Recommended Resource: Trinity Hymnal

We use the Trinity Hymnal every week in our worship, but it is also an excellent resource for family worship and personal use.

Obviously, the bulk of the hymnal is the 742 hymns that it contains. The hymns are arranged by topics, such as God, Jesus Christ, the church, etc. Seasonal hymns like those for Christmas and Easter are grouped together.

The back of the hymnal contains a detailed topical index. Additionally, the hymns are indexed by title and first line. So, if you can’t remember the title but you can remember the first line, then you can look it up in the index.

At the bottom of each hymn is a few of lines of information about the hymn. For instance, hymn #57 looks like this:

Psalm 146                                                  RIPLEY 8.7.8.7.D.
The Psalter, 1912                                        Gregorian chant
Mod.                                                       Arr. By Lowell Mason, 1839

The lower left-hand corner explains the origin of the words of the hymn. The words from #57 are actually from Psalm 146. The particular arrangement was published in The Psalter in 1912, but it has been modified (Mod.).

The lower right-hand corner explains the origin of the tune of the hymn. The tune for #57 is RIPLEY (all caps). This was originally a Gregorian chant, which has been arranged by Lowell Mason in 1839. The meter is 8.7.8.7.D., which means that it has eight beats, seven beats, eight beats, seven beats.

All of this information is indexed. You can look up a hymn by Scripture reference, author, tune, composer, or meter. I particularly love to use the tune index. When I discover a tune that I like, then I also check the index to see if any other hymns use the same tune. For instance the tune for #57 (RIPLEY) is also used for #80.

The Trinity Hymnal also contains responsive arrangements of most of the Psalms, as well as the text of The Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Westminster Confession of Faith, and The Westminster Shorter Catechism.

I highly recommend that each family own at least one Trinity Hymnal and sing from it regularly.

For the King,
Pastor Eric