A paraphrase too far. . .

I wish I could say that I am anything less than embarrassed by the invention of the hymnic paraphrase to substitute for the parts of the ordinary.  It was probably not a Lutheran invention but that did not stop Martin Luther from establishing the practice of substituting a hynm paraphrase 9from his own hand) for the ordinary of the Divine Service.  It became known as the Deutsche Messe (1526) and was meant to make the Latin ordinary more accessible to a German speaking population.  While they might work as hymns, only the Kyrie is moderately successful and the Gloria less so.  The vaunted Sanctus (Isaiah Mighty Seer) does seem a huge stretch from the words of the actual Sanctus itself.  Again, though Luther was probably not the first to do so, it did sort of establish the hymn substitution of the ordinary as ordinary Lutheran practice.  It is not.  A temporary exception to the norm, maybe.  A regular diet of such, whether penned by Luther or anyone else, is a paraphrase too far.

So let me offend all of Lutheranism here by suggesting that the Deutsche Messe is an anomaly against the confessional Lutheran practice simply singing the ordinary.  That is probably a shocking thing to say on the 500th anniversary of his liturgical offering.  In one sense, Luther's original suggestion (the Formula Missae) was about as traditional as you could get -- so much so that without a few noticeable changes of tones for the chanting of the Gospel and the hearing of the Verba Christi out loud, it would have been difficult for some folks to notice the difference between the Roman version and the Lutheran one.  So we said:  Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people.  This was even after Luther's liturgical revisions (a set of evangelical rubrics to use with the missal on the altar and then, well, the German Mass.  Here and there with German hymns somehow became no Latin and only German hymnns -- at least among some.

For my part, I think it would be better to simply conveniently forget the German Mass entirely and stick the hymns you want to use in where hymns ordinarily belong -- here and there.  But not use paraphrases of the ordinary either as an occasional shout out to our guy's ideas or as a regular practice.  That would, in my mind, also include the LSB Divine Service IV.  That and DS V's omission from LSB would have freed up some space for something better used on a regular basis.  Oh, I get that DS IV can be used to help restore liturgical practice where it has been abandoned but such a tool belongs in Builder but not in the printed book itself.  So now that I have offended nearly every Lutheran (except those who might find Luther's paraphrases hard to sing), let me suggest that this is not about preference but about learning the texts and sticking with them.  The hymns are not wrong or bad but they are not quite the ordinary either.  So why do it?

One particular hymn that illustrates the point without offending Lutherans too much more is the Apostles' Creed hymn in LSB.  We All Believe in One True God was written by Tobias Clausnitzer (1671) and, of course, translated by Catherine Winkworth a couple of hundred years later.  The hymn is nice enough, fairly popular, even ecumenical -- but does it really jibe with the content or wording of the real Apostles' Creed?  You be the judge.

1 We all believe in one true God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Ever-present help in need,
Praised by all the heav'nly host;
All He made His love enfolds,
All creation He upholds.

2 We all believe in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Mary's son,
Who descended from His throne
And for us salvation won;
By whose cross and death are we
Rescued from all misery.

3 We all confess the Holy Ghost,
Who from both in truth proceeds,
Who sustains and comforts us
In all trials, fears, and needs.
Blessed, holy Trinity,
Praise forever be to Thee! 

In fact, in more words that the brief and compact Apostles' Creed, the hymn fails to include all that the baptismal creed includes.  That is the problem with hymn paraphrases. They tend to take more words to say less than the actual texts of the ordinary.  I have tried my own hand at writing paraphrases of the ordinary and with even less success, apparently, as Luther.  So my vote is to retire DS IV & V from parish use -- except where DS IV might work to renew a waning liturgical focus where none has been.  But it does not need to be in the hymnal and we do not need to use it.  Sing the hymns if you want to.  But not all of them together displacing the ordinary with less salutary paraphrases.  

The last problem I have with the Deutsche Messe is the ordering of the canon.  Luther, for whatever reason I really do not care about, thought it smart to move the Sanctus to after the Verba Christi so that you sing the Sanctus (German hymn Isaiah Mighty Seer) and right after the Agnus Dei).  Really?  It is almost like Luther was setting us up for pastors and congregations to take the ordo and turn it into smorgasbord of things and then to arrange them like food on a plate.  Was Luther the origin of such tinkering?  Luther should have stuck with the Formula Missae, with a cheat sheet to make the Latin missal work for evangelical purpose, and left it at that.  Of course, your mileage may vary.  So load up and fire your comments at me folks.