To the tune of . . .

I am a big hymn nerd. I can't say for sure what it is about hymns that has so captured my imagination, but somehow I have collected a good assortment of hymnals. I've much more to say about hymns, but this is just to highlight some of the hymnals in my collection of some 60 different hymnals, songbooks, and psalters.
And by the way, lest you think that I'm a total poindexter, I'm listening to the indie band Blondfire while writing this post.

Most meaningful hymnal: the red "Hymns of Faith and Life" hymnal with "Houghton College Chapel" stamped on the front.
This was a Christmas gift from Christine our first Christmas together. She asked permission from then Dean of the Chapel, Coach Lewis, and it is a good Wesleyan hymnal with some excellent liturgical resources in the back. But it's the fact that it was hallowed by its use in the John and Charles Wesley Chapel (and that it was a gift from my wife) that makes me love it so much.

Most unintentionally amusing: Metrical Tune Book with Hymns
A collection of hymns from the holiness movement, this volume features a number of hymns by the Free Methodist firebrand V.A. Dake and his associates. "Hew the Agag," for instance, expresses an admirable sentiment but in language so purple and over the top that I could never sing it with a straight face. "Rotten to the very core, Covered with sin's unbound sore, Seed of sin, and daubed with hellish, lustful slime." It's almost enough to drive you into the arms of Hillsong.

Oldest: The Songs of Zion or the Christian's New Hymn Book for the Use of Methodists
Published in 1822, almost thirty years before Furnace Brook Wesleyan was founded, it follows the practice of most Methodist hymnals by inserting "O For a Thousand Tongues" as the first in the collection. As with most older hymnals there is no music included; all of the hymns are text only with a notation about the meter.

Most personally influential: Olney Hymns
This is a reprint of the original hymnal compiled by John Newton and his friend William Cowper for the use of his rural parish. First of all, the preface is beautiful and instructive. Newton had a fine grasp on the role of the hymn writer and he took himself lightly.
 But the hymns themselves are the real treasure here. There is a disarming frankness to them, as when Cowper admits in "Decide this Doubt" that, while others seem to find comfort in the house of prayer, it leaves him cold.