OK, I have no way of knowing that, because I'm so out of touch with the Ev. Lutheran Church in America that I only discovered the book's existence when, by chance, a state university music department's graduate conductor program threw a Messiah singalong at a local ELCA church a couple months ago. I brought along an out-of-practice voice, an out-of-date vocal score of The Messiah, and an impression that ELW was the last gasp of hymnal publishing in the ELCA. I didn't order an updated vocal score of The Messiah; but I ordered this. And I've gone through it, one page at a time, one hymn at a time, and concluded more or less what I said above. As far as Lutherans formed by the Lutheran Church's hymn-singing heritage are concerned, there is scarcely one thing in this book that's worth adding to the repertoire already in hand. You don't know what it cost me not to include a "@#$%" in that last sentence. And the word "scarcely" is only in it because I noticed one, and exactly one, hymn that I was happy to see: 963 the Luther/Hus communion hymn "Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior." If I see another high-value hymn on this run-through, I'll beg yor pardon.
Now, as hymnal supplements go, I get it. These are opportunities to introduce good new things, potentially to grow the church's repertoire, or to reintroduce good old things that have unfortunately slipped into a crack. I can't seriously fire a fusillade of tacks (for tackiness) at them just because of their novelty. I'm not such a stick-in-the-mud as that; and I call to witness my own three books of original hymns with some additional music written for existing hymns. I'd also like to anticipate the "who are you to go off half-cocked" objection by pointing out that those three books feature over 500 original hymns and that this thread bears witness to a small corner of my broad and deep study of the literature in English-language Lutheran hymnals. My comments may sometimes be bitchy but they're not ignorant. The reasons for which I will award tacks to the hymns below are not mere matters of personal taste, and though I may frame them in terms of "bad taste," that's to be understood in the context of a theologically trained Lutheran worshiper who takes the practice and transmission of the holy faith very, very seriously. If it doesn't clearly and faithfully bear witness to that faith, it's going to get tacked.
Besides the introduction and table of contents, All Creation Sings (ACS) begins with two more settings of the Holy Communion service in addition to the 10 already present in ELW. Setting 11 is bilingual with Spanish and English text in parallel columns, though Spanish is not equally represented throughout the book. "OR" options abound. The service may begin either with Confession and Forgiveness OR a Thanksgiving for Baptism. The confession is preceded by either a Trinitarian invocation that names all three Persons OR one that blesses "the Holy Trinity, one God, who creates, redeems and sustains us and all of creation." There are two options for the confession of sins, and two options for the declaration of forgiveness. The Gloria in excelsis goes on and on with three stanzas and lots of Alleuias and Amens, but never gets to "We praise you, we bless you," etc. The Nicene Creed adheres to the modern vogue of using plural pronouns (We believe...) despite the historic Credo being singular (I believe...), and puts the faithful to the trouble of learning an updated translation of the creed. The translation of the Apostles' Creed puts "descended into hell" in a footnote in favor of "descended to the dead." There are two options for lengthy eucharistic prayers. The Aaronic blessing is but one of two options for benediction, with a final dismissal and response following the "sending song" after the benediction.
Setting 12 is more of the same, only there isn't an option for Confession and Forgiveness that offers an actual absolution. In place of the Gloria in Excelsis, there's a choice of two songs of praise. One, "Glory to you, God, for yours is the earth," is an apparently original, three-stanza-with-refrain ditty which includes the theologically dubious line, "Yours the hosannas, the dying, rebirth." Um, rebirth? Choice 2 is a Marty Haugenish setting of the Magnificat. I'm not going through the eucharistic prayers in detail, but I'm noticing that there are two versions of the Lord's prayer and in this setting, it's the updated-language one that gets set to chant. The Agnus Dei has an either/or as well, the alternative being a musical setting of the words "Be known to us, Lord Jesus, in the breaking of the bread. Alleluia." The benediction in this service is either the Pauline "peace of God, which suprasses all understanding" one or the sexlessly trinitarian "God, the Source of glory, God, the Word of life, God, the Spirit of truth, bless you all, now and forever."
The Service of Word and Prayer (p. 42) opens, not with a Trinitarian invocation, but with a choice of three biblical blessings, followed by opening prayer, silence, a song, then "Word" (where a rubric dubiously claims that "God speaks to us in scripture reading, silence, reflection, and song." Dubiously, I say, because where is it promised that God speaks to us in silence? There's a further paragraph of explanation that tries to make sense of this but I'm still doubtful. Then there's prayer, more silence, song, and a choice of three blessings.
Next (pp 46 ff) is a section of "Prayers, Thanksgivings and Laments." Then "Thanksgiving at the Table" (p. 56), meaning additional eucharistic prayers; "Thanksgiving at the Font" (p. 59), "Prayer of Lament" (p. 61), "Lamenting Racism" (p. 62), "Service After a Violent Event" (p. 64), and finally the major section "Assembly Song," which is New-Fangled Church Jargon for hymns. Because the terms people are accustomed to using for things just aren't used anymore, you know.
Skipping to the end of the book – because we'll be going through the hymns at length enough to make for more than one whole post after this – are "Additional Resources," including a treatise on Scriptural Images for God, acknowledgments, copyrights, a topical index of hymns, a source index, an alphabetical and then metrical index of tunes, and a first-line index of hymns, all doggedly sticking to the terminology of "assembly song," I suppose, because the easiest way to reprogram how people think is to force them to use the words of your choosing.
But now, before we take a breather and plunge into the hymns in detail, let's look at what Assembly Song has in store for us from 10,000 feet up. Going by the table of contents, they include hymns for Advent (901-907), Christmas (908-913), Epiphany and the Time after Epiphany (914-917), Lent (918-927), three days of Holy Week (928-932), Easter (933-939), Pentecost and the Holy Spirit (940-945), Holy Trinity (946-948), the End Time (949-954), Holy Baptism (955-959), Holy Communion (960-970), the Word of God (971-976), Gathering (977-982) – which I guess means "opening of service" – and Sending (983-991) or "close of service"; Morning (992-994) and Evening (995-999), Vocation and Ministry (1000-1003), Grace and Faith (1004-1006), Confession and Forgiveness (1007-1012), Healing and Wholeness (1013-1021), Hope and Assurance (1022-1035), Community in Christ (1036-1044), Witness (1045-1048), Lament (1049-1055), Justice and Peace (1056-1062), Creation and Stewardship (1063-1072), Prayer (1073-1079), Trust and Guidance (1080-1084), Commitment and Discipleship (1085-1086) and Praise and Thanksgiving (1087-1100).
Are you excited to see what hymns are in those sections? What amazing new treasures they will add to the Lutheran church's heritage of hymn-singing? I don't want to spoil it for you, but I've already given notice that I could walk away from everything in this book except, perhaps, one hymn and not miss it at all.
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