1998 Hymnal Supplement

Hymnal Supplement 98's (HS98) liturgical improvements over the hymnal it supplements, Lutheran Worship, outweighs the areas where it is worse than Lutheran Worship (no chant-melody lines) and The Lutheran Hymnal (the congregation reciting The Our Father (The Lord's Prayer) during Communion). It is worth using as a supplement--not replacement--to both Lutheran Worship and The Lutheran Hymnal. HS98 has 113 hymns, a little over one-fifth of the hymns in Lutheran Worship. Yet if one were to compare HS98 with the ELCA's hymnal supplement, With One Voice, both supplement efforts would be, obviously, completely independent--unlike the Lutheran Book of Worship and the LCMS' revision of it, Lutheran Worship. Their hymnic foci are different, with HS98 only having about 25% of its hymns in common with With One Voice. Overall, hymn selection is excellent with a fair representation of Luthern hymnwriters. Although the LCMS' Worship Committee did not choose as many hymns from modern Lutheran hymnwriters as it should have, we see the modern Lutheran greats Jaroslav Vajda, Martin Franzmann, and Kurt Eggert included. In addition, LCMS Pastor Steven Starke will soon be in the company of the Lutheran greats if his hymn writing continues being as strong as evidenced in HS98. Notwithstanding, neither did the HS98 editors forget the other modern hymn writers, with Timothy Dudley-Smith being favored a bit too much, perhaps at Kurt Eggert's expense.The supplement is going in the right direction, but is not yet completely there.