To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Achtliederbuch, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) offers this publication: Global Lutheran Songbook. A singing communion: Pilgrimage, Freedom, Belonging. It contains a collection of music, prayers, and blessings expressing the hopes and visions, from a global perspective, of being Christian in the Lutheran communion. The collection stems from the seven world regions of the LWF. New arrangements and settings of chorales are included as a communal global heritage constituting the “eighth” element.
In 1524, Martin Luther released his first “hymnal”, the Achtliederbuch (Book of Eight Songs). The new hymns, drawing from the surrounding popular musical culture as well as from newly arranged Gregorian chants freed the worship- pers from being merely listeners. The hymns were meant to be sung inside and outside of the churches for the growth of one’s faith and discipleship in Christ. These early hymns of the reformation movement also provided the foundation for artful interpretations by composers such as J.S. Bach till the present day and have become important cornerstones of a tradition of sacred music that is performed in many parts of our world.
The Achtliederbuch documented what was sung in the young congregations of the reformation movement. Four of these songs were composed by Luther himself and others com- posed by his friends. Worship and song were principle means to preach the gospel.This is not surprising considering what Luther once said in his famous table talks that “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.”
The rich and vibrant tradition of a global, singing LWF communion is evidence in this collection. Singing brings the LWF communion together and shapes its witness today just as the origi- nal eight songs shaped the faith and worship practices of the early Reformation parishes. The songs gathered here witness to the creativity and depth of the proclamation of the gospel within the LWF. It is with great joy that I share this invaluable resource with all member churches and with all our ecumenical partners.
Rev. Prof. Dr. Dirk G. Lange
Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations
The 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Achtliederbuch (Book of Eight Songs) is great reason to celebrate! Through these first eight hymns, Luther and his friends were reforming worship and proclaiming the gospel of justification by faith alone – liberated by God’s grace. Through music, through melody, rhythms, and sounds all the senses resonate and the heart of the believers is touched.
The Global Lutheran Songbook proposes the same today, defining a confessional identity through song and singing together. Lutheran identity comes to expression in many ways but, as we look ahead to 2030 and the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, we ac- knowledge that a major gift of the Reformation is expressed through a particular act, through the act of confessing the gospel in a particular time and for a particular context.
When we look at the hymns in the Achtliederbuch, we make a surprising discovery: in a certain sense, they were composed for a moment, for a particular time of confessing. They weren’t meant to be fossilized or set in stone. Of course, some hymns take on a life of their own. They are arranged in a particular way and sung in a particular manner and become identified with what it means to be Lutheran. But such a development does not lie at the heart of those first eight songs. Luther takes a different approach. For example, we might ask why it took Luther so long to write the Ger- man Mass (1526), which came almost nine years after the publication of the Ninety-Five Theses? I believe Luther had an “evangelical hesitation.” He knew that if he penned down a liturgy, everyone would immediately claim it (or reclaim it) as the “true” Reformation liturgy! But liturgy is to be contextual. The gospel needs to be continually translated anew. Yes, there is a pattern but the actualization of the pat- tern is always in dialogue with time and place. Therefore, Luther’s Preface to the German Mass begins with this sentence, “Before anything else, I would kindly request, also for God’s sake, that all those who see this order of service or desire to follow it: do not make it a rigid law or bind or entangle anyone’s conscience, but use it in Christian liberty as long, when, where, and how you find it to be practical and useful.” (Martin Luther, German Mass in The Annotated Luther: Church and Sacraments, vol 3, trans. D. G. Lange (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2016).
The LWF Nairobi Statement (1996)2 argues that worship is transcultural, contextual, crosscultural, and counter- cultural. Too often a certain cultural interpretation of the liturgy (usually from Lutheran churches in Europe or North America) was imposed as if it were the universal liturgy. The liturgies of many churches around the globe have suffered under a sort of colonialism: whatever the missionaries pro- posed as worship was the only way to worship, ignoring local symbols and instruments and rituals. But, as we just saw, Luther’s proposal is radically different.
The transcultural element of worship seeks contextualization and today welcomes also the cross-cultural influences that open the worshipping community to the beautiful diversity of worship across a global communion. But the liturgy must also never forget the counter-cultural: our rituals and songs translate, first and foremost, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and confess the gospel – justification by faith alone. It confronts all values and ideologies, patterns and rituals that societies create that may op- pose or contradict the gospel of liberation. The liturgy can form us to resist oppressive cultural and even global norms.
Worship is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is a common, transcultural, confession: that Jesus Christ is God who was born, lived among us, suffered, was killed, and rose again. There is a common book – Scripture – that shapes our relationship to God through common reading and preaching. In Scripture, God gives baptism and the Eucharist to the whole world and these are both celebrated across cultures. This gives rise to a basic pat- tern of worship in Word and sacrament.
People come together to form a worshiping assembly. They gather. They come all with different questions and worries and states of mind or emotions. Then they listen. They listen to God’s Word in Scripture. The presider then helps them understand what they just heard in those Scripture readings. They are invited into the pattern of the good things they just heard (Justin Martyr, Apologia). The sermon leads them into prayer, prayer for the world, for the neighbor, for their neighbors and especially for those not part of the community. Then bread and wine are brought forward. The presider gives thanks and these gifts are shared. But prayer always leads to action. Those who are able offer their resources so that all those in need can be helped.
This dynamic pattern of worship is continually accompanied by song. The first songs are the psalms that teach us to pray (Bonhoeffer, Prayerbook of the Bible). We can sing the psalms in many forms, some of which are proposed in this global songbook and in other resources. Song also helps us gather, listen, respond, pray, commune, and send us out into the world. In this collection you will find songs adapted to these stages of the liturgy from Gathering to Word and Prayer to Meal to Sending.
The Global Lutheran Songbook proposes hymns and songs from around the world, from our global communion, to help us translate the gospel of Jesus Christ for the world today. We are invited on a journey, free to explore, anchored in faith. Musically this might be translated in this way:
Pilgrimage: every hymn, every melody is a pilgrimage. It takes us on a journey in sound, rhythm, and text.
Freedom: every melody invites us to explore new horizons.
Belonging: every melody, a song is rooted in a musical form and in a tradition. We receive it and share it.
For Martin Luther, liturgical worship exercises faith. May the Global Lutheran Songbook guide us into this adventure of confessing the Gospel in our present time.
The Nairobi Statement https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource- library/nairobi-statement-on-worship-and-culture- full-text. See also Worship and Culture in Dialogue, Department for Theology and Studies, LWF, Geneva 1994.
Dr. Uwe Steinmetz
Editor
“Crossing Bridges” is the title of the logo on the cover which is made up of four interwoven bridges that leave eight different ways to walk on and building a cross together.
Stemming from manifold experiences of encountering the power of song in transcultural worship, the Global Lutheran Songbook is intended as a bridge on which one can walk two ways and gather new perspectives in many directions by crossing it either way.
When we walk on a bridge we go from A to B. While standing in the middle of the bridge we see A, where we come from and B, where we are going, from a new perspective: a little further away but also in a broader perspective:
We cross bridges between places, but also cultures, cultural traditions and denominational differences and reach out to God through prayers and songs seeking a connection be- tween us and the divine.
In our interconnected multicultural world, we need those views and songs from a bridge perspective that help us to understand our global interconnectedness with each other and with all of God ́s creation. This enables us to discover afresh what the global corpus Christi means for us locally and in helping to create justice and peace for all creation.
In this way, when we engage with a song from another congregation and even different musical and worship cultures, our songs travel and grow on the bridge between one distinct tradition of giving sound to Christian faith and the other. This process creates the blood vessels and muscles that vitalize the whole body of Christ to pray and act as one. Hence, the Global Lutheran Songbook is not meant to copy or encourage to simply perform musical styles from other countries, but to integrate them liturgically as gifts from God for local worship with global perspectives.
This is not unlike what Paul the Apostle shares as his experience in 1 Corinthians 9:19-20.
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.”
Paul leaves temporarily some of his cultural roots and mother tongue to share the Gospel in fresh ways to reach people outside of his own cultural tradition by “getting on and speaking from the bridge.” This is an act of faith, freedom and choice and not a compromise between his own roots or a foreign cultural tradition – it’s the bridge perspective between and beyond those two.
To underline the liturgical use of the collected songs, the Global Lutheran Songbook is arranged in a liturgical arch in three main chapters derived from its title:
Gathering – Kyrie – Gloria
I. Songs of Pilgrimage
Serve to gather and invoke the presence of God and lead from repentance, lament and request for forgiveness from the Kyrie to the Gloria, the adoration and praise of the Triune God and experiencing merciful forgiveness. We become a congregation.
Alleluia – Response – Prayer
II. Songs of Freedom
Prepared by the Alleluia we meet Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Musical responses to biblical passages help to reflect on our faith and our relationship to Christ. Our prayers deepen our relationship to our faith and Christ and anchor oneself in the arc of the church year.
Sanctus – Sending
III. Songs of Belonging
Lead from the most intimate reflections and spiritual experiences with God in the sacramental service to being blessed and sent renewed into our communities.
The format of the songbook is inspired by the first Real Books that collected compositions without a universal way of notation or formatting for other musicians to try and illustrating the diversity of musical contributions.
The book will also be launched online in an extended version to inform about composers and contributors and to share experiences, translations and recordings of the songs within the test phase from Reformation day 2024 - Easter 2025.
My deepest gratitude goes out to all who helped to find and all who curated songs, to all who are constantly engaged to “sing a new song to the Lord” and still found time to meet up in the last years, learn from each other and sharpen the ideas and profile of this song collection.
