Singing has long been a part of worship for people of all faiths. The Christian faith, in particular, has long been associated with praise songs, or hymns, dedicated to God. A hymnal is a collection of hymns that have been collected over time.
A hymnal is, of course, a collection of hymns, but many of them also contain acts of worship and ritual. A hymnal may be published by a specific Christian denomination, but there are also “generic” hymnals that contain the most popular hymns throughout history.
The hymnal is most likely derived from the Catholic missal, which is a book of prayers and rituals. Churchgoers sang the Psalms in early Christianity, and Gregorian chant has its roots here as well. Gregorian chants were then set to music other parts of the Catholic liturgy, as well as other texts from the Christian Bible, as worship music began to branch out.
Churchgoers began reading their missals and singing along during worship once literacy became more widespread. As a result, composers began to write sacred music, some of which was intended to be sung by choirs. The hymnal was born when churchgoers wanted to learn these beautiful compositions for congregational worship. In the 1700s, hymns by famous hymn writers like Dr. Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley were compiled into hymnals.
Looking at the liturgy and ritual of a denominational hymnal can usually give you a good idea of the church’s practices and beliefs. Many hymnals include responsive readings, which are usually Bible texts that the clergy and congregation read in a call-and-response style. They might also include the denomination’s official wedding ceremony, baptismal rites, confirmation rituals, a worship order, and even suggestions for funeral and resurrection services.
In addition to the hymns themselves, a hymnal contains a wealth of information about them. Most hymnals list the composers of the hymn, as well as Scripture references and the tune name. Many hymns are sung to the same tune, or to more than one tune, so the tune name obviously refers to the tune itself. This is due to the fact that many hymns began as poems and were later set to popular tunes of the time to make them easier to sing.
A hymnal may also index hymns by tune name, allowing a person to look up an unfamiliar hymn name and see if the tune is familiar. The tune “Cwm Rhondda” is a good example of this. This Welsh hymn, also known as “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” is the country’s national anthem. The hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory” uses the tune as well. A person can find all hymns sung to a particular tune by looking up the tune name.
A meter index will be included in a good hymnal. If both hymns have the same meter, or rhythm, a musician can set an unfamiliar hymn to the tune of a familiar hymn. A composers’ index and a list of hymns by first line and title will be included in the hymnal.
A denomination’s hymnal is usually updated on a regular basis, with the goal of weeding out hymns that are never sung and keeping those that congregations enjoy singing. The hymnal committee should always make sure that the hymns chosen are appropriate for congregational singing. Hymns with overly complicated melody lines, as well as those with irregular meters and lyrics, should be avoided to make hymns easier to learn for the congregation.
The hymnal, according to most churchgoers, enhances their worship experience by allowing them to clearly see all of the words to their favorite hymns and fully participate in their church’s liturgy and worship.