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. 

Language questions are not the only ones requiring such guidelines.  In June, the group engaged in lengthy and helpful interviews with nationally-recognized experts on global music, seeking criteria to apply in selecting materials from that expansive body of work to include in the denomination’s next worship resource. In August, similar interviews invited input from experts on “contemporary Christian” or “praise and worship” music.

In further conversations, the PCOCS also arrived at general questions to use in assessing materials sent to the committee for review through the Open Submissions process (see http://presbyterianhymnal.org/NewMaterials.asp).  Such questions include the following:  How would my congregation sing or pray this hymn or song?  Could it be used by a congregation that does not have professional music leadership? Is the music effective?  Is the text theologically sound?  Do the words help tell the faith story, transmit the biblical narrative, or serve a liturgical function?  Does the song progressively unfold its riches (musical, textual, poetic)?  Is there some chance that this text and tune would catch on?

Members of review teams worked between the two summer meetings, applying such questions to texts and tunes that had been submitted to the Louisville office and then distributed electronically for assessment.  Texts or tunes gaining a favorable majority from their review teams came to the overall committee for further discussion at the most recent meeting.

Gradually, a list of tentative contents for the next hymn and song collection is forming.  A “No Brainer List” of some 160 items has been identified to form a preliminary “core.”  These items come primarily from hymns that carried over from the 1955 to the 1990 hymnal and received strong recommendations from PC(USA) congregations surveyed by the Research Services office of the denomination.  (The informal, in-house name for the list refers to the fact that it takes “no brains” to recognize that any next worship resource would be incomplete without “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Silent Night.”) 

Newer—and older—materials join the “no brainer” core as they pass through layers of scrutiny.  One group of the committee in particular, for example, has been charged with looking back at the 1955 hymnal to see if it includes hymns which were not included in the 1990 hymnal for an array of reasons, but which it might be time to reconsider.  Other groups are exploring recent hymnals published by other denominations, as well as global, contemporary, and single author collections.

To stay in touch with Presbyterians in the pew as such considerations unfold, the committee is identifying congregations with a variety of sizes, locations, constituents, and worship styles to serve as test sites for materials being developed.  Congregations interested in participating in this fashion are invited to contact the hymnal editor, David Eicher, via email at deicher@presbypub.com.

While all the committee’s deliberations require “decent and orderly” thinking, it ultimately misrepresents the process to suggest that such matters exclusively involve “the head.”  Singing together every hymn or song under consideration, PCOCS participants repeatedly pose the questions:  Do these textual and musical expressions of faith touch our hearts and arouse our spirits?  Do they and will they help us draw together as the body of Christ to worship God?

Mary Louise Bringle
Chair, Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song
September 5, 2009

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