The wonderful new hymnal

The new hymnal - wonderful! What a privilege to write about it!

I was a slow starter on the new hymns. However, one Sunday our Sunday School teacher suggested to me, the Superintendent, that we sing He's got the whole world in his hands (492). This was the Sunday when she brought two of her Sydney-based grandchildren along. She said they had practising singing it in the car on the way.

Well! And, Wow! We sang it so well!

The other hymn they had practised in the car was Halle (489). So we sang that too for good measure. Just as joyful, and lustily sung.

So. I went to the Reading Room and purchased the USB Flash Drive version of the full set of the new hymns. And I have had it in the car singing to me ever since. I know a lot of the hymns well now. Although I do not know the words off by heart as the children did, or as some of the audience at last year's Annual Meeting Hymn Sing did.

One thing I find it hard to reckon with is the changing of, for instance, “Thy” and “Thou” and “Thee' to “You,” and “Your” in that beloved hymns, “Father, We Your Loving Children” For one thing, Thy, Thou, and Thee are softer and easier to sing, I think. Love the tune though.

Joyce Voysey