FAQ

In worship one of the main ways we praise and honor God, give voice to our prayers, and communicate the wonders of God’s works is through song. Though the underlying gospel message doesn’t change from generation to generation, the concerns, prayers, and social context of each generation do. Since the publication of Rejoice in the Lord and the 1987 Psalter Hymnal we have seen sociological change with a move toward postmodernism and witnessed the exponential growth of technology – our world is very different today than it was twenty years ago. The words we use for worship need to express these new realities that form the backdrop of our worship – a new hymnal for a new generation.

This desire for a new hymnal for a new generation fits with the reality that a hymnal has a lifespan of about 20 years. The Psalter Hymnal and Rejoice in the Lord have both surpassed the 20-year mark. A new or revised hymnal about every 20 years has also been the practice of the CRC, with hymnals being released in 1914, 1934, 1959, 1976, and 1987.

Yes, there are. Before we began this process, we did a survey of churches in the CRC and RCA and found that there are still a significant number of churches that use hymnals and will continue to do so. Also, many churches that rely primarily on modern presentation technologies anticipate keeping a hymnbook in the pew as a supplemental worship resource; others will use it in small group settings.  As well, we anticipate that it will be used as a devotional tool and find its place on home pianos.

The synods of the CRC and RCA have encouraged their churches to find ways in which to work collaboratively. It makes sense for us as denominational siblings to work together wherever possible. In fact, Faith Alive Christian Resources has served as the resource provider for both the CRC and RCA since December 2004.

Though it is true that there are many good hymnals available, none come from an explicitly Reformed perspective with our denominations’ DNA. For example, you will find theological differences in baptism sections as well as songs dealing with the end times and heaven. Not only are there legitimate concerns about what is included in these hymnals, there are also noticeable holes. For example, there are fewer songs, or no songs, on the lordship of Christ, providence and election, and other particular nuances of the Reformed faith. Many of these hymnals also lack a global perspective. They include very few songs from the worldwide church, they tend to have more public domain songs (fewer songs from the 1900s on), and they do not promote the singing of psalms.

YES! We will be offering a number of electronic formats.

• Projection with music and text or text only
• “Cut and paste” for bulletins or other print resources
• View only for tablets/ipads

The Psalter Hymnal included a representation of all 150 psalms in a psalter followed by hymns. Rejoice in the Lord captured most of its psalmody in a discrete psalter section. Sing! A New Creation (a joint CRC/RCA supplement) marked a noticeable shift by incorporating psalms where they would most naturally fit in the order of worship or part of the church year. It has become clear that this latest approach encouraged more consistent use of psalms in worship. It is our plan to include the psalms in a variety of musical genres within the hymnal but not to dedicate a separate section to them.

The editorial committee continues to be very committed to supporting the Reformed practice of psalm singing. In fact when looking at the psalms in preparation for the new hymnal, we became so excited about them that we published a separate psalter as we couldn’t include everything in the new hymnal. Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship was released in January 2012 and is available through Faith Alive.  For more information go to www.psalmsforallseasons.org

Because Lift Up Your Hearts is bi-denominational the number of pages it would take to include the creeds/confessions/testimonies from both denominations made including them problematic.  We also found that in a good many churches the common practice even if they sang out of the hymnal was to reprint or project the portions of the confessions used in a particular service.  So after much discussion and consultation we decided to do the following: the Apostle’s Creed will appear in the hymnal itself, the creeds/confessions/testimonies including the Belhar will be published in a separate book entitled Our Faith making it possible for churches who still would like them in book format to have them in their pews.  All of these are also available for free download on the web and a CD will be available for purchase for further ease of use.

The RCA already has their forms in a separate book “Worship the Lord” and does not have a tradition of including such material in the hymnal.

For the CRC, since a decision by the CRC synod in the early 1990s congregations are no longer required to use the forms found in the back of the Psalter Hymnal though churches are encouraged to make sure that whatever they do use includes specific elements.  Since that decision there were additional forms created (Synod 1994) that have only ever been available on the website.  Other churches have taken forms from other sources or created their own.  Some of the forms in the back of the hymnal (i.e. elders/deacons/ordination) don’t reflect later decisions of synod (i.e. confidentiality clause) and do not reflect the opening of the offices to women.  The forms also do not represent newly formed offices like the office of Ministry Associate.  All to say that our current practice is woefully out of date and again cannot be updated when included in a hymnal they are in essence frozen in time. 

So given that fact, the differences in practice (fewer churches turn to the back for the forms), the fact that the forms are available for free on the web, and the reality that this is a bi-denominational hymnal the forms will not appear in the back as some are accustomed.  However, there will be resources included within the hymnal for the celebration of the sacraments similar to what you find in Sing! A New Creation . Other litanies or short prayers with sung refrains may be found throughout the book as space allows.

No promises on this one. Songs were chosen with the larger church in mind as well as making sure there was a balance of content and style. As a result not every great song made it into the hymnal. 

The question faced by the editorial committee has been change for whom?  Within both denominations there are various hymnals in use with differing versions of many texts and different text/tune pairings, so who do we ask to change?

We decided that each song needed to be evaluated separately. The committee worked from the default position of not changing anything unless it is clear that a change is necessary and that such a change will strengthen the song. A complete list of songs with their assigned tunes is available on this sight.

In order to represent the growing diversity within our denominations we have included just over 800 songs with the hymnal; 1104 pages.  For comparison, Psalms for All Seasons which fits in standard pew racks is 1140.  Our intent is to use the same cover material and type of paper so with fewer pages it should weigh slightly less.

This hymnal will include music from various genres (traditional hymnody, contemporary, African American, global, etc.). Every church has about two hundred songs solidly in its singing repertoire, and we hope that by providing a wide variety of styles each church will find songs that fit within that known repertoire as well as new texts and tunes with which to grow.

We have made no commitments as of yet. We will continue to ask this question as we move along in the process and hear from the churches as to their specific needs.

Lift Up Your Hearts: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs will be released in June 2013 in time for the CRC and RCA synods.

For a list of individuals serving on the editorial and advisory committees, please see the "About" section of this website.

The hymnal will be cranberry type red.  The cover will look very similar to Psalms for All Seasons with the tree wood cut replaced by wheat and of course red instead of blue.

The submission process is now closed.

Many songs have appeared in many of Faith Alive Christian Resource's other hymnals. For a complete list, see this spreadsheet.

There will be approximately 136 songs from the 1957 Psalter Hymnal (Blue) in Lift Up Your Hearts. For a complete list, see this spreadsheet.

There are approximately 302 songs from the 1987 Psalter Hymnal (Gray) in Lift Up Your Hearts. For a complete list, see this spreadsheet.

There are approximately 214 songs in The Worshiping Church that will appear in Lift Up Your Hearts . For a complete list, see this spreadsheet.

There are approximately 126 songs in Sing! A New Creation that will appear in Lift Up Your Hearts. For a complete list, see this spreadsheet.

You can preorder Lift Up Your Hearts from Faith Alive Christian Resources ( faithaliveresources.org /1-800-333-8300). All preorders will be shipped and billed in June 2013.

• $17.99US/$17.63CDN per copy on orders from January 1 to May 31, 2013
• $19.99US/$CDN* per copy after May 31, 2013

*Canadian cost to be determined

Our Faith is $6.99.  There is also an electronic edition of Our Faith available for $9.99US/$9.79CDN

There are a variety of different electronic packages available. See this page for the details or email us at hymnal@crcna.org