6-2-96	A New Beginning	Gen. 1:1-2:4a

2 Cor. 13:11-13

Matt. 28:16-20

Next week, starting on Tuesday for most of those going, is the meeting of the 1996 Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. On Friday the pastors will be appointed to the churches. I fully expect that at that time the Bishop Ott will appoint me to serve as pastor of this church for another year.

For many pastors, even those who, like me, are being reappointed, this will be like a new beginning. Indeed, for me, I will have completed one year here. In the last 12 months, we have discovered the joys of working with one another; and we have also discovered some of the challenges or growth areas of working with one another. As I look forward to another year, there are some things that I know I will do differently than I did last year. On the other hand, as I look back upon the past year I am thankful to God for some of the progress we have made, especially in the area of our music program. People have, as it were, come out of the woodwork, here, to sing solos and duets and play musical instruments. We have had a choir this past year that has sung some wonderful works of sacred music. And we have to give credit to the people of this church who, last Fall, were willing to take the bold and daring steps needed that included increasing the budget for music and hiring a music director to do the job. And I also give a lot of credit to Gini Robison who in coming here gave everything she had to the job at hand. And, then, I also give credit to those of you who responded by singing in the choir, playing instruments, singing solos and duets, and otherwise supporting our efforts, here.	The purchase of a complete set of United Methodist hymnals for this church would not have happened this year without this enthusiasm and without the involvement of so many in the music ministry of our church. When I first came here last year, I told you that there are three things that people look for first in choosing a church, in order of their importance. The first of these things is the music in the worship service. The second of these things is the quality of the children and youth program in the church. And the third thing is the preaching. Following that there are, of course, other things that people look for – the friendliness of the people, the appearance of the building, etc. But, whether you like it or not, no matter whether you think it is right or wrong, surveys have shown over and over again that the number one thing that people look for as they choose a church is quality in the music program. And I really believe that for a church of this size we are doing pretty good in this regard.

The United Methodist Hymnal, now in the pews of our sanctuary, were first published in 1989. In 1984 the General Conference of the United Methodist Church authorized a Hymnal Revision Committee to prepare a new hymn and worship book for congregational use that would be presented to the next General Conference, in 1988. In the four years that followed the 1984 General Conference, the Hymnal Revision Committee met and did their work. The committee was led by Bishop Rueben Job, bishop of the Iowa Annual Conference, and former editor of the Upper Room. Listening carefully to the church with sensitivity, they finally came forth with their report to the 1988 General Conference. And this is a copy of that report – an incredible piece of work. The report was accepted and a year later the hymnal was published.

Today this hymnal is considered by most American authorities in sacred music to be the finest hymnal available on the market. In fact, it is so good that many non-United Methodist churches are using it in their Sunday worship. It is so good that all but 6% of United Methodist Churches have the hymnal, today.

But, now I'd like to introduce you to some things about our hymnal that you might find interesting. First, I'd like to invite you to reach for a hymnal and turn in the front of the hymnal to Roman numeral 7 (that's vii). In 1761, these words from John Wesley – Directions for Singing – appeared in the first Methodist Hymnal.

Take a look at some of those instructions! I find the first one interesting where it says, "Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please." How appropriate these words are, even for our own day! For today, just as in Wesley's day, there are plenty of opportunities for people to learn secular songs. But we Christians need to learn God's songs so that we may worship God with music.

And I like Roman numeral V where it says, "Sing modestly, Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound."

But, now, turn to Arabic page 2 where you see the title, "The Basic Pattern of Worship." There you will see the suggested outline for United Methodist worship with four main headings: 1)Entrance, 2) Proclamation and Response, 3)Thanksgiving and Communion, and 4) Sending Forth. In 1972 the United Methodist Church began publishing a complete set of worship services with communion for the Christian year based upon this pattern of worship. You see an example of such an order of worship beginning on page three. And, in fact, the worship services that we do in this church, all the other worship services in the hymnal, all the worship services in the United Methodist Book of Worship are based upon that order. But it is an order of worship that, in addition to being biblically and theologically rich, allows for a great deal of flexibility and creativity.

But then turn to page six. There you will find a complete worship service with the Lord's Supper. On page twelve and following, you will find the text of just the Lord's Supper. Then on page fifteen and following, you will find the text of the Lord's supper with only the congregational responses for Holy Communion. And, then, on page 17 you will find the beginning of five musical sets that can be used during the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In fact, many churches use these for the Lord's Supper and, in fact, we will be using set E, beginning on page 24, for the Lord's Supper during the Memorial Service, next Thursday night at Annual Conference.	Then, finally, on page 26 there is the service of the Lord's Supper that appeared in the old Methodist and EUB hymnals.

But, then turn to page 33. Here begins the orders for the sacrament of baptism. You will notice that the same order can be used for baptism, for confirmation, for reaffirmation of faith, for the reception of new members into the church. And then on page 39 you'll find a more specific wording for the baptism of children and others unable to answer for themselves. And then on page 45 there is the more traditional text from the rituals of the former Methodist and EUB churches. But, then on page 50, there's something very interesting – an order for those who would like to reaffirm their baptisms. Suppose a person, a group of persons, or a whole congregation desires to renew the vows made at their baptism. Well, here is an order for that purpose, as well.

Now, turn to page 57. Every Methodist and United Methodist Hymnal that was ever published has started out with this hymn by Charles Wesley – O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing. What's neat about this hymnal is, if you'll turn to the next page (pg. 58) you'll find the complete text of a 17 stanza hymn whose title is "Glory to God, and Praise and Love." "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" actually begins in the seventh verse of this hymn. What's nice about this hymnal is that the complete text of several popular hymns is printed in this way, throughout the hymnal.

But, not only that. Some of you have noticed that several hymns in the hymnal are in Spanish. And the reason for that is to remind us that the United Methodist Church is not just an English speaking church. Rather, as Wesley proclaimed, "The world is our parish." So, in fact, there are several hymns in our hymnal that come to us from other countries and other cultures. And I have found many of them to be quite beautiful, meaningful, and maybe even fun to sing.

Now, there's something that I like about the organization of our hymnal. You will notice that in the upper left hand corner of page 58, for example, there are the words, "The Glory of the Triune God." This refers back to the hymnal's Table of Contents, on page Roman Numeral viii. You will notice that hymns from page 57 to 152 all pertain to the "glory of the triune God." The words "Praise and Thanksgiving," "God's Nature," "Providence", and "Creation," (each of them being subheadings) appear on the upper right hand pages of hymns in those sections. Each of the other major headings and sub-headings of this hymnal are arranged in the same way. Thus, when you are planning worship and looking for several hymns on a certain theme you are very likely to find them grouped together. And that really helps when you are planning for worship.

But, not only that, this hymnal has a complete set of indices in the back that are extremely helpful. Suppose, for instance, that I would like to have the congregation sing hymn #332. If you'll turn to #332 in the hymnal you'll see that the hymn is titled, "Spirit of Faith, Come Down." I doubt if you've ever sung that tune before. So, it might be difficult for you to sing. But, suppose I felt that the words were so good that I wanted you to sing the hymn, anyway. What could I do? Well, take a look. At the bottom of the page on the right side you see the letters "SMD," under the word "BEALOTH," which is the title of the tune. Now it just so happens that SMD is an abbreviation for "Short Meter Double." That means that the words of the hymn have been arranged so that the first two lines have six syllables, each, followed by a third line with eight syllables, and a fourth with six. This pattern is doubled for each stanza of the hymn. Now, knowing this, I can go to the back of the hymnal to the Metrical Index, on page 926 (and you can turn there too). And there, on the bottom left side of the page you will find the letters "SMD " with the titles of three hymn tunes printed there, including Bealoth on page 332. But, you don't know that tune! But, what about Diademata (the next tune listed there)? Do you know that one? That tune is used for four hymns in the hymnal – numbers 88, 327, 421, and 513. So, turn to number 327 – Of course, you know "Crown Him With Many Crowns"! So, turn back to page 332. We don't know that tune, remember? But, we can sing it to the tune of Diademata! [try it]. And this is why a complete set of indices is important to a good hymnal. And now we've got it.

As you look through the hymnal you have probably already noticed that there is a wonderful diversity of music – music for children, choirs, responses, rounds, music for praying. There are many modern pieces of music, several by the Gaithers. In addition to that there are acts of worship printed throughout the hymnal – litanies, canticles, prayers, creeds, and much, much more.

Then there is the Psalter, starting on page 735. These are the responsive psalms that we read in our worship service. You may have already noticed that there is music printed with these readings. The Psalms, after all, were the hymns of God's people. The Hebrew people, including Jesus, sang the Psalms! And, so this hymnal gives us that opportunity, as well. And, maybe in a week or two we'll actually see how that works.

But, finally, turn to page 863 and you find the section of the hymnal titled, "Other General Services and Acts of Worship. Here you'll find the Service of Christian Marriage that we'll be using here in a couple of weeks. It will be nice for the congregation to be able to follow along and even join in the responses of the services. The same is true for funerals we might do in this church. Turn to page 870 and there you'll find a general order for a funeral. Turn to page 880 and you'll find the affirmations of faith, beginning with the Nicene Creed. On page 894 are three versions of the Lord's Prayer. And then on page 897 begins a series of eight musical "Amens," usually sung by choirs.

So, what a hymnal it is! something you can be very proud of, something that will be useful for many years to come, a hymnal that is the envy of other denominations – Believe Me! – and a hymnal that combines the traditions of both the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in a way that no other hymnal can.

Now, included in your bulletin, today, was a list of Hymnal Givers, with the names of those honored and memorialized listed. I would like you to look at that list. When you open a hymnal to the front cover you will find a line from that sheet printed on a label. If there are any errors or misspellings, let me know in writing and we'll fix it. We've already fixed one. But take a look at that list.

We're thankful to you who bought hymnals. Gini and I are thankful to you for giving us this wonderful tool to use here. Both of us have spent at least seven years learning how to use this hymnal, specifically, for worship in the United Methodist Church. And we're going to be using it this week at Annual Conference. The bishop, the district superintendents, 400 pastors and 400 United Methodist delegates from local churches that all have this same hymnal will be singing from it and using it for worship. And now, because we are a part of this great connection known as the United Methodist Church we're going to be using it here, as well. Thank you for giving us this tool with which we may worship, and praise, and glorify our Lord.

Let us pray:

O God, we thank you for these new hymnals in our church. Bless those who gave them. Bless those of us who will use them. Guide and protect with your love those in whose honor many of these hymnals were given. Help us to cherish as we recall the lives of those in whose memory the rest of these hymnals were given. May the use of these hymnals heal us in times of conflict, offer us solace in times of sorrow, point us to the Body of Christ when we feel lonely, gird us with strength when we feel weak, and give us words of praise when we feel joy. As we sing the hymns, read the prayers, and join in the liturgies, help us to learn about you and live boldly as disciples of Jesus Christ. For we dedicate these hymnals in memory and in honor of those whose names have been listed therein, and most especially in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.