The Hymns of Grace hymnal is a welcomed addition to our worship experience, whether it be for personal use or the corporate setting in church. The trend in many churches now is to replace the pew hymnals with convenient high-tech screens, using the most recent software to digitally flash the words right before our worshiping eyes.
The abandonment of the traditional hymnal in the modern church is lamentable for a number reasons. In many cases, we’ve traded rich, God-exalting worship music for the cheap substitute of shallow, feel-good, man-centered entertainment. Instead of singing deep theological truths that instruct us and bring honor to God, we’ve often settled for the overly repetitive my-struggle, my-problem, my-issue pop-music medicine in our human attempts to dull our pain or tickle our emotions.
Hymns of Grace is a return to the hymnody of old, resurrecting the songs our grandparents sang. But it is more than just a trip down memory lane. These are God-honoring worship songs that move our hearts into presence of our Creator and Redeemer. There are over 350 carefully chosen hymns, from Martin Luther to Isaac Watts and others. And this hymnal is not stuck in the past either, as it also includes songs from today’s hymn-writers, Keith and Kristin Getty, Stuart Townend and Bob Kauflin.
This is a sturdy and beautiful hymnal. Its cover is flat black and slightly textured with a frame impression around the edges on the front. The font of the lyrics and the size of the notes are slightly larger than a typical hymnal, contrasting perfectly against the bright white heavier-gauge paper, making the pages not only practical, but visually appealing at the same time. If only Christian book publishers would value quality and make all their books this way!
Pastor and teacher John MacArthur, who is on the musical selection input team for the hymnal, writes in the first pages, “Spirit-filled Christians sing. In fact, nothing is more indicative of a fulfilled spiritual life, a forgiven and contented soul, and a joyful heart than the expression of song. Scripture declares the first consequence of the Spirit-filled life is a heart that sings (Eph. 5:19)”. He continues, “Believers have sung their way through history, and in the process have accumulated a body of hymns that express divine truth. This volume is the latest collection of hymns the church has come to love”.
In my personal library, I own thirteen hymnals from various churches, from Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and non-denominational. I use them all often in my personal devotion time, but the Hymns of Grace hymnal is my favorite by far. The most benefit me is to bring up their YouTube channel and turn to the same song in the hymnal and follow along!
The Hymns of Grace hymnal was published in 2015 by The Master’s Seminary Press in Los Angeles California. The pew edition is available for purchase at https://hymnsofgrace.org/ for $20.
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Establish my footsteps in Your Word ~ Psalm 119:133 