Sermon: Luther and Congregational Singing

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Part I: Luther and Congregational Singing

By David Snyder

[ Part II: Music In Worship - By Charles Rush ]

October 19, 2003

486 years ago this past Monday, Martin Luther, a young Augustinian monk and priest, nailed his 95 Theses on the large oak doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This action set in motion what has come to be referred to as the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century which resulted in dramatic change which reached not only the religious but also the social economic and political life of western civilization.

Luther's powerful preaching of the doctrine of justification by faith became the central emphasis and the organizing principle of the Reformation. The genesis of Luther's musical reforms can be traced to this one simple idea…that humanity is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The flowering of popular hymnody is, without question, the single greatest artistic contribution of the Reformation and it can be argued that Martin Luther is the spiritual father of modern Christian hymnody.

Luther was an ardent lover of all forms of music (not just church music). He played the lute and flute and he sang with an accurate, if not powerful, tenor voice. All of Luther's musical reforms were designed to make the music of the Mass more accessible to all of the participants in corporate worship and not just to the skilled and professional musicians, which was common prior to the Reformation.

Luther's Deutsche Mass (German Mass) published in 1526, is a classic illustration of the reformers passion to involve the entire people of God in singing God's praise in corporate worship. The popular Mass was prepared largely for uneducated laity for use in churches where there were no trained choirs capable of singing traditional Latin chants.

Perhaps Martin Luther's most enduring (and most important) musical contributions was the composition and adaptation of chorales or hymns. Luther insisted that hymns be sung in every worship service. It was, Luther argued, the robust singing of simple hymns which would open the hearts and minds of God's people enabling them to receive and embrace the eternal Word which brings life to the soul. During his lifetime Luther composed more than thirty five hymns (most famous being our entrance hymn for today…Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott- A Mighty Fortress Is Our God) and published a total of nine hymnals.

Luther's attitude toward music and its significance is wonderfully expressed in a forward to a symphony by George Rhau which was published in 1538:

The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them. In summary, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. Music controls our thoughts, minds, hearts and spirits. The precious gift of music has been given to man alone that he might, thereby, remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being…he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.

Martin Luther believed that music in general, and congregational singing in particular, has the power to drive away evil spirits and make people happy…it induces people to forget all wrath, unchastity, arrogance and other vices. Music for Luther was a powerful proclamation of the Good News. “When we sing, ” Luther proclaimed, “we pray twice…”