From the Archives …

In June 1992, Rev. Will Saunders informed the Board of Trustees that in the coming winter the Unitarian Universalist Association would  publish the new hymnal, “Singing the Living Tradition,” which would contain about 400 hymns and 300 readings. The cost per book would be about $30, and he wanted the church to purchase 150 copies. He suggested that the Board might want to consider creating special nameplates and asking members of the congregation to purchase a book in their own name or in honor of someone else. He acknowledged that the “hymns we sing are a point of contention for some people and with the purchase of our new hymnbook, presumably we can address this problem.”

Within a couple of months, Rev. Saunders came back to the Board for more discussion about the hymnal. It appears that while the music choices were contentious, so were feelings about the new book. Sounding a bit frustrated, Rev. Saunders took another run at the issue, saying, “Let me be clear from the beginning: my interest is really quite simple, namely, that the congregation develop a process for making an intelligent decision regarding the materials we sing on Sunday morning. We could do nothing; we could buy the new hymnbook; we could prepare our own. What I want is what the congregation wants. I believe that it is the Board’s responsibility to determine what the congregation wants.”

Rev. Saunders also stated that there is a “great deal of passion and interest” in what the congregation sings and the publication of the new hymnbook brought the issue to a head. He suggests, as alternatives, that the church could get a copy of the book and explore its contents through choir and congregational singing, or they could assemble their own “loose-leaf hymnbook” – as long as all the necessary permissions were obtained. He told the Board that someone in the congregation wished to anonymously donate a new hymnbook for every other one purchased, up to 75 hymnals. That contribution came out to around $1875.00. Maybe that offer helped tip the scale toward the church’s purchase of “Singing the Living Tradition.”