Affirmation for Concordia Publishing House
Wow, Pastor Weedon had some great things to say about Concordia Publishing House recently. Here it is:
I’ve blogged on this before…but the realization hits me anew: how unbelievably blest we’ve been with the recent publications from CPH. I compare to when I started in the ministry. We had a Synod quite divided over the hymnal (which, to be fair, had some very good points; and some very bad ones). We had an essentially Reformed Study Bible that we tried to “tweak” with a few “Lutheran” notes. We had a “daily prayer” office that relied on the NIV, featured no writings from the Fathers or the Confessions, used generally but two psalms A WEEK and was completely geared toward pastors only. There was no lectionary option for those who wanted the historic lectionary in the hymnal; the published lectionary was only three year, and was – pardon my crassness – as ugly as the hymnals themselves. Blue and spotted.
Look at what we have now, all of which is beautifully bound and presented:
A hymnal that is (for all its weaknesses) the best hymnal Lutherans in America have ever produced.
A complete and wonderful Altar Book.
A complete Agenda that makes the previous Agendas look sparse.
A Reader’s Edition of Concordia: the Lutheran Confessions
Treasury of Daily Prayer – designed for ALL the baptized and replete with the daily Scripture readings AND writings from the history of the Church
A Pastoral Care Companion that is so rich a pastor in his ministry will never wear out its resources
A Study Bible that is one of the best available for its rich blending of Patristic, Confessional and modern scholarly insight into the Word of God.
And last but not least: Lutheran Service Builder that is top notch software for utilizing the full resources of hymnal AND Altar Book/Agenda with unprecedented ease and speed!
I can’t imagine it has ever been a more joyous time to be a Lutheran pastor. In liturgy, Bible study, prayer, and pastoral care we have been resourced in a way that our spiritual forebears would be astonished at. And just today I read that CPH is coming out with an updated reader’s edition of Dr. Walther’s classic *The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel* that takes the “King Jamesy” language out of Dau’s rendition of Walther and gives us the real and rugged Saxon at his best. Looking forward to it.
Oh, and did I mention the Gerhard volumes available now in his classic Loci Theologici? And Starck’s Prayer Book? And Walther’s *God Grant It!*? It goes on and on. And still the goodies are rolling out.
Thank you, heavenly Father, for these resources and for the opportunity to serve Your people in these days!
Yes. I just got my first ESV Lutheran study bible and await the rest of the essential Lutheran Library in the mail. And the LSB? The BEST hymn book I’ve ever had the pleasure of singing/playing from, bar none. And CPH’s way of distributing new music compositions is a real blessing to Lutheran church musicians everywhere.
Keep us posted.
The late Internet Monk, Micheal Spencer, wrote some great reviews of CPH products. This an example of his review of the Lutheran Study Bible: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/some-thoughts-on-lutheranism-and-evangelicalism-a-brief-review-of-the-lutheran-study-bible and
I totally agree with these comments…and I am just a layperson!
You know what would be great though? If CPH offered Acclamation music ala carte! In my opinion there is some really cool music there, but to spend $10 for all of it each Sunday gets to be expensive, especially if you may just be able to squeeze in one or two pieces that particular Sunday. I think CPH could really serve the music ministries of the Synod by offering Parish Music Directors the choice to buy select pieces.
I have to bubble along with Pastor Weedon, even though I’m not, but belong to one of those other “Synodical Conference” synods. Thank you CPH for promoting confessional Lutheranism with these basic, essential resources. (I should say that I’m still happiest using my earlier edition of Starck in German, however. But that too is a CPH publication!)
Not LCMS, that is.