Introduction

The Standing Committee for the Publication of the Book of Praise of the Canadian Reformed Churches is very pleased to present, here, a summary of its report to General Synod Burlington, 2010. The churches will soon receive the full report.

This summary includes the final draft of the proposed revised text of the psalms of the Anglo-Genevan Psalter and the proposed revised hymn section of the Book of Praise. The revised psalter and hymn section can be found in PDF files on the left side of this page.

The Psalms

General Synod Smithers, 2007, had given the Committee the mandate to revise the psalter. The Synod directed the Committee to publish the psalms on a web site, as they became available, so that the churches could be well involved in all stages of this process and provide input to the Committee.

As mandated by Synod, the Committee entered into an arrangement with Dr. William Helder to revise all 150 psalms. Dr. Helder had begun the work of revision some years ago. The first psalms were posted in September, 2007; the final ones were posted in January, 2009.

When one compares the present (1984) version of the psalter with the proposed revision, it becomes evident that the revision can be divided into thirds: One-third of the psalms are unchanged or only slightly changed; one-third have been corrected or improved to a greater extent; one-third have been reworked. The aim was always to bring the psalms we sing into closer harmony with the actual text of the biblical Book of Psalms and to present them in the most stylistically beautiful and pleasing form possible. At the end of the project we can say: These are "our" psalms, the ones we have been singing for many decades-the psalms adopted by past General Synods, now in revised form.

In the process of revising the psalms, very careful attention was paid not only to the most-commonly used Bible translation in the Canadian Reformed Churches, the NIV, but also to many old and contemporary translations of the psalms in English and other languages. As well, many existing English, French, Dutch, etc., psalters were consulted. Since three brothers on the Committee are able to read Hebrew, the text of the proposed revisions was carefully compared with the original text.

There were some global editorial changes made to the whole psalter:

1. Initial capitals are used for proper nouns, pronouns referring to God, and designations for God where appropriate (e.g., Psalm 28:1, "O LORD my Rock, please hear my crying").
2. Initial capitals are used for words at the beginning of sentences, and not at the beginning of each line of text when such a line is a phrase rather than a complete sentence. The rationale for this is to enhance awareness of the complete thought conveyed in the sentence.
3. As a header, the psalms are indicated using the numbering found in the Book of Psalms, as we presently have it in the Book of Praise. Additionally the superscripts as indicated in the NIV, e.g., "A psalm of David," were added under the psalm number.
4. Synod Chatham, 2004, instructed the Committee to prepared an "overleaf" version of the psalter. To readily distinguish between a first stanza and an overleaf stanza, visual cues were provided. The psalm header for a first stanza is centered. For overleaf notation stanzas and text-only pages, the headers are aligned to the left or right as applicable. This is indicated by the use of a different font. (This will be evident in the print version.)

Every revised psalm was subjected to two rounds of review by the Committee. The first round took place upon receipt of the psalm. The second round was conducted after having received comments from the churches. Working closely with Dr. Helder, these reviews resulted in a significant number of further improvements.

We acknowledge our deep gratitude and praise to the LORD: He provided all that was needed for Dr. Helder, as well as the Committee, to complete the challenging and beautiful task of updating the entire psalter in a relatively short time. We also thank those churches who participated in the review process by serving us with many valuable comments and suggestions.

The 150 psalms of the revised Anglo-Genevan Psalter are hereby submitted to Synod. The Committee recommends that Synod adopt this revised psalter for use in the churches and that it be published in the next edition of the Book of Praise.

The Hymns

General Synod Smithers, 2007, also mandated the Committee to review the suitability of the hymns that we currently have in our Book of Praise for possible change, deletion, or improvement.

As well, Synod 2007 instructed the Committee to publish the 28 hymns of the "Augment to Hymnary" for testing in the churches, and, after having considered the feedback of the churches, to make a proposal regarding these hymns to General Synod Burlington, 2010. The Committee appointed an ad hoc committee to sift through the many comments received from 44 churches. We thank the churches for their interest and involvement in this process! The result of this is that the Committee recommends the inclusion of 14 of the 28 for a total of 80 hymns.

In the course of our work, we reminded ourselves that the song section of the Book of Praise consists of two distinct sections: The Anglo-Genevan Psalter and the hymn section. The nature of the psalter is quite different from that of the hymn section. This has implications for the process of revision. For example, in terms of the origin of the text, the text of all 150 psalms originates from the same source: the Hebrew text of the biblical Book of Psalms. The revised text of the psalms must represent a faithful rendition of the original text of scripture. The proposed revised metrical text, prepared by Dr. William Helder set to the authentic Genevan melodies, lends a quality of uniformity and consistency to the Anglo-Genevan Psalter section of our Book of Praise. The collection of the 150 psalms clearly forms a unit in the Scriptures, and the churches do well to reflect this in the consistency within the psalter section of the Book of Praise.
           
In contrast, the hymn section, by its very nature, is much more diverse. The text of hymns written by poets is often based on text(s) found in the Scriptures, and then is set to music by various composers. Scriptural hymns constitute a thank offering of praise when we sing of the facts of redemption by God in Jesus Christ. As a collection of songs representing different styles and time periods, the very nature of our hymn section demonstrates the spatial and temporal catholicity of the church. Because of the diversity of the songs due to the variation in sources and time periods, the hymn section of the Book of Praise will always be somewhat diverse in character. As much as possible, one tries to respect the style of the author and the integrity of the song. The Committee kept this in mind when fulfilling this part of its mandate. We considered, for example, to what extent one can freely change a classic text. We concluded that if a particular "classical" hymn is in the public domain, changes may be made, yet one ought to be reticent about doing so. We ought to avoid having our own "Canadian Reformed" version of the classic English hymns. As an example, we cite "O God our Help in Ages Past," a classic hymn still used frequently during public Remembrance Day services. Sometimes the older words are so deeply imbedded in a very well-known classic hymn that altering the hymn would ruin it.
           
If the hymn is subject to copyright, no changes may be made, at least not without the written permission of the copyright holder. For example, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" is subject to copyright and may not be changed to "Great is Your Faithfulness."

In fulfilling the mandate given it by General Synod Smithers, 2007, the Committee embarked on the review of the current 65 hymns, keeping in mind the general rationale applied to the revision of the psalms: Hymns that closely follow Scripture passages were reviewed for accuracy against the original text of the passage, and its rendition in the NIV and other translations. This includes, for example, "The Song of Mary" and "The Song of Zechariah." Hymns that reflect a general connection to a particular Scripture passage were reviewed for accuracy and clarity of language. Throughout this process, the Committee worked closely with Dr. Helder who, in many instances, proposed recommendations for an improved text. The Committee gratefully acknowledges his contribution to this review.

In order to maintain consistency through the Book of Praise, the following global editorial changes apply to the collection of 80 hymns:

1. Initial capitals are used for proper nouns, pronouns referring to God, and designations for God when appropriate.
2. Initial capitals are used for words at the beginning of sentences, and not at the beginning of each line of text when such a line is a phrase rather than a complete sentence. The rationale for this is to enhance awareness of the complete thought conveyed in the sentence.
3. All the hymns will be numbered sequentially; this means that Hymn 1A will become Hymn 1 and Hymn 1B will become Hymn 2.
4. A title will be added to each hymn. In most cases, this title will be taken from (part of) the first line of the text.  If the hymn is well known by another title, it will be used instead, e.g., "The Song of Mary."
5. The musical notation of the hymns will continue to consist of a single melody line to lend consistency throughout the Book of Praise.
6. The 14 new hymns (taken from the Augment) will be inserted in the appropriate spots in the collection.

The Committee is, thus, pleased to present to General Synod Burlington, 2010, and to the Canadian Reformed Churches, 80 hymns which tell of the redemptive work performed by our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. The Committee recommends that Synod adopt this revised hymn section for use in the churches and that it be published in the next edition of the Book of Praise.

Copyright

Songs published here are copyrighted, either by William Helder, the Committee, or, in the case of four hymns, Hope Publishing. One hymn is copyrighted by George van Popta. Some of the hymns are in the public domain. The 150 psalms, and those hymns copyrighted either by the Committee, William Helder, or George van Popta, may be freely used for any non-commercial purpose. They may be used in worship services, concerts, weddings, funerals, schools, etc. They may be copied into bulletins, pew collections, power-point slides, etc., providing proper acknowledgments are made. We sincerely hope good use will be made of these songs in all of these contexts as well as around the dinner table and the campfire. The four hymns copyrighted by Hope are included here under the principle of fair use and in the context of a report. Permission to reprint these (in bulletins or programs, etc.) must be sought from Hope Publishing.

Conclusion

We are confident the congregations will find these songs to be fresh, vigorous, pleasing to heart, mind, voice and ear, and appropriate for worship. God's people have been singing "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs"(Col. 3:16) for millennia. Reformed churches throughout the world have been singing the psalms to the lovely Genevan melodies, in many different languages, since the Reformation. The psalms should be available in language that is fitting, current, direct, and free of archaisms. We think these revised psalms meet these criteria. Most Reformed churches have not eschewed biblical hymns. We present, here, a collection of hymns that spans the world and the centuries. May these psalms and hymns serve well the worship of the Canadian Reformed Churches. It may be that others, too, are interested in this work.

May God be praised by way of these songs. "Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what He has done" (Psalm 9:11).

-Committee