Throwback Thursday: Hymnody and the Spiritual Realm
This was published December 15, 2025. — Ed.
The Christian faith is a both/and matter. It is neither spiritual to the detriment of the physical (as Gnostics, and as, to a lesser extent, sacramentarian Evangelicals confess), nor is it material to the detriment of the spiritual (as atheists and rationalists confess). Jesus is the eternal Word who was born in space and time. He is the God who created us, and yet He comes to us in creation by means of His Eucharistic flesh and blood. In Christ, the supernatural and the natural come together.
In this day and age of Evangelical dominance in the American religious scene, Lutherans are tempted to adopt the “winning” methodology of the megachurch: entertainment worship, a de-emphasis on sacraments and reverence in favor of casualness and a ginning up of emotional excitement. And part of the “best practices” advocated by the “church growth” faction is to get rid of the hymnal.