Lutheran Worship was published by Concordia Publishing House in 1982 as the new hymnal of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Its roots reach back to 1965, when the LCMS invited other American Lutheran church bodies to cooperate in producing a common hymnal. The Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship was formed in 1966, and its work eventually produced the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978.
The LCMS, however, declined to approve the Lutheran Book of Worship because of theological and liturgical concerns. At its 1979 convention, the Synod accepted recommendations for a revised version suited to LCMS doctrine and worship. That revision became Lutheran Worship three years later.
Lutheran Worship was intended to succeed The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941. It retained much of the historic Lutheran liturgical tradition while introducing updated language, new musical settings, and hymns and worship materials developed during the preceding decades. The book contains 509 hymns as well as Divine Service settings, Matins, Vespers, Compline, Baptism, Confirmation, psalms, canticles, and other worship resources.
Its reception was mixed. Many LCMS congregations adopted the new blue hymnal, while others continued using The Lutheran Hymnal. A 1999 LCMS survey found that 58 percent of congregations used Lutheran Worship as their primary hymnal, while about 36 percent still primarily used The Lutheran Hymnal.
Hymnal Supplement 98 expanded the church’s worship resources in 1998. Lutheran Worship remained the LCMS’s principal newer hymnal until Lutheran Service Book appeared in 2006, bringing together elements of both Lutheran Worship and The Lutheran Hymnal for a new generation.
Paul George Bunjes was born September 27, 1914, in Frankenmuth, Michigan. A prominent Lutheran church musician, composer, organist, teacher, author, and organ designer, he became an important influence on twentieth-century Lutheran worship and church music.
Bunjes studied at Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois, and later earned degrees from Valparaiso University and the University of Michigan. He returned to Concordia in River Forest, where he served for twenty-six years as a professor of music. His teaching influenced generations of Lutheran organists, choir directors, and church musicians.
Bunjes was particularly interested in the Lutheran chorale and the design of organs suited to Lutheran worship. He served as a consultant for numerous pipe organs and wrote extensively about organ design and church music. His compositions and arrangements include organ and choral works, hymn settings, and chorale concertatos.
Bunjes also played an important role in the preparation of modern Lutheran hymnals. He contributed substantially to the Lutheran Book of Worship, published in 1978, and to the LCMS hymnal Lutheran Worship, published in 1982. His surviving papers contain extensive materials documenting the development of Lutheran Worship, including hymns, liturgical music, canticles, proofs, and work of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.
Bunjes died June 27, 1998. His legacy remains especially strong in Lutheran church music, hymnody, organ design, and the worship life of the Lutheran Church.