Isaac Watts once likened singing hymns to "breathing towards heaven," offering our praise to the God that gave us life with his own breath. In the Christian tradition, singing in church is a spiritual practice that carries with it many emotions and memories. In this uplifting collection, editor Anna Marlis Burgard has brought together 72 time-honored hymns from 1500 through the present era featuring the lyrics of famous writers in this genre, including Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby and Thomas Dorsy, as well as poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry van Dyke, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
In addition to the words of the hymns are the stories behind their creation. As Carl P. Daw, Jr. states in the Preface: "Like many maps that are carried in our heads rather than our pockets, hymns often guide us best when they are most internalized." As you page through this collection and come across "Now Thank We All Our God," "Blest Be the Tie That Binds," or "Every Time I Feel The Spirit," let your memories of the past unspool and savor the meanings and the feelings that swim to the surface in your consciousness. And then as an added treat, page through this collection again and savor the delightful illustrations by Richard Krepel that accompany many of the hymns.
