On Eagles' Wings

In case you were wondering why we didn't print the words for the second hymn today, the reason is because we didn't have permission to do so. If a hymn is copyrighted, we need permission to be able to print the words in the bulletin. Many of the hymns in our hymnal are in the public domain, which means that no one holds an active copyright on the work. Many of the hymns in our hymns in our hymnal do have a copyright, though, and we need permission to be able to reprint those. For most of them (especially works from NPH and CPH), the hymnal gives us permission to reprint if we have purchased enough hymnals to go around. We also have licenses that allow us to reprint works from a large variety of publishers. That usually covers us, but on occasion we come across a hymn or song that is not from one of those publishers. In those cases, in order to get reprint permission, we would have to contact the copyright holder and get permission directly. Sometimes the copyright is held by a publisher that no longer exists (but still holds the copyright) or even an individual composer. That makes it considerably more difficult to get permission.

We could probably have printed the words and no one would have ever known, but technically it would have broken the law. Copyright law is meant to protect individuals and the works that they have created. Many of those works that are copyrighted are written by contemporary composers and authors. We rely heavily on these people. They are the ones who are putting their talents to use to put the message of the gospel into poetic words and beautiful music that is very helpful for our worship. Respecting their work is the least we can do to show our appreciation for their contribution to the church.

Now, there are certain advantages to singing hymns directly from the hymnal. For starters, even for those who do not read music, the musical notation in the hymnal helps the singer to sing. It gives cues and hints on the melody. I would contend that a congregation that sings from a hymnal will sing better than one that sings from just words. But singing from a hymnal also helps people become more familiar with the music that we use in worship. It will always look the same every time you open up to that page. You might find yourself knowing the hymn numbers of your favorites, or even being able to picture in your mind's eye the way a familiar hymn looks on the hymnal page. When that happens, the hymnal becomes a tool that you can really use, in and out of public worship. I'll write more some other time about the benefits of having and using a hymnal at home.