Bert Polman

After ten years of research and writing, the Psalter Hymnal Handbook is finally available. Though many people contributed to this large volume (900+pages!), Bert Polman did by far the lion's share of the research and writing. Professor of music at Redeemer College in Ancaster, Ontario, Polman worked on the handbook every summer and countless evenings and weekends for the past ten years. Here Bert provides some basic information about handbooks and about the new Psalter Hymnal Handbook.

—ERB

RW: Just what is a hymnal handbook?

Brink and Polman are coeditors of the forthcoming Psalter Hymnal Handbook.

Again in this issue of Reformed Worship, we offer a preview of the forthcoming Psalter Hymnal Handbook, a collection of essays on the history of music in the church as well as entries on every song and author and composer in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal. This ten-year-long project is now in production and is scheduled for release in Spring 1998.

We usually provide three hymns in "Songs for the Season" (formerly "Hymn of the Month"). But for this issue we've asked Bert Polman to introduce us to Graham Kendrick, the composer of "Shine, Jesus, Shine," a hymn that has become enormously popular since Kendrick wrote it less than ten years ago.

Who is Graham Kendrick, and what else has he written?

Nashville, TN: United Methodist Publishing House, 1992; 754 pp., $24.95.

This new book begins by affirming that although the Anglican, Evangelical United Brethren, and Methodist heritages all are evident in United Methodist worship, services find their unity through "the basic pattern of worship: Entrance, Proclamation & Response, Thanksgiving & Communion, and Sending Forth" (pp. 13-15).

Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993; 1107 pp., $30.00.

Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993; 427 pp., $22.99.

This volume is Lindajo McKim's handbook to The Presbyterian Hymnal [a.k.a., Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs] (1990). As editor of the hymnal, McKim had ready access to a variety of sources as she prepared this Companion. She presents mostly the historical background of the texts and music found in the hymnal, though she also offers brief exegeti-cal or interpretive comments on the texts and sometimes a descriptive phrase on the tune or harmonization.

Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1593; 940 pp., $39.95.

Carlton R. Young, primary author of this Companion also served as editor of The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and previously as editor of The Methodist Hymnal (1966) and coedited its handbook, Companion to the Hymnal (1970) with Fred Gealy and Austin Lovelace.

Instrumental Prelude (carol arrangements for organ and flute)

Processional: "Once in Royal Davids City" (English)
[PsH 346, PH 49, RL 201, TH 225, UMH 250, WC 161]

Welcome and Prayer

[Leader to improvise words of welcome to the congregation; then to lead in prayer:]

DECEMBER

Child So Lovely/ Nino Lindo

One of the most pervasive Christmas folk traditions is the singing of lullabies. The Austrian "Silent Night" the Polish "Infant Holy" and the North American 'Away in a Manger" are some common examples of Christmas carols that often function as lullabies in Christmas season tableaux, church school programs, and carol services.

I-to Loh, general editor. Manila; The Christian Conference of Asia and The Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, 1990. 280 hymns, 442 pp.

Sound the Bamboo is the trial edition of the new hymnal of The Christian Conference of Asia (formerly the East Asia Christian Conference). It is to be the successor to the 1963 EACC Hymnal, prepared by D.T. Niles, which was internationally respected, especially in Western ecumenical circles, but which has had little impact on the worship of local Asian congregations.