{"id":50439,"date":"2025-06-17T04:30:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T10:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=50439"},"modified":"2025-06-17T10:20:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T16:20:27","slug":"50439","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2025\/06\/50439\/","title":{"rendered":"Hymnal Watch: June 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since I put out an update on \u201cHymns\u2014for Home and Church\u201d: The New Latter-day Saint Hymnbook<\/a>, and I have some mixed feelings on the latest updates.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Updates on Hymnal Size and Timing<\/h2>\n

The key piece of information is that we have an update on the size and timing of release. They have said it will contain about 375 songs, rather than the previously announced 500\u2013550 songs. This is a big disappointment to me. The current children\u2019s songbook has 268 songs, and the current hymnal has 341 songs. In total, that\u2019s 609 songs in the current set, so we\u2019re looking at a net loss of 234 songs from our current corpus of music (a 38% decrease). And that\u2019s not counting hymns being edged out by new additions to the collection. So far, we have 48 songs that have been released as new additions, meaning that if the new hymnbook was released only with those additions, we\u2019d still be losing about 54% of the songs currently included in the English hymnbook and Children\u2019s Songbook. And we\u2019re likely to see more hymns added. So, when Elder Dale Renlund said that \u201cYour favorite hymn may not be included,\u201d it was a bit of an understatement. Most likely, a significant <\/em>number of songs and hymns you know and love will be cut.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

As far as timing goes, they are now saying that the hymnbook will be published in 2027. Much like the Salt Lake Temple renovations, this represents a slipage of timeline, since the previous announcements indicated 2026. While I\u2019m always a fan of taking the time something needs in order to be done well rather than releasing an inferior product, the combined news of timing changes and size changes does feel like a case of overpromising and underdelivering on the part of decision makers.<\/p>\n

One area for hope, however, is that there is the potential for additional digital releases outside of the core hymnal. While most of the hymns in the current hymnal are only going to be available when you \u201ckeep your current hymnbook, and continue to enjoy your old favorites at home,\u201d according to Dale G. Renlund, Steven Schank, chair of the hymnbook committee (and author\/composer of \u201cI Will Walk with Jesus\u201d) noted that \u201cThe beauty of this hymnbook coming at a time in the history of the world when it is, is we\u2019ve always had only a print hymnbook in the past, but we live in a digital age, which affords us some options.\u201d He went on to say that<\/p>\n

We have some options online to extend the hymnbook. So, the decision has been made by the First Presidency to include 375, about, hymns in the print book but then to allow for an open canon online, where we can over time add additional hymns that members can use. This might include patriotic music, which would be too cumbersome to include in a worldwide hymnbook for all of the languages, but it would include additional hymns on every topic that could grow over time and could allow people to sing at home and at church. Even the ones that are online are part of the hymnbook and can be programmed in sacrament meeting and other general church meetings.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the new hymnal represents a huge loss of our current group of hymns and children\u2019s songs, there are options for an open canon in hymnody (though the logistics of using digital-only options in sacrament meetings might be cumbersome without resorting to projectors).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The New Hymns<\/h2>\n

That being said, I am happy with many of the new additions. There is a lot to appreciate and be grateful for. It should be no surprise that I have been expecting \u201cPlacentero nos es trabajar<\/a>\u201d to be added to the hymnal. (In fact, when I went to the Mormon History Association conference a couple weeks ago, I discovered that my posts on that hymn are what I\u2019m apparently best known for.) Thus, I was excited to see it included in the latest batch as\u00a0 \u201cOh, How Great Is Our Joy<\/a>\u201d. I\u2019ve also loved the inclusion of early American hymns (like \u201cSoftly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling\u201d \u201cHis Voice as the Sound,\u201d \u201cMy Shepherd Will Supply My Need,\u201d and \u201cCome, Thou Fount of Every Blessing\u201d). The recent inclusion of African-American songs like \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,\u201d \u201cThis Little Light of Mine,\u201d and \u201cWere You There?\u201d is fantastic and I\u2019m excited to use them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Representation<\/h2>\n

In another example of overpromising and underdelivering, the hymns and children’s songs in the 48 new hymns are overwhelmingly Anglo-American, especially Utahn. For example, according to my count, out of the 48 texts, 20 were written by Utahns (~41.7%),[3]<\/sup><\/a> 13 by other Americans (~27%), 8 by the English (~16.7%), and 7 by people from other countries (~14.5%). Of those other countries, only one hymn text was not from northern or western Europe (Mexico).<\/p>\n

If you look closer at the hymns that\u2014as far as I\u2019m aware\u2014have not been published in hymnals before, it gets even more dramatic. There are 26 new texts and 25 new tunes. Of those contributions, ~77% of new texts were by Utahns, and 84% of new tunes were composed by Utahns. The only countries represented outside of the United States in these new hymns are England and the Netherlands, with one hymn each.<\/p>\n

This is incredibly disproportionate when compared to the statistics that the Church has given for membership. Utah only represents 12.6% of total membership, the United States 39.6%, and Europe 2.9%. Regions like South America (25.1%), Oceania (3.5%), Africa (5.3%), and Asia (7.5%) remain completely unrepresented in the repertoire of hymns, despite representing 41.4% of total Church membership. I understand that there are several complicating factors here\u2014the merit of pieces submitted, differences in access to music training and composing tools, looking at what members feel are appropriate to sing after decades of being raised on a diet of North American and British hymns, the influences of the previous points on blind hymn testing by Church members, etc. But given the extent of the number of hymns submitted, this still feels extremely disproportionately skewed towards Utah. If we\u2019re looking for representation of a worldwide church in the origin of the hymns being published, we\u2019re not doing very well.<\/p>\n

Again, though I have my concerns about the direction things have gone, I love the songs that have been chosen and look forward to enjoying them in our worship services.<\/p>\n

\n

Footnotes<\/h2>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Mary Richards and Joel Randall, \u201cEpisode 243: The Church\u2019s Hymnbook Committee chair, Steve Schank, on new hymns and joyful singing,\u201d Church News<\/em>, June 3, 2025. https:\/\/www.thechurchnews.com\/podcast\/2025\/06\/03\/episode-243-new-hymnbook-update-steve-schank-elder-renlund\/<\/a>. Eleven New Hymns Now Available in \u2018Hymns\u2014For Home and Church\u2019 Newsroom<\/em>, June 12, 2025, https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/eleven-new-hymns-now-available-in-hymns-for-home-and-church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Mary Richards and Joel Randall, \u201cEpisode 243: The Church\u2019s Hymnbook Committee chair, Steve Schank, on new hymns and joyful singing,\u201d Church News<\/em>, June 3, 2025. https:\/\/www.thechurchnews.com\/podcast\/2025\/06\/03\/episode-243-new-hymnbook-update-steve-schank-elder-renlund<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0For sake of simplicity, I\u2019m counting Utahns as anyone who lived their adult lives in Utah, though there is some wiggle room between who counts as a Utahn and who counts as \u201cother Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since I put out an update on \u201cHymns\u2014for Home and Church\u201d: The New Latter-day Saint Hymnbook, and I have some mixed feelings on the latest updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":45410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-and-poetry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Latter-day-Saint-Hymnbook-and-songbook.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50439"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50454,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50439\/revisions\/50454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}