“Turn Up the Volume” (PCOCS) holds meeting June 7-10, 2010

    Turn up the volume!  This seemed to be the general directive governing the most recent meeting of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS), held at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, from June 7-10, 2010.  Not “volume” as in the loudness with which we sang—though we did manage many rousing renditions of hymns and songs sent to us for consideration.  But “volume” as in the quantity of material we were able to explore together during an exceptional four-day (rather than our customary three-day) meeting schedule.

    As in October 2009 and February 2010, the bulk of our explorations was handled in subgroups.  The Global Music subgroup was ably assisted by participants from the Contemporary Christian Music subgroup who had completed their work in February.  Together, these committee members met with representatives of Hispanic ministries at the Presbyterian Center who provided invaluable assistance in assembling a list of key materials sung by Spanish-language congregations. The Other Hymnals subgroup nearly completed working through its twenty-page spreadsheet of recommendations from hymnals published by sister and brother denominations.  The Open Submissions subgroup read, sang, and discussed some 219 texts and tunes that had been sent to the PCOCS for consideration and had already passed the first round of scrutiny by three-person review teams in between full committee meetings.  In additional break-out sessions, text and tune subcommittees met independently to discuss criteria for determining which version of familiar hymns to use in the next hymnal (including variations in stanza-selections, in tune options, and in language [“thou” or “you”? “I” or “we”? and so on]).

    As if this volume of work was not sufficient, the committee also met as a whole with representatives from the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation to learn more about electronic and digital options for publication, and about the continued use of test site churches and presbytery advocates to help spread the good word about the forthcoming congregational song resource.

    And, of course, we worshipped with daily morning and evening prayer, and we sang.  As a full body, we sang through some seventy hymns and songs that had successfully made it through the ever-narrowing “funnel”: from initial submission, to review teams, to Open Submissions subgroup, to the committee as a whole.  At each step of the way, the numbers reduce significantly: a fortunate thing for the person in the pew, whose wrists would not bear the weight of a volume containing all 6,000 of the hymns sent in as suggested contents!  By the time a hymn reaches the Approved to Carry Forward list, it has met a number of stringent tests: for poetic and musical craft, for theological and biblical fidelity, for “freshness” of imagery and vision, for “singability” by congregations with varying abilities, . . . and most importantly, for usefulness in helping the family of God to come together in prayer and praise—at any volume!

Mary Louise Bringle
Chair, Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song