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By: Pastor Berg

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job as pastor is worship planning. Worship is such an important part of our congregational life that we couldn’t really imagine our church gatherings without it. It’s the time when we gather with our fellow believers to hear the precious Word of God proclaimed. It’s the setting for us to confess our sins and to receive the precious news of God’s forgiveness. In worship we stand beside those who share our faith and receive the body and blood of our Savior. In worship we witness and celebrate the new life that God creates in Holy Baptism. In worship we join our hearts and voices in prayer and in songs of praise to a gracious God. In worship, as God conveys his love to us in Word and sacrament, we convey to him our thanks, our gifts, and our faith-generated commitment to a life of faithful service. I find great joy in making worship as meaningful as possible with the words we speak and the songs we sing.

Lutheran Worship, because it is so deeply rooted in God’s Word, is truly, “Our Great Heritage.” And never is that heritage more evident or even appreciated than during Easter. In The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH), hymns 187-211 are dedicated to Easter. In Christian Worship (CW), hymns 141-168 are Easter themed.  Christian Worship: Supplement (CWS) has 719-722. And now in Christian Worship 21, hymn 438 through 471 are Easter hymns. And while some of them are in all four books, that’s 91 hymns at our disposal! 91 ways in just four of our hymnals of saying and singing the good news that Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Now, because there are so many Easter hymns that we could sing, the tough part of the job comes in choosing which ones to sing in our limited time. Everyone’s favorite isn’t going to make it every year. Many will be left unsung. And even though we’ll sing many of the others throughout the Easter season, there will be some that we won’t. “No big deal,” you say? True, life will not end if we don’t sing every Easter hymn in the hymnal, but we will be missing an opportunity to cherish our heritage. Every one of those hymns has great value for us as Christians. Can we ever be reminded enough of what God has done for us on Easter? Numerous

studies have shown that if you can learn the same subject in a number of different ways, you will be more likely to retain that information. Who wouldn’t want that when the subject is the Easter story?

I have a suggestion and a solution for our Easter Hymns. Make the great heritage of our Easter hymns in our hymnal a focus for your devotions during this upcoming Easter season. Even if you don’t feel comfortable singing them, use the wonderful words to focus you again and again on Jesus. You’ll be richer for it! You’ll have made use of the great heritage our Lutheran fathers have left us. And who knows, maybe you’ll have a new favorite Easter hymn for next year!