hymnal. I give three stars instead of four only because I feel the music has been substantially watered-down from previous editions, and, much like my criticisms of textbooks nowadays, I think that when a newer edition is inferior to an earlier one, the newer edition never deserves 4 or more stars.

I am finally ordering my own copy of the LBW after nearly 30 years because I want to have the lyrics and music for some of my favorite hymns. As for the guy who said the book should be rewritten...

Are you going to help pay for the hymnals for all those churches? And since when are Lutherans all that hip anyway (I was born Lutheran and quite active in my church)? If you're looking for an exciting worship book, look for something more contemporary. The LBW was written in 1978 and is not updated very often because it is a launching point, not the endpoint for worship. Most Lutheran churches use their own personal supplements anyway to fit their congregations - and even nearly 25 years after the LBW was printed it is still a very valuable reference (for the wedding and burial and baptismal services, for example).

I think this book is good for what it is - a book containing hymns and service material.

We can't rewrite this book! I just became a Lutheran after leaving a nondenominational evangelical church! Pop-Christianity gets old, anyway, no matter how new it stays.

Having been raised and grown through the Litergy of the green book I can't imagine using any other. I don't know about the difference in the Hymns & Litergy between the red and green book, but I'm am moved as much by the traditional like "Amazing Grace", as I am by Barbara Streisand's "The Our Father", or Cristie Laine's (sp?)modern Hymns. I don't care for "Folk" version services, but I don't care for Folk music in general. There is only one particular service that I'm most moved by, as I'm sure most have a preference...that's how God made us :-). My suggestion to anyone "on the fence" should attend a service of both and see what touches your heart through the Holy Spirit. I realize we are each individuals with different likes and dislikes. I could not give a Litergical and/or Hymnal anything but five stars, but I do LOVE this book.

The church that I belong to has been using this book since the early 1980's. It was our only hymnal until we got a hymnal supplement in 1991 and then the With One Voice hymnal in the late 1990's. If you enjoy traditional service settings, organ music, and old hymns that most know, then this hymnal is a great choice for you!

You should read and sing through this book! The arrangements of the hymns are great! The litergy is lovely! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to sing their heart out...

Although the LBW is now 28 years old, it still is one of the better hymnal/liturgical collections available. Especially wonderful is its Vespers liturgy--in it the music and the words find perfect synthesis.

Although the LBW is now 28 years old, it still is one of the better hymnal/liturgical collections available. Especially wonderful is its Vespers liturgy--in it the music and the words find perfect synthesis.

This bad revision is a put together from odds and ends of synods that do not fit together. Get the real thing, the red hymnal of 1985. The liturgy in the red hymnal (as opposed to this shoddy book is beautiful. Our congregation switched from green (the new one) to red (the old hymnal) a few years ago and I was surprised at the difference! The bolderizations are gone, the liturgy is lighter and the excellent old music is brought to life. While the green hymnal is much much better than the dull and lifeless With One Voice (WOV) - or With One Vice as I like to call it - it simply can't compare to the red hymnal in excellent music. I would give the green hymal one star, but that shd be reserved for WOV.

I think the ELCA/LCMS need to hire an exceptional writer and sit down with a few creative pastors and re-write some of the liturgy. Some of the basic regularly-used liturgy is good. However, the majority of it is extremely dry for today's church goers (Hence the increasing popularity of non-denominational highly-musical "fun churches" and the decline in membership to liturgical/ceremonial denominational churches). This worship book was published in 1978. It's about 7 years overdue for a major revision (though ELCA rumor has it that a new LBW is in the works).

Yes, it would cost a lot for all those churches to convert to a new hymnal. Then again, it probably cost a lot when they moved from the 1958 "red hymnal" to the current 1978 "green hymnal". Though that didn't stop them from converting back then. How about a 2005 "blue hymnal" where they could incorporate some of the more popular hymns and liturgy from hymnal add-ons like "With One Voice". They could then delete some of the less popular hymns from the old (current) Lutheran Book of Worship. Honestly, do we really need two, three, or more different books in the pew? Let's consolidate those add-ons into one awesome new Lutheran Book of Worship.