iro·ny
Pronunciation: ˈī-rə-nē
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirōnia, from eirōn dissembler
1: a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning —called also Socratic irony 2 a: the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b: a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c: an ironic expression or utterance
The other definition: The New Baptist Hymnal
This month LifeWay Resources published the newest edition of the Southern Baptist Hymnal. It contains some 670+ songs, 300 hymns from the 1991 edition - plus 300 songs not published by the SBC before.100 of the songs have never been published in any Hymnal.
So, what's the big deal? There is no big deal, but think about the logic: How many churches that are singing songs written by Chris Tomlin (How Great is our God, Forever) and Darlene Zschech (Shout to the Lord, Potter's Hand) are using a hymnal? If you are singing and worshipping new songs - and you should be as it is a Biblical mandate, you are likely projecting them onto a screen. Your church probably doesn't even use a hymnal. I haven't used a hymnal in years until just recently. (and I still forget to reach for it because I expect it to be on the screen like the choruses are when we sing them)
I know there are thousands of churches out there that do not have screen projection systems. However, the highest majority of them probably won't be singing the new songs anyway.
I flipped through the new hymnal today and was pleased that the song era was more balanced. I flipped through the old hymnal (1991) last Sunday and was amused at how much the 1991 editors must have loved the time period of 1815-1875. It seems that 75% of the songs were in that era, 20% earlier than that era, and 5% after 1875.
Prediction: The sales of the new Hymnal will be significantly smaller than the 1991 edition. That prediction is based on this years sales of Typewriters, VCRs, 8 Track players, and the number of new Drive-in Theaters that were built in 2007.
- Brad
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