"Sanctifying Time" (The 1940 Hymnal, Part 2)

Part 2 of Fr. McGrath's study of the 1940 Hymnal has now been published in the March/April 2006 edition of The Mandate, and is available online here.

I commend it for your reading; there were a number of things I hadn't known! He notes, for example, the additions made in 1976 which I hadn't known about. Almost all our Hymnals are older than that.

He mentions, by the way, the "Parish Prayer Book and Hymnal Club." I don't think I've mentioned it before, but this program was established at St. Bartholomew's a few months back. Parishioners are encouraged to contribute to the purchase of new Hymnals and Prayer Books for the pews, to replace the really old and worn books we use at present, bearing stamps from Episcopal churches long ago. Already a number have been purchased and dedicated.

It will be nice to have new up-to-date Hymnals. Fr. Daniel has been getting us out of the rut of "the same old hymns" we'd fallen into over the years. Last Sunday we sang a couple I do not think I've ever encountered before.

And for some of us it will be nice to have the new Prayer Books with their larger print -- except that they only tend to be used for Morning and Evening Prayer; pretty much everyone knows Holy Communion by heart.