I just wrapped up a little project, putting together a list of weekly hymns for the church year. Although I love having a hymn of the week through Around the Word, which we use for daily devotions, I’m a homeschooler. Apparently I wanted something a little more vast to supplement our home hymnody: an organized and scheduled tool to help maximize hymn-learning & -appreciation!
I’m selling it as a resource on LutheranHomeschool.com as “Hymns for the Church Year.” Using the Lutheran Service Book, I selected three (or four) hymns per week of the church year to correspond with each week’s lectionary readings.
After three years, you and your family can know 156 hymns! You can start any time.
I followed the one-year Historic Lectionary readings & Sunday numbering, but this should work for the three-year also. The two big differences to be aware of are 1) different times to celebrate Transfiguration, and 2) the one-year lists Sundays after Trinity while the three-year lists Sundays after Pentecost. My columns didn’t allow listing both, but you can mark in a few for ease of practice.
I am charging $5 for it. I put a lot of work into it so there are no duplications! You can see the index on the product page:
https://www.lutheranhomeschool.com/product/hymns-for-the-church-year/
I thought I’d share the news here, too, because hymns are well-worth singing, at every age & stage. 😀
Could this also work to help with congregational hymn planning? Sure, though services often have more than three hymns. Having said that, I want to be clear that there is no “hymnic lectionary,” beyond a tradition of Chief Hymns. It is good to choose hymns for specific pastoral reasons, tailoring the hymns to those who will sing it. It can also be very good to repeat great hymns!
This tool for home is not an attempt to establish some world-wide model for global piety. Over the years, I’ve learned the majority of hymns in my hymnal and I’d like to share that with my kids, home time supporting congregation time through weekly hymns.
.png)