The Hymn of the Day: Its Development and Use

Abstract

This thesis depicts the development of the Hymn of the Day as it was born out of Luther’s Graduallied and how the concept of the Hymn of the Day was born out of the Lutheran Reformation. The Graduallied was a hymn Luther added after the Epistle was read which focused on the season of the Church Year. As new hymns were created the Lutherans replaced the Graduallied with the Hauptlied, or the Hymn of the Day. The Hymn of the Day was a hymn that fit the theme of the assigned Gospel for a Sunday or festival service. As this thesis examines the rise of the Hymn of the Day, it also examines its fall into disuse by many parts of the Lutheran Church and how the liturgical reawakening within Lutheranism has brought the Hymn of the Day back into use within much of the Lutheran Church. While this thesis discusses the development of the Hymn of the Day within Lutheranism in general, it focuses attention in detail upon the Hymn of the Day and its use within the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. This thesis also notes some of the tensions Lutherans have had related to the Hymn of the Day.