In September 2004 the Presbyterian Church in Ireland launched its new Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook to a packed audience at the Waterfront Hall. Sales of the hymnbook to date show that it has been a huge success all across Ireland.
The publishers, SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd. have already sold nearly half the print runs of both the music and words editions. Wesley Owen Bookshop in the Spires Shopping Mall, Belfast has echoed this success. The original order sold out in a few weeks and the re-order continues to sell strongly. So far around 40 churches have already bought copies for their congregations to use.
The Church has had hymnbooks before but these have always been produced in collaboration with the other Presbyterian Churches in the British Isles, though it did produce its own supplementary book Glory to God some years ago. However, following a decision of the General Assembly in 2001 the new book is unique to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
The hymnbook contains the 150 Psalms and 66 Paraphrases of the Irish Psalter and 669 hymns and songs, including such loved hymns as "What a Friend we have in Jesus" and "O worship the King, all glorious above" through to new and widely sung hymns like "In Christ alone my hope is found".
The hymnbook has been brought up to date with the inclusion of contemporary material and includes the work of local composers Robin Mark, Keith Getty and David Montgomery. The language used in some hymns has been altered to make it more modern - in most cases 'thee' and 'thou' have been seamlessly replaced with 'you' and 'your'. All-inclusive language has also been used to move from the male bias of hymns like "Rise up O men of God" to the more inclusive form "Rise up O church of God". The Church throughout Ireland has embraced the new hymnbook and twelve regional launches have been arranged in different Presbyteries before Christmas.
A large print edition of the hymnbook will be available in December 04 and a CD Rom version will be launched next summer. Music and words editions of the book are on sale from Wesley Owen, The Spires, Church House, Belfast at £25 and £7 respectively. A special publisher's discount is available on bulk orders placed before 31 March 2005 (tel: 01603 612914 email: orders@scm-canterburypress.co.uk).
Issued by Sarah Harding, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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