Woo-hoo!
We Mormons are getting a new hymnbook!
We interrupt our usual fare of book reviews and recipes to celebrate this event and offer our top 10 count-down for songs to add. We have borrowed liberally from our Protestant neighbors’ hymnbooks because those folks know to fill their great and spacious churches with a joyful sound.
Ready? Let’s go!
#10: We thank the Irish for this beautiful hymn. Actually, I think it might already have won fans along the Wasatch Front; if Nathan Pacheco knows it, if BYU women’s singers have produced videos of this hymn already, then quite possibly the church music committee has already heard “Add this! Add this!” a few times over.
#9: This one also has sentimental value. My father-in-law used to sing it. I can’t remember if it was while he shuffled about the house in his loud Christmas morning pants, or if it was while playing his out-of-tune piano. But he was an adorable man who sneaked a musical gem into my memories.
It doesn’t quite knock my all-time favorite hymn off the top spot, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” but wouldn’t it be something for ward hymn-choosers to have one more we-love-nature song to sing after a long winter finally goes away?
#8: All right folks, this one is for keeping the men busy. Hear those low voices rumbling all up and down the scale? Wouldn’t it be a welcome break from singing the usual boring two-note bass part? Speak up, fellows, and vote for this hymn!
#7: I sent my opinions to the Let’s Make A New Hymnbook committee (well, they asked for them) and I wonder how quickly they figured out that I like the loud ones best. And how do you feel about it? Would you welcome more big-busted songs like this one your new hymnal?
In fact, let’s switch it out with “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It’s not that I don’t like “Battle Hymn.” It’s just that it’s been used for way too many silly camp songs. There’s no way I’d pick it for an actual church meeting, not anymore.
#6: This is one of those tunes that has multiple sets of lyrics. That could mean that the hymn tune has an easy meter, or that it is so well-loved that multiple lyricists want a shot at immortalizing it.
Or it could mean the Lutherans don’t like Baptist ideas, so they write their own words.
I can’t decide if I like the video’s “Take My Life and Let It Be . . .” or these lyrics.
What do you think?
#5: Who couldn’t use another Easter hymn? I mean, our Easter canon contains . . . well, enough songs to get us through Easter Sunday. But where have they been hiding this one?
#4: When I pick this hymn for postlude, my peripheral vision picks up people dance-walking down the aisles. There are some grandmas out there who can shake it, I tell you. Let’s give ’em a chance during the meeting to show their stuff.
#3: I love the story of this hymn’s origin: a Welsh coal miner wrote it on a piece of slate, while walking to work one day.
Some of you might be put off by the minor key. Indeed, I’ve heard a few calls to dump the sad-sack hymns that lurk, unchosen week after week, in our current hymnal.
What do you think?
Would you like it more if the organist added a little special sauce to the last verse? We can do tricks like that, you know.
#2: This one is for the people who have grown out of the that Primary-room classic, “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” I foresee myself breaking out in its memorable chorus while I fold laundry or pet the cat or wait at stoplights. To me, it’s pretty catchy.
But what do you think?
#1: All right, my friends, we have arrived at my favorite. It’s like a favorite treat, something I would hide in the back of the pantry so nobody else eats it.
But I have no right to keep it to myself. Here you go. I’ll share.
The Protestants are good at expressing the joy and relief that Jesus brings to their lives. I would like a little bit of that to rub off on me.
And we have a few runners-up. We could add:
If you have opinions on the new hymnbook, on what should stay and what should go, make your wishes known here.
Vote for one of mine. Vote for all ten!!!
I like your # 10 and #9. Not very familiar with the others yet.
I like anything with Alleluias in it.
I’d be please if they took out “Who’s on the Lord’s Side Who. Too awkward.