It has been said that the hymnal is the laity's theology textbook. Or, "The faith we sing is the faith we believe." If so, then let's do it intently, earnestly, carefully, and as beautifully as we can.

Ask for Help

If you are a pastor who is musically challenged, make friends with a musician –your organist or choir director, a high school band member in your congregation, an elementary music teacher in the community, a church musician in your district. Ask that person to help you.

Learn Your Way Around

First and foremost, read carefully the words of the hymns. All the hymns. Our hymnal is a treasure trove of theology, imagery, prayer, and praise. Know what is available to you.

There are hymns written by Peter Abelard, Ambrose of Milan, Bernard of Clairvaux, Daniel ben Judah, Eleanor Farjeon, Francis of Assisi, Amy Grant, Bishop William Boyd Grove, Gustav Holst, Libby Littlechief, Martin Luther, and three generations of the Wesleys. Our hymnal includes prayers by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dag Hammerskjöld, Pope John Paul II, Juliana of Norwich, Martin Luther King, Sir Thomas More, Alan Paton, and Teresa of Calcutta.

We have music by Bach, Beethoven, Edward Kennedy Ellington (that's Duke, to you), Persichetti. There are folk tunes from around the world (look in the Index of Composers, Authors, and Sources under "Traditional hymns and melodies and prayers") which can enrich World Communion Sunday worship.

Learn to Mix and Match

Did you know that every hymn has a name, and every hymn tune has a name? Sometimes they are the same, but most often not. If you don't know what all that stuff at the bottom of each page is about, fi nd out.

Learn about the metrical index. Check out those strange numbers and letters at the bottom of the page, then turn to the metrical index to fi nd other hymns that may be sung interchangeably to that pattern of syllables. For example, create a medley of Common Meter hymns (you'll fi nd "CM" noted at the bottom of their pages) by singing the fi rst stanza of "Amazing Grace," "O for a Thousand Tongues," and "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" to Azmon, the tune most associated with "O for a Thousand Tongues."

Think Thematically

If you are preaching on the healing of blind Bartimaeus, consider singing hymns written by blind authors or composers (Fanny Crosby, J. S. Bach in his last years). Preaching on Paul's imprisonment or the world's captivity to sin? Sing hymns written by men and women who have been imprisoned (John Newton, William Reid, Jr.). Put a note in the bulletin explaining the theme.

Information about the hymns, the tunes, and biographies of their authors and composers is found in the Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (ISBN 0-687-09260-4), an invaluable resource available from Cokesbury.

Think Outside the Box

Sing "Joy to the World" in July. The words will strike with fresh force. It is easier to hear the stunning theological claims it makes when you are not already overdosed on Christmas carols at the mall. This principle holds true for anything unexpected: singing one stanza of a well-known hymn a cappella, inviting the congregation to hum or "ooh" one stanza, or read a hymn responsively, phrase by phrase. Jolt the synapses out of their ordinary pathway to penetrate consciousness in a new way.

Sing one of the Hispanic hymns in Spanish on Pentecost (the refrain of "Mantos y Palmas" is fairly easy). Invite the local Spanish teacher to spend fi ve minutes before the beginning of the service rehearsing the congregation in Spanish diction. Or, to act out the cacophony of tongues in Jerusalem that frst Pentecost, divide the congregation into four groups and have them sing "Jesus Loves Me" in Cherokee, German, Japanese and Spanish. The phonetic spellings are printed right there with the hymn. The adults may struggle a bit, the children will love it, and if your pronunciation isn't perfect, who will ever know?

Make New Friends

When you want to teach a new hymn, ask the organist to play it as a prelude or offertory one Sunday, then have the choir sing it the next, then give the congregation a chance at it for the next two Sundays.

Keep in mind that the people in your church were not born knowing "Amazing Grace." Every old favorite was new once upon a time. How will you ever make a new friend if you refuse to say "hello" to a stranger?

Or as the psalmist insists, "Sing to the Lord a new song." And always, soli Deo gloria!

Lynn Hutton is director of music and education at Central UMC, Knoxville

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The Clergy Connection is a communication produced and written by the Clergy of Holston Conference for the purposes of deepening relationships, encouraging spiritual growth, increasing awareness of challenging opportunities, imparting useful information, stimulating theological exploration, providing a forum for honest expression and sharing the joys of creative ministries.

The Clergy Connection exists to call clergy into deeper covenant with God through Christ and to call clergy to live in covenant with each other.