Making the Cut

“You Lutherans,” my non-Lutheran friend opined, “just have to sing every stanza of every hymn.”  He paused for emphasis, then added, “Two stanzas is enough!”

I groaned because he and I have had this discussion before.  I asked him, “What if you only got to watch the first 45 minutes of ‘Frozen?’”

Is there a rule that Lutherans have to sing every stanza of every hymn?  Of course, not.

So why do we do it?

Hymns are usually poems before melodies are added to make them hymns.  That means they are fully formed literary works with a beginning, middle, and ending.  Some hymns tell a story so it seems pretty obvious why an assembly would sing all the stanzas. Imagine singing “The First Noel” and not including the stanza that speaks of the wise men entering the home where Jesus was with his mother, Mary.  Worse, leave out the stanza about the star.  That’s an important part of the story!

Other hymns speak of theology.

Several years ago I attended the Lutheran Church where my grandmother was confirmed.  I arrived early and was thrilled to find what looked like a lovely, well-maintained pipe organ.  I eagerly waited to hear that organ. . .and I waited awhile.  Mostly we sang praise choruses from the 70’s and 80’s to piano accompaniment.  (The piano playing was wonderful, but I still wanted to hear the organ my grandmother would have heard the day she was confirmed.)  Finally, the pianist moved to the organ for the final hymn. It was a tune I didn’t know (bonus!) and it was a Trinitarian hymn with three stanzas – one for each person of the Trinity.

The Pastor announced we would only sing the first stanza!

I was shocked that he would have us only sing the stanza addressing the first person of the Trinity and not the other two.  I can’t imagine the hymn writer would have been happy either. Plus, I didn’t get much of a chance to hear that organ!

Hymns are chosen for a particular Sunday because of how they relate to the readings and themes of the day.  Sometimes that connection isn’t clear until the middle of the fourth stanza.  (Please don’t suggest we only sing the first and fourth stanzas – I have been in churches where that is done.)  Hymns are never chosen to be place markers, something to do between readings or as a break within spoken parts of the service.

Will cutting stanzas save time?  Not really.  It’s a rare hymn stanza that takes more than 45 seconds to sing.

There are times when stanzas can be cut.  It might be wise to do so if several hymns are sung in the course of one service.  Last Sunday we had Advent Lessons and Carols with TEN hymns to sing!  I felt completely safe cutting several stanzas of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

ELW 342, "There in God's Garden," had 14 stanzas in its original incarnation.  When K. Lee Scott wrote a new melody, he cut this beautiful passion hymn down to 6 stanzas.  Imagine doing a choral arrangement with 14 stanzas and trying not to be repetitious!

St. Mark’s has an excellent repertoire of hymnody.  There are not many hymns that we sing over and over again.  When we only sing a hymn once per year, it’s hard to think about cutting stanzas. 

So, if you ever find yourself thinking a hymn is too long, take a look at it outside of the service.  Read the WHOLE thing.  Take your church bulletin home and read the Prayer of the Day and all of the readings for that day.  Then try to decide which stanzas should be cut.

First Photo (from top): Scissors - thanks to Wikipedia!

Second Photo: my grandmother

Third Photo: Russian icon (1480-1425) 

Fourth Photo: El Greco's "Jesus Carrying the Cross" 1580