The United Church of Christ published The New Century Hymnal in 1995. The hymnal was the result of a long and very expensive process. Obtaining rights to print music can be very costly. The hymnal was groundbreaking in many aspects. It was, to my knowledge, the first major denominational hymnal to apply strict standards of inclusive language. Introduction of the hymnal into congregations was a mixed process. While some members welcomed many features of the hymnal including inclusive language hymns, more gospel hymns than were present in previous hymnals of the denomination, and new hymns that have become beloved, others decried the sometimes awkward changes in the words to familiar hymns, the musical range of specific hymn settings, and the lack of contemporary praise songs. Congregations making hymnal decisions often found themselves in the midst of controversy as they debated the purchase of the hymnal.

I received a new call to a congregation in 1995, leaving the congregation I had been serving in Boise, Idaho and beginning to serve a congregation in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Rapid City congregation was having discussions around the purchase of the New Century Hymnal when I arrived and those discussions continued for several years after I began to serve. The beloved Pilgrim Hymnals used by the congregation had been restored and rebound, but were showing signs of age and the congregation didn’t own quite enough to fill all of the hymnal slots in the pews. At one point in a discussion of hymnals, I observed that purchasing new hymns didn’t have to mean getting rid of the old hymnals. The idea struck home with the people and for the remainder of the time I served the congregation there were two sets of hymnals. We purchased rolling library carts to store whichever set of hymnals was not currently in use. This meant that we had to switch out the hymnals in the pews and that we could only use one hymnal in a single worship service. It was a bit awkward, but it worked for the years I served as pastor of the congregation.

One of the challenges of this arrangement was the decision of which Sunday of Advent to change the hymnals. The dilemma was simple. The red Pilgrim Hymnals didn’t have very many Advent carols in them and the black New Century Hymnals had a good assortment of traditional and new songs of Advent. the musical settings of the Magnificat were especially meaningful. However, the Christmas carols in the black hymnals were a challenge to sing because the words had been changed and people have memorized many Christmas carols, especially the first verses of carols. Our congregation preferred to sing Christmas carols from the red hymnals.

As worship leader and designer of services, I wanted to push the congregation to be slightly counter-cultural by observing Advent rather than going straight to Christmas, which is the prevailing mood in retail sales and popular culture. I also wanted to prolong Christmas to last beyond a day. In the traditions of the church Christmas lasts 12 days, but in popular culture Christmas is often set aside on December 26. As a result we usually did not change out the hymnals on the first Sunday of Advent and often we still had the black hymnals in place on the second Sunday. But by the third Sunday we almost always had changed to the red hymnals. Our congregation had a tradition of children leading worship on one of the Sundays of Advent and those services always included the singing of traditional Christmas carols. And by the third Sunday of Advent the congregation was so hungry for Christmas carols that it seemed unreasonable not to sing at least some of them. The third Sunday is Gaudet Sunday - the day of Joy - and we often sang “Joy to the World” as a closing hymn for that day.

Now that I am retired, I belong to a congregation that doesn’t change out the hymnals. However, our sanctuary has not only the New Century Hymnals, but also the United Methodist Hymnal as we share the sanctuary with a United Methodist congregation. Both congregations have access to both hymnals every Sunday which expands the options not only for Christmas carols but also for other hymns. Carols are not the only hymns whose traditional words were changed in the New Century Hymnal.

As a parishioner who no longer is involved in choosing hymns for music, I am left to sing with the congregation and my perspective on music has shifted a bit as a result. By yesterday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, I was feeling very hungry for Christmas carols and disappointed that there were none in the service. While this congregation does not have worship led by children, there was a Christmas pageant as part of the worship service for the third Sunday of advent a week ago. However, there were no Christmas carols sung during the pageant. The only children’s song that was sung was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” which was delightful in the pageant as there was a child dressed up in a gold star costume to lead the magi to the Christ child. Still, I longed for “Away in a Manger,” “Silent Night,” and other carols that are both traditional and easy for children to sing.

Another lay member of the congregation referred to process as a ban on Christmas carols, saying that in our church the only time we get to sing Christmas carols is on Christmas day. While I know that is an exaggeration as when we worked for the church we organized Christmas Carol singing during the fellowship hour following worship, I understand the feeling. The church tends to move on quickly after Christmas, placing a big emphasis on Epiphany. That leaves Christmas and the first Sunday after Christmas as the only Sundays to sing carols, which isn’t much of an opportunity. It seems unfair to allocate four Sundays for Advent carols and only one for Christmas carols.

Fortunately for me, we have been invited to provide pulpit supply for a post-Christmas vacation of a pastor at another congregation. We’ve planned worship for December 29 at that congregation and we’ll be singing a lot of Christmas carols. While I’m a bit sad that we won’t be singing many carols at our church, I’ve been singing carols at home for several weeks. There are a lot of carols that are worth singing more than once each year.