Singing the Scriptures

There is nothing new about taking a phrase or verse of scripture, and adding music to turn it into a hymn. The idea of embedding scripture into our brains long predates terms like "ear worm" or "meme". 

But for me in the 1970s, the Scripture in Song phenomenon was fresh and new, and important. And I find that it was the same for most of the folk I talk to. Older Christians have fond memories of these hymns as the most accessible, memorable new hymns to enter their services, and for those a little younger than me, they are the songs they remember as the church music of their childhood. 

Most of the hymns in Songs of Praise are still under copyright, and so outside the scope of the project, but there are a few whose authors never laid claim to their melodies, or versification of scripture, and most of them have stood the test of time and are still very relevant for our worship today, and for those, I am constructing orchestral settings and publishing them in this collection.

I'm also including a few earlier examples of lesser known short-form hymns from previous times that are strongly linked to scripture verses.