The Celebration Hymnal: Songs and Hymns for Worship

Rating:
Summary: Please be sure you are getting what you pay for
Review: I have tried to purchase the hymnal that is listed. However, I received the pew edition. The ISBN# listed is for the Worship Resource Edition. Retail on this edition is $49.95. Retail price of the pew edition is only $9.95. Please make sure that you are getting what you pay for. I have not found a single vendor to date who can verify that what they are listing is the Worship Resource Edition. If you are a vendor and have the Worship Resource Edition (it has it written on the front cover, comes in black and has many additional resources inside), please make a specific reference and I will be happy to purchase the correct hymnal.

Rating:
Summary: Still Impressive, But Seven Years Can Be a Long Time . . .
Review: THE CELEBRATION HYMNAL: SONGS AND HYMNS FOR WORSHIP is an outstanding example of the subgenre (perhaps one can now say dominant genre) of hymnal: the "private-market" hymnal not owned or distributed by any particular Protestant denomination or affiliation like, say, the United Methodists or Disciples of Christ. CELEBRATION is extraordinarily well-bound. It is durable. The pew version, as opposed to the choral/long-term format marketed above, is quite cheap by today's standards--I paid $9.95 for mine off-the-shelf in its seventh major release just two years ago.

The hymnal is also extraordinarily user-friendly, with "doodads" such as each hymn in the alphabetic index of hymns showing its key signature--therefore eliminating the need for one more cross-check. CELEBRATION is totally a hymnbook, not a service book, but its 818 entries include non-sung worship elements such as biblical responsive readings and other relevant texts. (Of course, this means that the book does not contain eight-hundred eighteen hymns, but I'd guesstimate it still has at least 600--quite bumptious even by today's standards.)

Further practicality and user-friendliness is evidenced by the hymnal's occasional ventures into conjoined hymns, by means of tasteful and subtle key-change modulations and other connective music. CELEBRATION's ancestorship to the beloved WORD hymnal of 1986 is apparent here--truly the small church's delight, as it gives the organist and choir access to a folio's worth of joyful and triumphant mini-festivals of sacred music without additional cost to the church budget.

The only reason I'm giving this sturdy songbook a mere four-star rating is relative to its competitive context, as it debuted early during the second Clinton Administration as opposed to the newer ones released during George W. Bush's incumbency: Christian Publications' VOICES IN WORSHIP (June, 2003), for example. Partly by choice or accident, and partly because such tunes weren't quite so much a part of the ambient white Protestant church culture seven years ago, CELEBRATION does not include hymns or songs such as "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," "In The Bleak Midwinter," "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," "I Wonder As I Wander," "Pentecostal Power," or "Help Us Accept Each Other." CELEBRATION does, though, include "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" and "O Canada," the former a personal favorite (;) and the latter a signifier that Word/Integrity is no stranger to the world of modern marketing.

THE CELEBRATION HYMNAL is still, and deserves to be, quite a force. But so are some of its more recent competitors. I'd also include among the flock of newcomers--quite sincerely--HERITAGE from GIA publishers in Bedford Park (suburban Chicago), Illinois. Though African-American themed in terms of liturgy, along with its healthy admixture of gospel tunes it is huge in content, a treasure-trove of Americana, admirable to all.

I like to keep abreast of this particular area. Any recommendations? [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Still Impressive, But Seven Years Can Be a Long Time . . .
Review: THE CELEBRATION HYMNAL: SONGS AND HYMNS FOR WORSHIP is an outstanding example of the subgenre (perhaps one can now say dominant genre) of hymnal: the "private-market" hymnal not owned or distributed by any particular Protestant denomination or affiliation like, say, the United Methodists or Disciples of Christ. CELEBRATION is extraordinarily well-bound. It is durable. The pew version, as opposed to the choral/long-term format marketed above, is quite cheap by today's standards--I paid $9.95 for mine off-the-shelf in its seventh major release just two years ago.

The hymnal is also extraordinarily user-friendly, with "doodads" such as each hymn in the alphabetic index of hymns showing its key signature--therefore eliminating the need for one more cross-check. CELEBRATION is totally a hymnbook, not a service book, but its 818 entries include non-sung worship elements such as biblical responsive readings and other relevant texts. (Of course, this means that the book does not contain eight-hundred eighteen hymns, but I'd guesstimate it still has at least 600--quite bumptious even by today's standards.)

Further practicality and user-friendliness is evidenced by the hymnal's occasional ventures into conjoined hymns, by means of tasteful and subtle key-change modulations and other connective music. CELEBRATION's ancestorship to the beloved WORD hymnal of 1986 is apparent here--truly the small church's delight, as it gives the organist and choir access to a folio's worth of joyful and triumphant mini-festivals of sacred music without additional cost to the church budget.

The only reason I'm giving this sturdy songbook a mere four-star rating is relative to its competitive context, as it debuted early during the second Clinton Administration as opposed to the newer ones released during George W. Bush's incumbency: Christian Publications' VOICES IN WORSHIP (June, 2003), for example. Partly by choice or accident, and partly because such tunes weren't quite so much a part of the ambient white Protestant church culture seven years ago, CELEBRATION does not include hymns or songs such as "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," "In The Bleak Midwinter," "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," "I Wonder As I Wander," "Pentecostal Power," or "Help Us Accept Each Other." CELEBRATION does, though, include "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" and "O Canada," the former a personal favorite (;) and the latter a signifier that Word/Integrity is no stranger to the world of modern marketing.

THE CELEBRATION HYMNAL is still, and deserves to be, quite a force. But so are some of its more recent competitors. I'd also include among the flock of newcomers--quite sincerely--HERITAGE from GIA publishers in Bedford Park (suburban Chicago), Illinois. Though African-American themed in terms of liturgy, along with its healthy admixture of gospel tunes it is huge in content, a treasure-trove of Americana, admirable to all.

I like to keep abreast of this particular area. Any recommendations? [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: I love this hymnal!
Review: The collection of songs range from very old, traditional, liturgical, spirituals, to contemporary, new praise songs. Medleys of old and new songs give great examples of blended worship. Scripture readings are included in worship sequences with appropriate songs. Indexes have songs listed by key and meter. songs are also grouped by theme. The Hymnal for Celebration and Praise is very similar, except all the scripture readings are in a section in the back. It also doesn't have some of the newer songs contained in the Celebration Hymnal. I also really like the additional transition line of music they have included inbetween songsthey have put in sequence. This hymnal is a joy to use.

Rating:
Summary: I love this hymnal!
Review: The collection of songs range from very old, traditional, liturgical, spirituals, to contemporary, new praise songs. Medleys of old and new songs give great examples of blended worship. Scripture readings are included in worship sequences with appropriate songs. Indexes have songs listed by key and meter. songs are also grouped by theme. The Hymnal for Celebration and Praise is very similar, except all the scripture readings are in a section in the back. It also doesn't have some of the newer songs contained in the Celebration Hymnal. I also really like the additional transition line of music they have included inbetween songsthey have put in sequence. This hymnal is a joy to use.

Rating:
Summary: Celebration Hymnal
Review: This Hymnal is a blessing that never stops blessing. There are sequences of choruses and hymns combined with calls to worship that are quite well selected for a variety of themes.

Rating:
Summary: Celebration Hymnal
Review: This Hymnal is a blessing that never stops blessing. There are sequences of choruses and hymns combined with calls to worship that are quite well selected for a variety of themes.