I am going to begin with a startling truth, although it may not be that startling to any of you who have been a member of this church for a long time. Lutherans don’t like change. We tend to like things the way they are. Sometimes we would rather be uncomfortable in our old ways than try anything new. The old joke that you may have heard goes: "How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?" Answer: Ten – one to change the bulb and nine to say they liked it better the old way. We would rather do things the old way even if we cannot remember why we started doing them that way in the first place. This truth is especially valid when it comes to worship. Every time a new Pastor comes to a congregation the last thing he wants to do is to change the worship format his first Sunday there. It is a guaranteed way to alienate the congregation. And the only thing you could possibly do that would be worse than changing the worship format is changing the hymnal altogether. That usually wins a Pastor the right to hand in the keys to the parsonage on the way out of Church.

But fortunately St. Paul’s is a kind and understanding congregation used to change and to doing anything new if it will help in carrying out the mission and in reaching a new generation for Jesus Christ. I say this not just because it is true but because today we are in fact using a brand new hymnal. Some of you may have sat down today ready for the opening hymn and your first question was: "Where are the blue hymnals? Well the blue hymnals have now become the ones you see before you. A new day starts today.

Some people will struggle with this. It is hard to give up the old and familiar that have served us so well for 25 years now. It is like an old quilt at home. Yes, it’s old and yes it’s torn and stained through the years. But it’s comfortable and it gives you a warm feeling inside to wrap yourself up in it. Hymnals are kind of like that. In fact, I checked with Concordia Publishing House, our Church’s publishing firm, which handles these things and I discovered that these changes can create quite an emotional reaction. Some of the letters they received questioned the need for a new hymnal. One person felt that it had the wrong kind of music in it and what was wrong with the old music. Some feared that the old favorites they loved all their lives would be left out of the new hymnal. One person felt that there was entirely too much chanting in the worship service and that made it seem less real. One person said that if the old hymnal was good enough for their mother and father it was good enough for him. But the interesting thing was that all of those comments were letters sent in at the publishing of the 1941 book called "The Lutheran Hymnal". That was the beloved hymnal some of you remember from your childhood like I do. To me that hymnal was practically divinely inspired with its famous page 5/ page 15 liturgies and the tunes you could sing in your sleep. It had the famous phrase in it about prayer that it was "meet, right and salutary" which I didn’t have a clue as to what it meant – but it was the hymnal of my childhood, by gum!!!! But even back then people had the same reluctance to change as we do today.

But people change. The culture changes around us. Do you know that one of the studies out today tells us that in the last generation one of the biggest changes that has happened is that Americans tend to sing lower in pitch than the previous generation. People around World War II could sing higher parts in a hymn more comfortably than we can now. Back then some spirituals would never have been sung in worship; now we think nothing of it but every Christmas gladly sing "Go tell it on the Mountain". Back then most of our hymns had a German background as did most Lutherans. Now in our Churches we have such a melting pot of cultures that the hymns reflect it. Fifty years ago you never would have seen a hymn from Kenya in the hymnal. Now with "Listen, God is Calling" #833 we do. Fifty years ago we did not have Amazing Grace nor How Great Thou Art in the hymnal – they didn’t "sound" Lutheran. Now we would not dare to exclude those hymns from worship and they are hymns 744 and 801 in the new hymnal. People and cultures change.

Language changes too. Over a century ago Queen Victoria of England was shown a new structure created by a leading architect of the British Isles. She gazed upon it for the first time and she remarked, "I find it to be aweful and artificial." Most of us today would think she meant it in a bad way – aweful and artificial seem like a negative evaluation. But in Queen Victoria’s day "aweful" referred to something that filled you with awe. "Artificial" was an adjective that meant something was artistic and beautiful. She was praising the architect. The language has changed.

Hymns need to reflect that too. Martin Luther understood that fact. When he wrote a hymn like "A Mighty Fortress is our God" #656 in Lutheran Service Book he wrote so the people could understand it and relate to it. If you remember, most of the hymns of his day were sung in Latin, a language the average worshiper did not understand. Now we don’t sing in Latin anymore but sometimes even an old beloved hymn uses language of another era that we just do not comprehend. For example, in the language of the King James Bible which was the bedrock for the hymn’s of our grandparents’ generation, one verse speaks of Christians as a "peculiar people." It’s in 1 Peter specifically 2:9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The word "peculiar" meant "unique" or "special" to God. But now try putting on our church sign: "Join St. Paul’s Lutheran Church where every single member is a peculiar person" or try putting that phrase into a hymn for us to sing.
Here’s another example. Last week in that small taste of the new hymnal we ended worship with the final verses of "Crown Him with Many Crowns" #525 in the new hymnal. Three of you on the way out of church immediately told me, Pastor, the new hymnal’s version only has five verses in it. The old hymnal had six… Why, why have we lost a stanza? Well it is because the stanza that was left out started this way: "Crown him the Lord of years, the potentate of time, Creator of the rolling spheres ineffably sublime." I’m not sure what a potentate of time is. I think the "rolling spheres" refers to the planets but I could be wrong. And I’m sure I don’t know at all what "ineffably sublime" means. To me it sounds like the Lord is covered in green ooze. Now don’t get me wrong. At one time a generation of Christians might have sung those words with great vigor and meaning and perhaps a tear in their eye when they did. But changes in language sometimes mean changes in the hymns we use.

And technology changes with the music. Now we can use power point presentations to put the hymns up on the wall. We can create full worship folders such as you have today with everything printed out because first impressions on a visitor are important and if a visitor cannot figure out where we are all throughout worship they probably are not coming back. I wish it were not that way but it is. And I thank the Lord that the new technology can help us with it all. Plus technology changes in the variety of instruments that can be used for worship. A generation ago the organ was the only acceptable instrument in Church. Now we use a keyboard regularly and there is even some guy in a white robe who thinks he can play guitar once in a while among us.

But do you know what does not change? God the Holy Spirit does not change. In Revelation 22:3 as the Lord God He inspired the words: "and his servants will worship him." That was a statement of fact for all the ages. He didn’t say how it would be done. But He did say that worship would always be a part of the life of the believer in Jesus Christ, even in eternity and throughout eternity. So He continues to guide His people with a new song every generation. OK, sometimes it is confusing. For example many of us can remember the first hymnal we ever used in our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod called "The Lutheran Hymnal." But contrary to what a lot of people think it was not the first English hymnal used in our Church Synod. That was the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn book published in 1912. So the first English hymnal, lovingly called "The Red Book" by so many who remember it, was not in fact the first English hymnal. And it wasn’t even red. The first versions of it were actually blue which a lot of people don’t know because the dominant color for most of its 65 years of use was red. Then came a green hymnal called "Lutheran Book of Worship". But our Synod ended up never officially recognizing it so many of our people ended up using a hymnal which never officially existed. But that was only for a short time until good old "Lutheran Worship" came about in 1981, which many of us call "The Blue Hymnal" but some don’t because they didn’t feel this was really the color blue which was the original color of the hymnal we call the Red Hymnal. And now we have this new Lutheran Service Book and nobody really knows what color it is. Some think it’s brown, some think it’s Mauve and nobody really knows what color Mauve is, and some even call it "Burgundy". So now we have a Mauve hymnal which followed a blue hymnal which isn’t really blue which followed a green hymnal which never actually existed which followed the Red Hymnal which was really Blue, not red, which was the first English Hymnal but really wasn’t because the first English Hymnal was from 1912 but nobody remembers that one anymore. I’m glad the Holy Spirit has it all sorted out because I don’t.

But the message is the same. And like the spaghetti sauce commercials with their famous "It’s in there", yes, the old favorites are in the new hymnal. "Amazing Grace – it’s in there. How Great Thou Art—it’s in there. Rock of Ages—it’s in there. What a Friend We Have in Jesus – It’s in there. Beautiful Savior – It’s in there. But there is new stuff too reflective of the times. How appropriate to our Virginia Tech and Mideast World is the new hymn #754 When Aimless Violence Takes Those We Love".

And it has the same message of Jesus in it. Listen to the new words of that hymn I just mentioned and tell me that it does not speak to the heart of a new generation of believers: "When aimless violence takes those we love, when random death strikes childhood’s promise down, when wrenching loss becomes our daily bread, we know, O God, You leave us not alone." How eerily real for our day and age is verse two for any of us who have to put parents in a nursing home because of fading health: "When passing years rob sight and strength and mind yet fail to still a strongly beating heart, and grief becomes the fabric of our days, Dear Lord, You do not stand from us apart." It goes on to recognize a world which because of these things continually assaults our faith with verse 3: "Our faith may flicker low, and hope grow dim, Yet You, O God, are with us in our pain; You grieve with us and for us day by day, and with us, sharing sorrow, will remain." And why-- well, here’s the age old message every generation still needs to hear: Because Your Son knew agony and loss, felt desolation, grief and scorn and shame, we know you will be with us, come what may, Your loving presence near, always the same." That love of Jesus that sustained our grandparents and the first founders of St. Paul’s over a century ago is still found in the concluding verse: "Through long grief-darkened days help us, dear Lord – to trust Your grace for courage to endure. To rest our souls in Your supporting love, and find our hope within Your mercy sure."

For every generation the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus still speak. And they speak to us in the songs we sing to the Lord. Whatever the color of the book the object of our worship: The Lord Jesus Christ – He remains the same. And when we use a new hymnal for a new generation He stays with us and our voices sing to the same Lord we have always known. For just as Revelation 22:3 said it to the saints 2000 years ago who first read it, so it says to us all that wherever the Lord and His people are…. "his servants will worship him."