Singing the Faith, the new hymnbook for the Methodist connexion, is published this week after years in the planning and preparation. With 840 hymns, songs, psalms and liturgical settings, including a host of new words and tunes, it replaces Hymns & Psalms as the definitive source of worship material for the new generation of Methodists.
The preface stakes a claim to “echo the distinctive voice of Methodist worship today, in all its diversity, [as we are called] to renewal of prayer, praise and the offering of our lives in joyful response to God’s all-embracing love”.
John Wesley said of his first hymnbook, “this is a little body of experimental and practical divinity”, and that aim is echoed by the new editors: “the hymns and songs have been chosen not just as instruments of worship but for the teaching they contain. Their theology has been meticulously scrutinised by the Faith & Order Committee and Network on behalf of the Methodist Conference. Consequently, Singing the Faith carries the doctrinal standards, emphases, tradition, values and ethos of the Methodist Church.”
We will be using Singing the Faith at Chilwell Road. Three large packages containing the first set of books arrived in the office yesterday and an electronic version for use with our data-projector is on order. The Singers will be practising the new tunes, and many of us will obtain a copy for personal use.
My father’s local preaching ministry was contemporary with the life-span of The Methodist Hymnbook launched in 1932. My own leading of services has largely used Hymns & Psalms which appeared in 1983. Now we have a new hymnbook for a new generation of Methodists. We look forward to the launch during the autumn and anticipate singing our faith with renewed enthusiasm.
