Searching for a Name for the New Hymnal

As people of the Word we know that, biblically speaking, names matter quite a lot. We are familiar with biblical names communicating something about the person carrying the name. We stand in awe of the mystery of God’s own name. We know about God putting his name on us in blessing. We cherish names like “Immanuel” and, of course, “Jesus.” God’s messengers always made it quite clear that such names really make a difference because they reflect the person being named.

The team that took up the task of proposing the name of the new hymnal was happy to take a similar approach to naming. For several years, dozens of people had been working to develop a suite of resources that would accomplish the overall mission of the project: to confess Jesus Christ and enable believers to receive the blessings of the means of grace in the faithful life of their local congregation. The new hymnal’s name needed to reflect the nature and purpose of that work and its published result.

I won’t belabor the details, but I can say that the team worked through a thorough exercise of answering questions about the name and, more broadly, the total identity of the hymnal. We considered the mission of the project, the Lutheran theological convictions embedded in the project, the faith-building benefits of the project that we anticipate under the Lord’s blessing, and the best ways to communicate all these things to the diverse range of people we pray will benefit from the project.

At the end of this process we weighed the naming options. We explored the possibility of selecting an entirely new name for the hymnal, but quickly realized that the best name for the new hymnal is to keep the same name. The proposal was fleshed out further and submitted to the Executive Committee for review and ultimately adoption. The new hymnal will share a name with its predecessor: Christian Worship.

This might seem like a fairly obvious decision. Indeed, that’s often a good sign that a solution is an elegant one. No doubt you can intuitively sense several of the benefits that come from retaining the Christian Worship name. Here are several that we consider worth mentioning.

Christian Worship is a name already well-known and well-respected among us. Someone observed that when the 1993 edition of Christian Worship was released our church body was, broadly speaking, quite ready to replace the hymnal’s predecessor, The Lutheran Hymnal. In the early 1990s, a new name made good sense as a way to communicate the newness of the project. It was after all, the first new hymnal from WELS. But in the case of the 2021 edition of Christian Worship, our church body has never quite felt as if the 1993 hymnal were in dire need of replacement. Yet this was by design. The goal of our synod since the 1993 hymnal was to not allow our hymnal to reach a point that worshipers were clamoring for a replacement. The new hymnal is a continuation of a long tradition of worship. The Christian Worship name means a lot, says a lot, and does a lot — it makes good sense to keep using it.

Christian Worship is a name versatile enough to match a versatile suite of resources. A practical problem we faced when reviewing the list of potential names for the hymnal was this: the new hymnal project was producing far more than just a hymnal. We have a hymnal, yes, but also a psalter, a service builder, a lectionary, a commentary, a musicians resource, and several volumes of support material. Words like “hymnal” and “service book” weren’t quite versatile enough for the scope of the project. The Christian Worship name, on the other hand, allows these various and versatile resources to be drawn together under a single name to communicate a unifying mission. Christian Worship: Hymnal works hand in hand with Christian Worship: Psalter and Christian Worship: Service Builder. All these publications give congregations rich resources to support the work of bringing the means of grace to the people of Christ.

Christian Worship is a name that reflects our continued tradition. The goal of the new hymnal project was never to create something new out of whole cloth. Christian Worship is a tradition, not a flash in the pan. The faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people is still handed down from one generation to the next. We believe that keeping the name Christian Worship reflects the continuity of tradition that we cherish as Lutheran worshipers. Yet there is still much that is revised, improved, and outright new in the hymnal. Such newness is easily seen in the new design of the hymnal and the updated version of the beloved chi-rho logo. We rely on those elements to communicate the welcome freshness, and we rely on the name to communicate the welcome continuity.

Christian Worship is a name that communicates the centrality of the gospel. Both the name and the logo of the 1993 hymnal were deliberately chosen to reflect the centrality of Christ in our worship. The goal of the new hymnal is the same as its predecessor: to reflect in everything the good news of God’s love and salvation in Jesus Christ. We were hard pressed to find a name that better communicated the centrality of Christ and his gospel than Christian Worship.

We in WELS are a relatively small part of Christ’s kingdom. Decades ago we set out to accomplish a task that many thought was improbable for a denomination of modest means. Yet, with God’s blessing, WELS produced a hymnal that not only replaced a cherished worship resource but also became as well-loved as its predecessor. We now have the opportunity to build on that achievement and solidify our legacy as a Lutheran church body that produces and values excellent, Christ-centered worship. 

The interest and expertise from dozens of musicians, scholars, pastors, teachers, students, and worshipers across the church body have combined with the availability of modern tools and technology to produce a set of well-curated resources that proclaim the gospel clearly and are readily accessible in a variety of formats.

All of this work, together with the support of our synod congregations, ensures that the valuable legacy of Christian worship is not only preserved but enhanced for generations to come. Christian Worship is the name we give to the resources that support this vital task.