The Free Lutheran Chorale-Book

All Chorales from TLH Now Accounted For

Christopher Neuendorf — Sun, 16 May 2021 03:51:20 +0000

As of now, all public-domain translations of historic Lutheran chorales from The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, are now available at the Free Lutheran Chorale-Book. Unfortunately, there are many translations in The Lutheran Hymnal that remain under copyright and therefore cannot be used at the Free Lutheran Chorale-Book. Some of these have been retranslated, or alternative older translations have been…

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DreamHost and Improved Performance

Christopher Neuendorf — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:51:30 +0000

I have been using DreamHost for the Free Lutheran Chorale-Book almost from the site’s inception. Early on I had to upgrade from the cheapest shared hosting option to a VPS (Virtual Private Server). I had thought that with that upgrade I might see some performance gains, but the site kept moving at a tedious crawl, and no matter what optimizations I made, I could not get a significant boost in…

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Introducing the Psalm Player

Christopher Neuendorf — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 02:25:33 +0000

I have recently spent a few late nights developing what I’m calling the Psalm Player. Here I demonstrate its use by singing the Magnificat to the Tones Peregrinus, the way it was sung in Lutheran Germany in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Take a look…

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PSA: This Woman Is Not Elisabeth Cruciger!

Christopher Neuendorf — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 15:17:12 +0000

As the first Lutheran woman hymn writer, and that with an illustrious entry within the very earliest of the Lutheran hymnals, Elisabeth Cruciger is a source of fascination for any who love the Lutheran chorales. Her hymn, “Lord Christ, God’s Only Dear Son” (“Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn”), found in LSB, No. 402, as “The Only Son from Heaven,” is among the brightest lights of the Lutheran…

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Printable Version of “In Glory Shone the Holy One”

Christopher Neuendorf — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 23:41:16 +0000

My last post was a year ago, and it included the text of my own hymn for the Transfiguration of Our Lord, “In Glory Shone the Holy One.” I have prepared a bulletin insert of the hymn for use in my own congregation this weekend, though I have set the text to the tune “Wo Gott zum Haus,” using the Setting in LSB. This tune and its setting are familiar to congregation members and organists alike…

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A New Hymn for the Transfiguration: In Glory Shone the Holy One

Christopher Neuendorf — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 21:18:13 +0000

Given the dearth of appropriate hymns for the Transfiguration of Our Lord (it is, after all, rather a recent observance), I was moved to write a hymn for the occasion a few years ago. The hymn was never sung anywhere, aside from my own car/office, nor was the text ever made public, as far as I can remember. It has remained hidden in my notes, but after reviewing it again I think it’s time to…

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A New Hymn: “By Raising Lazarus from the Dead”

Christopher Neuendorf — Mon, 07 May 2018 22:21:00 +0000

A few years ago, a parishioner of mine was baptized on the eve of Palm Sunday, the Saturday before Holy Week. Though I am a Lutheran pastor, I was raised Greek Orthodox, and so I continue to think of the eve of Palm Sunday as the “Saturday of Lazarus.” This fits with the record of St. John’s Gospel, which places the resurrection of Lazarus immediately before the triumphal entry. Indeed…

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The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: A Sobering Celebration

Christopher Neuendorf — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 21:44:20 +0000

500 years ago this day, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian friar, District Vicar of the Reform Congregation of Augustinian Hermits in Meissen and Thuringia, Doctor of Sacred Theology and lecturer on Holy Scripture at the University of Wittenberg, preacher, priest, and pastor, nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church, the Church of All Saints, in Wittenberg. The purpose of the…

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German Service 2014 at Holy Cross Davenport

Christopher Neuendorf — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 22:48:47 +0000

Following the success of last year’s German Christmas Service at Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Davenport, we’re looking forward to hosting another one this year. The service is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Sunday, December 14, at 4 PM. The Rev. John Preus of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa, is scheduled to preach. Here is a PDF of the bulletin we’ll be using. Many of the hymns are…

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Comfort for Advent

Christopher Neuendorf — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 00:05:50 +0000

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” So opens Isaiah 40:1–11, the Old Testament lesson used by many congregations of the Missouri Synod this past Sunday, the second in Advent. For those using the historic lectionary, the same lesson will be heard this coming Sunday. And what more fitting to accompany such a lesson than Johann Olearius‘s hymn, “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”…

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