Community of Christ news

Community of Christ has begun the process of creating new music and song resources for the worldwide church. Recently, Herald editor Rich Brown asked Jane Gardner, who serves as Hymnal Steering Team leader as part of her role on the World Church Leadership Council, and Lauren Hall, Hymnal Project administrator, about this exciting new plan.

Jane: We want to be able to sing our theology, beliefs, and identity. Our songs may well be the single most important resource for expressing the evolving theology of Community of Christ and reinforcing our identity, message, and mission. In addition, the worship life of the church is central to its existence, and new song resources will be an important contribution to enhancing congregational worship life.

The current English-language hymnal of the church (Hymns of the Saints) was published in 1981. It has been supplemented three times (Sing For Peace, 1994; Sing a New Song, 1999; By Request, 2004) in an attempt to provide more current texts and tunes. After twenty-seven years, it is time for resources that will incorporate wonderful new songs and include, as best as possible, the languages, cultures, and understandings of a global church.

Lauren: The “hymnal” will actually be a two-piece set for congregational use in Community of Christ. One piece is to be a hard-bound collection of hymns, praise choruses, chants, and songs primarily in English. It will contain approximately 500 selections. The other piece will be a soft-bound collection of songs in multiple languages. It will contain about 100 selections and be packaged together with the English-language book.

Jane: One of the most exciting dimensions of this project is the production of the cross-cultural song resource. Few attempts have been made by other denominations to produce this type of book, and we have been told by many hymn experts that they will be watching our progress with great interest. In addition to congregational use, the multi-language book will be used in international gatherings throughout the church as well as at World Conference.

Lauren: Recorded accompaniments for every selection, suitable for congregational playback, will be available for the hymnal set. A musicians’ edition for both books will include guitar chords for each song and other style-appropriate accompaniment.

How will this effort to produce a new hymn and song resource differ from the way Hymns of the Saints was produced back in 1981?

Jane: The process in 1981 included a large team that met to evaluate and make decisions. We now have the advantage of technology, which affords us greater efficiencies and collaboration. Through technology, many voices and opinions can provide input into the process through methods such as the online survey, electronic coordination of volunteers to assist with evaluation, and submission of texts through electronic files, to name a few. Because of this, we purposefully have kept the steering team small to be able to manage the process more efficiently. Steering team members include the two of us, Peter Judd, Jan Kraybill, Bruce Lindgren, and Joey Williams.

The 1981 hymnal was engraved by hand. For this project, we will use music-notation software to lay out the songs. We also anticipate technological changes to the way recordings are produced and delivered.

In addition, the project includes collecting songs from throughout the global church. Apostle Leonard Young is organizing this work with the able assistance of Pam Robison who will receive the songs and transfer the recordings to paper. This unique aspect of the project will enable cross-cultural sharing of the songs.

What are the practical steps to be taken between now and the introduction of the new resource at the 2013 World Conference? Considering the enormity of the task, is that enough time?

Lauren: Five years may seem like a long time, but this project is on a tight schedule. The project is guided by the Hymnal Steering Team, and subteams are being organized as the process unfolds. We’ve established four methods to gather information for the project: an online survey of the current Community of Christ English-language hymnals; an evaluation of Hope Publishing Company’s Worship and Rejoice hymnal, an ecumenical hymnal from our partner, Hope Publishing Company; open submissions of any text or tune for consideration; and additional research projects to look for specific songs by subject to be sure to represent a broad range of material. You can visit the church’s Web site to find the online survey and directions for the open submission process (www.CofChrist.org). The data gathering processes are scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2009.

Following the collection of data, the project plan allows a year and a half for the important sifting, culling, and decision-making process. After that time, the selected hymnal material will be turned over to Hope Publishing Company, at the beginning of 2011. With churchwide collaboration, the new hymnal set will be introduced at World Conference in 2013. Following that World Conference, we anticipate visiting every mission center to introduce the resources and help congregations with the transition.

Lauren: Hope Publishing Company, in Carol Stream, Illinois, has a strong reputation in the hymnody publishing field and is family owned and operated, and is personable. They will provide us with professional services in all phases of the production process.

Jane: Because of staffing limitations at International Headquarters, we are thrilled to have Hope Publishing Company as a partner to handle the tasks we are not staffed to provide, such as music editorial functions, layout, copyrights and permissions, printing, storage, and distribution. The church will be responsible for selection of all texts and tunes, indexes, numerical order, organization, title, color, and other related items. The resources will be published using the Herald House name.

What kinds of hymns and songs are you looking for? What are the criteria to be used in selecting new hymns and retaining the older, more familiar ones?

Lauren: Song is an integral part of shaping us as disciples of Jesus Christ in the Community of Christ. It has long been a part of our history. As this month’s featured hymn in the Herald suggests, “How often, making music, we have found a new dimension in the world of sound, as worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia!” [Fred Pratt Green, © 1972 Hope Publishing Company].

Jane: This next hymnal set will help articulate the church’s identity, message, and mission. And so it’s important that we represent the diversity and global nature of Community of Christ. We want to honor and affirm our rich heritage as members of a universal body of Christ as well as our identity in the Restoration movement. We also want to speak clearly to the current context of human life, using metaphors and rhythms of the twenty-first century.

We want to capture our calling as a prophetic people through the inclusion of hymns that carry us into a future of co-creative activity with God. We especially need hymns on topics pertaining to peace and justice, our global mission, the sacraments, Community of Christ heritage, witness and invitation, and the church’s place in contemporary society.

Undergirding this endeavor is an understanding of the importance of song in our journey. Our hope is that, together, we will achieve a balance of old and new, celebration and contemplation, and a variety of styles, being mindful in the process that the words we sing are foundational. Most important, though, the church’s enduring values will frame the benchmarks used to inform and guide us on this important next step of our journey.

What are some of the lessons that have been learned in studying how other Christian denominations have gone about this task?

Jane: We have several experiences to draw from, and since the church’s hymnody is highly regarded, we are getting good input from the ecumenical community. We’ve learned a component of this project is rather unique because its focus is cross-cultural within our global Community of Christ. To our knowledge, very few denominations have attempted this—a cross-cultural supplement from which we all can sing. That’s exciting!

More and more hymnals are being introduced with only the melody line and text printed. Our strong Community of Christ tradition is to sing four-part harmony—we even know how to improvise this during campfires! We want to continue this rich expression of who we are.

We have observed many hymnal processes that do not allow for input from their membership. We have designed this project to give our members and friends a voice in the process. We want to hear suggestions and opinions.

At some point, just about every Christian denomination has experienced so-called “worship wars,” especially regarding music. Why do you think church members care so much about their music?

Lauren: Isn’t it the aesthetic? Music, song, resides in memory. It’s written on our hearts and awakens us to God, to ourselves, to joys, to needs, and to Christ’s peace. We associate music with so many things: sacred places and sacred experiences. There is an emotive, theological piece. We sing what we believe. In addition, for Community of Christ, music is in our DNA! From Emma Smith’s first hymnal, music has had an important place in our Restoration tradition.

Considering the escalating pace of change in society, how long do you think this new hymn and song resource will adequately serve the Community of Christ?

Lauren: In terms of physical durability we’re projecting twenty-five years for the hard-bound English resource, and approximately ten years for the cross-cultural soft-bound book. Because creating a cross-cultural resource is relatively untested, we know we will learn as we go and plan to update and improve this resource sooner than the larger hard-bound English-language book.

	Search This Site

Singing New Songs