Today, the Church announced plans to revise the current hymnbook and children’s songbook. Members are encouraged to give feedback about the current music and submit new original hymns, children’s songs, and lyrics to be considered for the revised books.
The notice sent to stake and ward leaders reads as follows:
Sacred music has been important to Latter-day Saints from the earliest days of the Restoration. Hymns and children’s songs teach gospel doctrine and can unify Church members.
Under the direction of the First Presidency, committees have been assembled to recommend revisions to the current hymnbook and children’s songbook. When the revisions are complete, there will be one hymnbook and one children’s songbook, offering the same hymns and songs in all languages. The new collections will be created over the next several years to reflect the needs of members around the world.
Members will be encouraged through various communication channels to visit newmusic.lds.org to learn about this effort. There they can give feedback about the current music and can submit new original hymns, children’s songs, and lyrics to be considered for inclusion in the revised collections.
100% disagree with taking the National Anthem out of the hymn book. I look forward to standing and singing in Sacrament and am heart broken at this news.
But this is a world-wide church, and the hymns will be the same in all countries. Do Latter-Day Saints in France, Brazil, and Japan need the U.S. National Anthem in their hymnals?
Perhaps we should not consider only one hymn book for all countries. There are many “localized” hymns in the current hymnbook that relate to Church history and heritage in a particular country. Eliminating all of these hymns in order to be “politically correct” everywhere would be sad.
Do all lyrics have to be copyrighted to submit them?
I would like to have more sacrament hymns that mention the Garden of Gethsemane. Most just mention that Jesus Christ died for us.