Presbyterian Hymnal Project Blog

Not Just a New Hymn Book

The Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS) is not just producing a new hymn book. Our eighth committee gathering in Louisville, marking two full years of working together, made this increasingly clear. What we are creating instead will be, in unprecedented ways, a multi-format resource for congregational worship and song.

During our latest PCOCS meeting in late August/early September 2010, a session with marketing and editorial staff members from the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation focused as never before on new options for multiple formats for final “publication.” The committee reviewed an array of existing electronic formats with features like searchable indexes for easy location of appropriate hymns by keyword or scripture reference; MIDI files of melody lines so that those who do not read music can still hear what a new hymn sounds like; downloadable descants and obbligatos for congregations with the choral and instrumental resources to take advantage of such possibilities; slides for projection of text (or perhaps even of text and tune) for services that use screens instead of printed pages; and built-in permissions and usage-reporting mechanisms that make it easy for worship planners to reproduce and use new material without violating copyright law. We also dreamed about additional options, like links to streaming video to demonstrate performance practice, teaching (for example) a simple drumming pattern to accompany a song from the global church, or clarifying the pronunciation of foreign phrases, or demonstrating how a song is creatively used in worship in a particular local context. We dreamed about a PC(USA) worship website that might be regularly updated with freshly reviewed texts and tunes, so that even after publication of the 2013 resource, subscribers can stay current with new material rather than have to wait for another multi-year process to create another new hymnal or song supplement. Along with the dreaming, we talked about down-to-earth practicalities, such as ways to create pricing incentives that will make it possible for congregations with limited resources to purchase books, an online subscription, or both, to suit their particular needs.

In addition to talking about multiple formats for our new congregational resource, we also talked about multiple contents. Since beginning two years ago, when we renamed ourselves a committee on congregational song rather than a “hymnal committee,” we have been clear that our finished product will include not just traditional hymns (music whose message unfolds over a series of stanzas, printed underneath each other on the page and all sung to the same melody), but also songs of multiple genres, including praise choruses; beloved early twentieth-century Sunday school and Sunday night gospel songs; simple, repeated chants from Taizé or Iona; contemporary music with a verse, refrain, and bridge structure; and service music from the local and global churches (Alleluias, Glorias, Kyries, prayers). Our subcommittees on contemporary, global, and other forms of “new” (and “old”!) music continue to work hard at making their selections to send to the full committee for review and approval.

We have also been clear from day one—but we have said less about this fact—that our finished resource (book, website, or both) will contain elements of spoken as well as sung liturgy. David Gambrell, our committee representative from the Office of Theology and Worship, updated us on a recent and productive meeting with Harold Daniels, former editor of Book of Common Worship, to discuss, among other things, a rich set of proposed liturgical texts from Harold, David Batchelder, Arlo Duba, and Gláucia Vasconcelos Wilkey. The editorial board of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation is still proposing a thirty-page scope for liturgical materials in the new resource, with a focus on Lord’s Day services. Kimberly Bracken Long, Assistant Professor of Worship at Columbia Theological Seminary, and Teresa Stricklen, Associate for Worship in the Office of Theology and Worship, are working closely with David Gambrell to create and edit these materials, which will be distributed to PCOCS test congregations for review following similar processes as those used to send trial packets of texts and tunes under consideration. Some of the materials will also be previewed at the North American Academy of Liturgy meeting in early January 2011.

Those who are interested in a fuller sneak peek at the new resource-in-progress should plan to attend the Big Tent this summer in Indianapolis, June 30 through July 2, 2011. For that occasion, a sampler of the next hymnal-and-more will be unveiled . . . and there will be lots of Big Singing and Big Worshiping together!

Mary Louise Bringle, chair
Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song

“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.

Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS) holds meeting February 8-10, 2010

For more information contact David Eicher, 502-569-5915

Can peacocks fly in the snow?  Turns out, it depends.  In blizzard conditions, no: one member of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS) was unable to get out of the DC area to come to the winter 2010 meeting.  However, all others managed to wing their way to snowy Louisville from various parts of the country for three further days of deliberations—from February 8-10—toward creating the next worship resource for the PC(USA). 

Presbyterian Hymnal Committee Holds Third Meeting

People from other denominations occasionally tease Presbyterians about our seemingly “intellectual” orientation.  They joke that our version of the old gospel hymn features the refrain: “Into my head, into my head, come into my head, Lord Jesus.”

The joke contains an element of truth.  As a body of believers, we in the PC(USA) are good at thinking things through.  The two summer meetings of the PCOCS (Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song)—early June and late August—offer cases in point. Whether deciding which translation of a beloved hymn to use, or how to handle “thee” and “thou” language, the committee is following a two-pronged process of articulating general guidelines and deliberating case-by-case examples.

Presbyterian Hymnal Committee Holds Second Meeting

The Presbyterian Hymnal Committee held its second meeting February 11-13 in Louisville. The Committee spent significant time discussing a theological vision to guide its work. Drafted by a subcommittee in advance of the meeting, the Theological Vision Statement focuses on a framework of salvation history—God’s powerful acts of creation, redemption, and final transformation—and on the human responses made possible by such gracious acts. In the words of the document, placing priority on God’s empowering and transformative actions “offers hope to those whose faith in human efforts has been undermined.” It also invites a broadly inclusive scope as a means of most faithfully giving voice to “the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ” (Eph 3:18). A full version of the Theological Vision Statement can be found online by clicking the link at the right.

Hymnal Committee Holds First Meeting

The Presbyterian Hymnal Committee held its first meeting at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville September 22 and 23, 2008. This meeting was an opportunity for the newly appointed committee to meet each other and begin the process of developing a plan for working together over the next few years. One of the highlights of the meeting was a service of commissioning that took place in the Presbyterian Center Chapel.

Click here to download a copy of the commissioning service bulletin.

Click here to view photos from this first meeting and commissioning service.

Committee to Develop Next Presbyterian Hymnal Announced

For more information, contact David Eicher
(502) 569-5915, deicher@presbypub.com

The Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC), the official denominational publisher of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), today announced the names of fifteen individuals selected to serve on the committee to develop the next Presbyterian hymnal. Representatives from PPC; the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Office of Theology, Worship, and Education; and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) reviewed applications from more than two hundred Presbyterians from thirty-nine states before selecting these individuals to serve on the committee: Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle, Chair; Chi Yi Chen, Adam Copeland, Alfred V. Fedak, Stephen H. Fey, Charles D. Frost, Karen Hastings-Flegel, Beverly Howard, Paul Junggap Huh, Mary Beth Jones, Eric T. Myers, Chelsea Roeder Stern, Edwin Chr. van Driel, Michael Waschevski, and Barbara G. Wheeler.