Hymns Are Devotions
Our hymnal is a treasury of devotions. Although we mainly think of hymns in the context of corporate worship, they are also perfectly suited for devotional use in the home.
“We All Believe in One True God” – Hymn Feature
As the basis for “We All Believe in One True God,” Martin Luther used the first two lines of a single-stanza German medieval hymn first found with Latin and German words in 1417 and expanded it to three stanzas—individually paraphrasing each of the three articles of the creed.
Why Luther’s Hymns Sound the Way They Do
A composer can never escape his own style, and this is true even of amateur composers such as Martin Luther. Embracing the musical arts in both his schooling and his cloistered life, Luther became a proficient instrumentalist on the lute and the transverse flute.
“From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee” – Hymn Feature
One of Luther’s earliest compositions was “From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee,” a paraphrase of Psalm 130 (Aus tiefer Not schrei’ ich zu dir, LSB 607). He wrote this hymn in 1523, around the time that he was revising the Latin Mass.
“From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” – Hymn Feature
While it may be difficult to finalize and stop selecting hymns for your season, perhaps a place to start is with Martin Luther’s Christmas gem, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” (LSB 358).