Did you know that we have a new hymnal at FBC?  Now, before you go and get all ‘hot and bothered’ understand that we have not gotten rid of our old hymnal.  Our main hymnal is The Celebration Hymnal.  It is not going anywhere.  It is fully orchestrated which is a huge benefit for our orchestra.

But, a few months ago we added a ‘supplementary hymnal.’  It is called Hymns: Modern & Ancient.  I first heard about it over the summer from our summer music intern.  When I saw it I immediately fell in love with it.  It is a book that our church has needed for some time.

Why do we need another Hymnal?

The main benefit of this new hymnal is that it has singable congregational arrangements of many newer songs that we love to sing in our church.  One common problem we have is that it is difficult to transfer a new song to a congregational setting.  Not all songs we hear on the radio are good congregational songs.  Many are, but they have to be edited for congregational usage.  This hymnal helps solve that problem.  It contains great congregational arrangements of:

• All I Have is Christ
• Before the Throne of God Above
• How Deep the Father’s Love, In Christ Alone
• The Power of the Cross
• When Trials Come
• and many more.

It also contains numerous other songs that we may learn in the years to come.  Just a few of these songs are:

• By Faith
• Complete in Thee
• His Robes for Mine
• How Sweet and Awesome
• It Is Not Death to Die
• My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness
• Not What My Hands Have Done
• O Church, Arise
• O the Deep, Deep Love

So, Where is This New Hymnal?

Most of you have never seen it.  It obviously will not fit in our current pew racks.  They are already full!  We actually only have five copies of this hymnal.  I have a copy for myself and I purchased a copy for the piano and organ in the sanctuary and the chapel.  Whenever we sing a song from this book, the words are projected.  Consider this, without our projection technology, we would be faced with purchasing hundreds of copies of this hymnal at $20/each!  Projecting the words allows us to use this great resource at a fraction of the cost.

Yes, I put my name on it! No Stealing 🙂

Buy One Today

I strongly encourage you to consider purchasing a copy of this hymnal for your own use at home.  Get a copy of it.  Read through the texts of these songs.  Practice singing the songs.  Teach them to your children.  Years ago, a hymnal was found in every home.  Families would spend time together singing.  We spend lots of money each year on devotional books.  I would argue that a good hymnal is one of the best devotional books available.  This hymnal definitely fits that category.  It is small, containing only 133 songs.  It probably does not have your favorite hymn.  But, what it does have is fantastic.

Here is a link to the publisher of the hymnal where you can easily purchase a copy.  I recommend the concealed spiral binding version.  It lays flat and is easy to use.

That’s all for today.  Happy Friday!

Stephen