Outside Looking In, Part 2

Outside Looking In: an Initial Evaluation of the 2025 Revision of The Sacred Harp

Continued from Outside Looking In, Part 1.

Issues.

Now let us consider some negative issues that I and other Sacred Harp singers have with the new book and its development.

The Revision Committee. In the fall of 2018, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company appointed a revision committee chairman, who in turn appointed the committee by April 2019. Individually, the revision committee consisted of nine Sacred Harp singers. Since this is not personal, I will not refer to their names except when absolutely necessary. Collectively, there are some questions about the committee. While they tout the diversity of their finished product, the committee itself was unusually “undiverse.” This would not be surprising thinking back to the original book company, which was created primarily by a family of singers in Alabama. However, it is surprising in 2025, with a Sacred Harp community that has spread across the globe. This “undiversity” includes: father-son, husband-wife, four close friends, and a majority also being board members. Additionally, the ratio of lifelong singers to singers from the “Sacred Harp diaspora” seems flipped backwards. Only four were lifelong singers, while five were not.[i]

In addition to the revision committee, a second committee (of five people) on book design was appointed in May 2019, chaired by a member of the revision committee.

Secrecy. The entire process was kept close within the committee and from the Sacred Harp community. However – based on Facebook comments made by various Sacred Harp singers – some of the workings of the committee were fairly well known to singers in certain circles (that is, singers who were not on the committee).[ii] The comments have been recent; at what point they were aware of the things they asserted is unknown. A certain amount of committee work being kept close is understandable, but the secrecy of this revision transcended that it seems, in a way that blurred the transparency of and muted the confidence in the process.[iii]

Two things in comparison and contrast to the last revision of 1991:

• The 1991 revision committee gave the public “ample opportunity to protest any tune being removed but no objections were recorded and we moved ahead with filling in the slots.” For the new revision, no notice was given of which songs might be removed, and no opportunity was given to object.
• The 1991 revision committee made the songs public before the new book was available: “As the publication date [of the 1991 book] drew near, Hugh began to formulate plans for an elaborate introduction of the new music to the singers.” These were published and presented to the public before the 1991 book became available. The new 2025 songs (other than by name) will not be introduced to the singers until the new book is introduced to singers.[iv]

Blind selection process. Part of the secrecy was what was called a “blind selection process.” This meant that composers submitted songs only to the chairman of the revision committee, and that he was the only one who knew the name of the composer. The other eight committee members would see a score and perhaps an identifying number – but they saw no composer names or song titles. This was to assure the composers, as well as the Sacred Harp community, that the songs chosen were chosen based on the merit of the song rather than the identity of the composer. The chair promised the songwriters and the community at least as late as May 2024, “The committee chair is presently the only person with access to records on who are composers of songs.” No doubt the chair believed this was generally true, while he must have known that other committee members knew the songs they themselves had submitted (and probably that a committee member would know if his wife submitted songs). Perhaps such an ideal was a “pipe dream” from the start. With the quantity of people attempting to compose shape note songs, and the wide network in which aspiring composers share their work, managing to keep such a process “blind” is a difficult challenge. Songs written by the committee members were obviously known to themselves. Songs published in other songbooks, The Trumpet, on Fasola Songwriters, and presented on online sources (such as SacredHarpTunes.com) were widely available, and known to those who operated in any of those networks. Additionally, there are composiums (a gathering to sing and critique new compositions) and at least one Facebook group dedicated to sharing and discussing newly-written tunes. There are people helping each other to write tunes.[v]

Additionally, committee members from the past had indicated that they could recognize the style of different composers. That is, some of them, not necessarily all. An astute committee might recognize a composer (But that is no doubt harder now, with the quantity of people attempting to compose shape note songs.)

I have identified about 60 of the 113 songs added to the 2025 revision that were published in ways that were known or could have been known. (There may be others.)* Of the added songs, at least seven were originally published in The Trumpet; online, nineteen are on SacredHarpTunes.com, a website of one of the committee members. Others were sung and critiqued at composiums, posted on Facebook, and such like. And there is the personal sharing that would only be known to the persons sharing. The older songs that were submitted were already published in old tune books. This is not proof that all of these songs were known to all committee members – but points out that they existed in ways that could have been known and recognized. 

Editing process. Perhaps one of the more shocking revelations to us outsiders is the heavy editing of the songs that were selected for the new edition. In an email to a composer, the president of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company said he understood that about 50% of the songs added to the new revision were edited (in other words, for the committee or by someone on the committee). There is a question of at what point such editing becomes unethical. In my opinion, when it is done without the composer’s knowledge and changes the song to the extent that it is actually a different song than the one submitted, it becomes unethical.[vi]

See my separate post, “An example of 2025 Sacred Harp committee revising,” that visually reveals how one submission was edited. Those edits were rejected by the composer, Linda Sides. Because of that, we have a revelation about how the editing process worked – a song reworked to such an extent, and without the composer’s knowledge, that it becomes a question of ethics. Some people may want to descend into other questions, “Is Linda’s tune better than the edited tune?” “Is the edited tune better than Linda’s tune?” However, that is a diversion from the matter at hand. The clear question (and clear answer) is “Is the edited tune still Linda’s tune?” “No, it is not.”

Somewhere along the way the song Intercession by Linda Sides was edited from a hymn tune/part song to become a fuging tune instead. (Click HERE to view and read Linda’s essay about her song.) Little about this makes sense! If the song was not liked, why send it forward at all? Just set it aside and look at the other 1154 songs! It was liked – and sent forward. If the editing was decided early, why would they not contact the composer with suggested changes? If the editing was not decided early, why in the world would they edit a song that had already made the final cut in the manner it was written? Several other credible reports have surfaced of published songs receiving the same or similar treatment.[vii]

Anomalies. Some songs used in the new revision were submitted for the 1991 revision. How odd to go back and pick up songs submitted for the 1991 revision when there were over 1150 songs submitted from 2018 to 2023.

In October 2023 the revision committee announced, “The deadline for submitting songs is November 1, 2023.” How odd, then, that “Songs Added to The Sacred Harp: 2025 Edition” contains two that are listed as written in 2025 and one listed as written in 2024.

Songs removed. Without transparency, it is hard to understand the standard used by the committee for removing songs. In July 2020, a letter signed by 90 people was forwarded to the revision committee, urging them to reject “the push for removing songs that [some singers] deem offensive in some way, but rather to follow the “proven method” of “removing songs that are seldom sung.” It seems that the committee generally followed this objective method, but at times launched out to remove songs in what might be called “stylistic targeting” – songs they did not like, and/or deemed not “Sacred Harp” enough. If that is the case, the subjectivity and insufficiency of such a method can be seen in latecomers 175 years after the fact removing a song arranged by the original author and compiler of The Sacred Harp! If his songs do not set the standard (or meet the standard) for what is “Sacred Harp,” then there is no standard! See my post tomorrow for more discussion of this subject.[viii]

List of 77 songs removed, Songs removed listed with overall rank in usage, and a recording of singing the removed songs.

Miscellany. Seventeen percent of the songs included in the 2025 edition were written by members of the revision committee, the adjunct committee (on book design and production), and the wife of a revision committee member. This is probably not notable in comparison to previous revisions. However, it seems to me to be notable regarding a revision with an extremely large number of songs submitted for consideration (1155), the lack of transparency concerning the “blind selection process,” and the presence of more songs by associates of committee members.

Concluding thoughts.

No doubt the 2025 Edition of The Sacred Harp will be an initial success. Multitudes of singers are looking forward to it with open-mouthed awe. Only the swiftly rolling tide of time will tell for sure what its legacy will be.

The result of the “blind selection process” doesn’t look so blind for an outsider looking in. I have an enquiring mind. I want to know. The revision committee owes the Sacred Harp community a transparent accounting of their work. The secrecy seemed too much. The community was invited “to share input on the revision,” but that was hard to do more than generically when the process was hidden behind closed doors. The editing standard seems hard to explain. Why did they remove songs that the Sacred Harp community liked? I have an enquiring mind. I want to know. There are many other questions rolling around in my head.[ix] Perhaps the committee will begin that process of transparency at the “Revising the Sacred Harp” symposium on Friday, September 12. I will hope.

* Note added: As of 9/24/2025, I have identified six more songs that were not obvious, because the names of these songs in the 2025 edition are different from names under which they were previously published. Seven more songs I found in other places bring the total to 73 tunes available to be known by the revision committee.[x] (Twenty-five are on SacredHarpTunes.com.) There still may be others yet unknown to this author (10/22/2025, discovering 413 is an arrangement of an old song and appears in several places on YouTube, brings the total to 74; 2/06/2026, discovering another on Sound Cloud brings the total to 75). These numbers also do not reflect songs not selected for inclusion in the book that were known to the committee members. There were some of those as well, but more are not easily discovered beyond the cases where people have mentioned they submitted a song that was not selected.

Endnotes:

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[i] The term “Sacred Harp diaspora” was popularized by ethnomusicologist Kiri Miller in her 2008 book Traveling Home. She used it to refer to the aspect of Sacred Harp singing in a dispersed, transnational community which attempts to fashion a tradition like that of the traditional Sacred Harp singings of the American South. I have also used the term “nontraditional singers” to refer to those singers who do not have any family, church, or community background through which they learned and interpret the traditions of Sacred Harp.
[ii] At least the people of whom I am thinking expounded on the book as if they were aware of things that seemed to be kept secret from others.
[iii] The revision committee owes the Sacred Harp community a transparent accounting of their work. Perhaps they will do so in the Symposium to be held Friday, September 12, 2025, beginning at 8:00 a.m.
[iv] https://originalsacredharp.com/2016/12/31/the-ins-and-outs-of-revision/
[v] I am not opposed to any of these helps for composers. In fact, I have been involved in helping, in creating the (now mostly useless) Fasola Songwriters listserve, and in working with Tom Malone and Will Fitzgerald to start The Trumpet. Nevertheless, we’re fooling ourselves if we do not recognize that the process might have been wearing dark glasses, but certainly was not blind. The internet is too big to keep a good (or bad) song down.
[vi] Some might argue that if the songwriter signed off on it after the fact, then it is not unethical. I would argue that “after the fact” does not right the wrong of the process itself. In a supreme case of irony, I remember one of the 2025 committee members complaining (circa 2014) that publishers of another book revised his song without permission, consultation, or notice.
[vii] And the president stated in a letter that at least 50% of the songs received some kind of editing.
[viii] I have humourously asserted that removing Soft Music and keeping The Bride’s Farewell is a significant example of the old commercial, “This is your brain on drugs.”
[ix] Why did they publicly ignore the death of book company president while being online promoting the rollout of the new book? That question is not about the book specifically, but it is some kind of problem.
[x] Not that they were equally accessible to all of the revision committee members.

Outside Looking In, Part 1

Outside Looking In: an Initial Evaluation of the 2025 Revision of The Sacred Harp[i] 

Foreground. A committee of nine people authorized by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, helped by others they drafted to assist them, has completed a new edition of The Sacred Harp. This new edition will be unveiled to the public the weekend of September 12-14, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Background. Six editions of The Sacred Harp have been produced by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company – 1936, 1960, 1966, 1971, 1991, 2025. What will now be called the 2025 Edition of The Sacred Harp is the latest revision of a songbook first published in 1936 by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, formed in 1933.[ii] That book itself was a revision of the 1911 Sacred Harp completed under the hand of a committee guided by Joseph S. James.[iii]

Disclaimer. There is a disadvantage trying to evaluate and review a thing that was born and bred in concealment from the singing community as a whole. However, in the past month the Sacred Harp Publishing Company has trickled out information about the new edition of the book – eventually revealing what songs are being added to the book (as well as their composers) and what songs have been removed from the book.[iv] All the information provides us a basis for evaluation, coupled with previous updates about the revision, as well as some information they did not expect to spill out.

Conclusion. I will state my conclusion up front. From evaluating what I have read about the new book (without the privilege of seeing it), plus some “insider” information and general deductions, the scales for me are tipped to a negative impression of the book. I cannot imagine anything I will see when I see the new book that can tip those scales back. To be thorough, I will look at both pros and cons, presenting the pros first.

Pros.

Concerning the pros of the new 2025 edition of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company song book, there are some things I like in theory and some things I like in fact.[v] This will become clearer as we proceed.

New songs. Adding new songs to The Sacred Harp is part of both its tradition and its lifeblood. Revising the book and adding new songs has been done occasionally since the first revision of The Sacred Harp of B. F. White in 1850.[vi] This has kept the old book renewed. The most recent revision committee chose to use 113 songs out of 1155 songs that were submitted for consideration. (They apparently shot to use about 10%). In order to make room for these 113 songs, the committee removed 77 songs, and redesigned/rearranged the pages, typesetting, etc.

A listing of the new songs, titles, and composers.

If I counted correctly there are 81 different new compositions written by 49 living composers. (At least two of the tunes are collaborations by two authors.) To listen to one of the new songs, click HERE.[vii] In addition to the 81 new compositions, there are 32 compositions by deceased composers, making the total of 113 songs.

Printing. The new book features a brand-new music font (called “Collins”) created by designer Jeff Kellem for The Sacred Harp Publishing Company, especially for the 2025 Edition of The Sacred Harp. I think the new font will look nicer than the old one.

Efficiency. For example, the new 2025 book has 36 more songs than the previous edition, but without adding any more pages to the book. (I think they mean without increasing the amount of pages that have songs on them.) The new arrangement and typesetting reduces the number of “page-turners” (1-1/2 or two-page songs for which you have to turn to the next page, rather than it just being across the page).

Price. Amazingly, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company is able to initially sell this new 2025 edition for $20. This is cheaper than the price for which they were selling the 1991 revision. They are even offering to make loaner books available for $10. Considering rising costs in general, it is surprising that they will be able to do this, and certainly fortuitous for those buying the books.

Representation. The opportunity to submit songs for consideration was opened up to Sacred Harp singers worldwide, resulting for the first time ever having living composers living outside the United States submitting songs for possible inclusion. (There are some old songs written by composers outside North America, but they did not directly submit their songs to The Sacred Harp.)

Alto credits. For quite a few years it has been known that a number of the alto parts were copies or slight revisions of the original alto parts printed in the 1902 W. M. Cooper revision of The Sacred Harp, The Christian Harmony, etc. These will be credited to the proper composers of the alto in the 2025 revision.

Scripture citations. A subcommittee of named and unnamed individuals worked to update and correct the Scripture references that are printed under the song titles. Scripture is quoted from the King James Bible.

(To be continued.)

Endnotes:

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[i] For full disclosure, I am shut outside of the revision process, but I do own two shares of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company stock. So I feel I have some personal responsibility in reference to what happened with the process.
[ii] The Sacred Harp Publishing Company was formed in 1933 under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson “Uncle Tom” Denson. Their first book – The Original Sacred Harp, Denson Revision – was published in 1936.
[iii] History of Revision. The “James-Denson-McGraw” stream of Sacred Harp books began as a revision in 1911 led by J. S. James. A committee revised the 1870 Sacred Harp – by adding back most songs that had been removed in 1870, as well as adding new songs. T. J. Denson purchased the rights to the James Book, and the Sacred Harp Publishing Company was formed in 1933. The company produced a new revision in 1936, which depression-era production greatly decreased the size of the book. Revisions in 1960, 1966, and 1971 increased the size of the book, while both adding new songs and removing some little-used songs. A major revision was produced in 1991, including a thorough reprinting. In 2018, the publishing company voted to produce a new revision, elected a chairman, and the chairman selected a revision committee. The process was interrupted by the COVID scare, with the new book now scheduled to debut September 12, 2025. It is this book that is under consideration.
[iv] https://sacredharp.com/2025/08/06/page-use-removed-song-stats/ | https://sacredharp.com/2025/07/30/newly-added-song-stats/ | https://sacredharp.com/2025/08/13/verse-key-and-part-changes-in-the-sacred-harp-2025-edition/
[v] For example, I can like the fact of adding new facts, without liking some of the specific new songs. Or, I can like the fact of wider representation, while wondering if some of that was contrived in the process.
[vi] The Sacred Harp song book exists in three lineal descendants – The Sacred Harp revisions of W. M. Cooper (1902), The Sacred Harp revisions of J. L. White (1909/1911), and The Sacred Harp revisions of J. S. James & the Denson brothers (1911/1936). The 2025 Edition of The Sacred Harp is in the James-Denson stream.
[vii] This is also an example of a submitted tune being a known entity. It was sung at a new-compositions singing, and at an all-day Singing (2009). It was also printed in The New Millennium Harp (2001) and appears on a committee member’s website.

An example of 2025 Sacred Harp committee revising

An example of SHPC Revision Committee editing – the song Linda Sides sent to them, followed by the song they sent back to her and expected her to sign off on. To be able to see and compare should be self-explanatory regarding the kind of editing done by the revision committee, and done without the permission of the composer. You should be able to select the pictures to enlarge them for easier viewing.

Intercession original by Linda Sides, page 1

Intercession original by Linda Sides, page 2

Intercession edited by committee

Click HERE to view and read Linda’s essay about her song, as well as discussion of another part of the revision process. Click here to view and read my essays: “Outside Looking In: an Initial Evaluation of the 2025 Revision of The Sacred Harp (Part 1)” and “Outside Looking In: an Initial Evaluation of the 2025 Revision of The Sacred Harp (Part 2).”

I have thought about this and tried to make some sense of how and why this strange case of editing might have happened.

• Linda submits her songs in 2019, including one titled Intercession.
• Intercession was selected for inclusion in the 2025 Sacred Harp. 

Now for that song to make it as a finalist, we must assume it was well liked. It was originally sung at a trial singing in the manner she wrote it (i.e., without editing), because Linda mentions hearing it. Somewhere along the way the song is edited from a hymn tune/part song to become a fuging tune instead. It seems to me then, that:

(1) Someone had to edit it fairly early in the process (but after she heard it sung) and then sent her song through in an edited fashion to enter the final round (without the composer’s permission);

Or,

(2) Someone edited it (again, without the composer’s permission) after she was informed in May 2024 that the song was a finalist.

Neither of these scenarios makes any sense at all! If the song was not liked, why send it forward at all? Just set it aside and look at some of the other 1154 songs! If the editing was decided early, why would they not contact the composer with suggested changes?! If the editing was not decided early, why in the world would they edit a song that had already made the final cut in the manner it was written?! And to add insult to injury, they sent a song that was not hers to the composer with only a week to decide whether she was willing to sign off on it! Something seems rotten in Atlanta.

Acts Commentary series

The Acts Commentary series is on hold for today, and will return next Thursday, Lord willing.

Singing Convention Reflections

“Sacred Harp” is part of my life story. In the beginning, only peripherally, in the sense of it being my family’s life story into which I was unwillingly and unknowingly brought. As a kid, I remember liking certain types of songs, even preferring certain styles in our church book over others – or perhaps intuitively knowing that the old hymns had a depth of soul not as obvious in many of the newer songs. The Sacred Harp book contained Christian words, the singers were Christians, and the singings were Christian gatherings of praise and worship.[i] That is the three-legged foundation of my Sacred Harp experience. As the news of and participation in the Sacred Harp Conventions began to spread over the last 50 or so years, the same cannot be said to continue. Things have changed. While singings in some places remain distinctly Christian, singings in other places are distinctly non-Christian (except for using a songbook with Christians words!)

How did we get from there to here? Beginning around the 1970s, the knowledge of the art and style of Sacred Harp singing began to take hold. People outside the traditional singing areas began to take notice and take interest. As an evangelist for Sacred Harp, Hugh McGraw traveled the country making converts. He taught the basics of the tradition – how to sing, how to hold conventions, and such like. However, you can teach people the mechanics of a tradition, but cannot just teach people into the Christian spirituality of the tradition.[ii]

Over the years many people were converted to the music and its traditions, but not converted to the hymns and their teachings. As things progressed, these newly converted singers began to host their own singings and conventions. The song book would spread north, east, and west – eventually crossing the ocean to regions beyond. Sacred Harp singers rejoiced that the old way of singing they held dear – and some thought was dying – was now flourishing around the world. But, weren’t we missing one part of the old way of singing? Converts came to the singing element, but not the biblical element. How did they sing the Lord’s song “in a strange land,” so to speak? How do the lost sing “I never shall forget the day, when Jesus washed my sins away” when they do not know, or even believe in, that day? How do they sing “Salvation! O the joyful sound” when they have never experienced the joy, the “pleasure,” and “sovereign balm” of it?

Disregarding this disconnect, Sacred Harp leaders begin to put unbelievers (however nice persons and good singers they might be) into places of leadership. They taught at camps, sat on boards and committees, and were otherwise elevated to places of leadership with (and sometimes above) their Christian counterparts. 

What caused all this, or brought it into ascendancy? In the 60s and 70s many older, traditional singers believed that this singing, the Sacred Harp, was a dying art. Sad to see it go, they were susceptible to welcoming in newcomers without the proper vetting, or teaching them to respect the tradition completely as they should. (Of course, people could even conform to all the outward traditions without any inward change.) One of our problems was the siren song of vanity. We were flattered and enamored that outsiders were so interested in the Sacred Harp music. We were used to expecting disdain from these classes of people—about something that’s been so close to our hearts, so important to us, but somewhat on the periphery of even our own society. It was looked on as old fogey, odd. Even children and grandchildren of singers might ask, “Why do they keep singing that old stuff?”

The work of Hugh McGraw brought outsiders in, making pilgrimages to the South—and they found their Mecca of Sacred Harp. However, most of them did not convert to the teachings of the book of their Mecca. Pilgrims were polite and respectful, and even sought (some of) the old paths. Eventually the scales tipped, and lack of respect and disdain began to be shown by some. They were neither rebuked nor clearly told that they were not properly following the decorum of Sacred Harp singing (by that I mean not even outwardly by that time). I remember meeting a preacher near Henegar, the pastor of a church where they used to hold a singing. He was frustrated by the disrespect or dress (or both) of singers who came to their church house. He said something about it. Some of the local singers got offended at him rather than taking the side of Sacred Harp and Christian decorum. It is probable that the pastor could have handled the situation in a better way than he did, but, at least in theory, the Christian singers among the singing class should have generally been in agreement more with what he thought was the proper way to behave oneself in the house of God than agreeing with how the outsiders practiced.[iii]

So, moving on, we, as those possibly practicing “a dying art,” were flattered by those who came. Pride got in the way of moving forward in the same fashion we always had, and of requiring the participation of nontraditional singers to conform to that practice.  And we know what pride does, don’t we? (Proverbs 16:18)

An integral part of our tradition is that it is comprised of Christian music, with Christian words, by Christian people. The songbook thrived for generations in churches, communities, and families that were Christian. The growing number of nontraditional singers simply thought of Sacred Harp as folk music that they liked, and the words were immaterial (and some traditional singers—falsely to our tradition—told them to not be concerned with the words). However, the longer unbelievers participated, some came to show their dislike of the words of the hymns—wanted to change some of the words, wanted to change some of the songs, would not sing certain songs, wanted some songs to be taken out of the book. They have appropriated our culture so long that they think it is theirs, and we have loved to have it so (Jeremiah 5:31). Have we not now arrived at a time when unbelievers realize they have power they can wield? And are wielding it?

It might be well to stop to consider that all churches do not have the same approach to how to worship with others – whether Christians with different beliefs, or those they do not recognize as Christians. Some are more ecumenical than others. Some are more separatist than others. (But most of us do not think our church is the only people going to heaven.) Therefore, there’s not really a one-size-fits-all explanation or description for all Sacred Harp singers on how they as Christians see their worship together with others at Sacred Harp singings. More of this will need to wait for another time.[v] However, I will add that I believe there are things that we traditional Sacred Harp singers have never really thought out—never thought out because it was never really necessary. The singing conventions were organized by Christians who came together to sing and worship God, to praise God, to sing about the things they believe in common that they believe the Bible teaches. When a mass group of unbelievers, some of them even antagonistic towards Christ and Christianity, come together with us to sing, it creates whole new complexities that we never considered in the old days. It’s past time to consider them.

There is a wide divide that all must admit exists, regardless of what you think of it. There is an elephant in the room. Don’t ignore it; don’t pretend if we don’t talk about then it is not really there. Knowing the situation that we’ve gotten ourselves into in the Sacred Harp community—we should recognize and admit we have made mistakes. On both sides. Here is one example, related to the incident mentioned above: if it was the decorum in a particular church for women to wear dresses, not wear pants or shorts or whatever, it would have been good and right for singers to inform visitors of what is expected in that regard when they came there. That would have saved both an offense to the church and embarrassment to the visitors, and more anger and animosity all around. We have not done well in that regard. A larger problem is non-Christian behavior that now goes even as far as mockery of Christian hymns and Christian beliefs. (See yesterday’s post for an example of a textual travesty to an old Christian hymn, and to know we are not merely tilting at windmills.)[vi] We let the camel’s nose under the tent with smaller things, and now the whole camel is moving in.

Endnotes:

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[i] As East Texas Sacred Harp Convention president M. S. Steger wrote, I can recognize that some people may have followed singings “for the loaves and fishes.” However, this did not determine the character of the singings, which were distinctly Christian (and almost always held in church houses).
[ii] You can teach them about it, but you cannot give it to them by teaching about it.
[iii] At the time, I thought the preacher was being sort of rancorous (and he possibly was). I did not know him personally, while I did know some of the singers. Knowing what I know now about how things have turned out, I feel a little differently about it than I did then.
[iv] Nontraditional – in this context, by nontraditional singers I mean singers who do not have any family, church, or community background through which they learned and interpret the traditions of Sacred Harp.
[v] What is the singing convention? How we answer this question will probably cover how we decide to relate to and/or worship with unbelievers and others who come to singing conventions. I believe that biblically the singing convention must be considered a social organization. It is not a church. It includes worship. It is spiritual, but it is not an organization set in motion by Jesus Christ. The singing convention is a social organization somewhat like or similar to my inviting people to come to my house for a singing. When we’re gathered there we’re not the church; we’re Christian friends in fellowship, socializing around the gospel, singing songs that are true and biblical, but that doesn’t make us a church organization. The singing, the worship, and the fellowship are governed by the rules that I have set in place in my home, my hospitality rules.
[vi] Notice also this past quote (August 2019) from a revision committee member, about how one might re-envision a particular hymn to “make it work.” “Like so many other texts in the SH, I feel like we need to afford ourselves some interpretative license to make the music work for us. ‘Chosen station’ would be better!” It is not a logical fallacy; the slope really is slippery. The popularly repeated motto, “religion and politics should not come into the hollow square” (or the convention, or at all), presents another incline that is icy. The motto is of unknown provenance and of dubious meaning and application. Wherever it originated and whatever it meant, it likely does not mean to modern proclaimers what it originally meant. Today it is wielded as a club to beat Christians over the head so that they might keep their personal religion out of Sacred Harp. That is an amazingly ignorant concept when the Sacred Harp song book is filled with religious songs with Christian texts! (And what few are not religious are patriotic.) Nevertheless, the perpetually offended create “do not call” lists to stymie songs that they find offensive from being led. If such a song “makes it through” anyway, they loudly slam their books shut and do not sing. It appears that those who are anti-Christian get louder and louder, while the Christians are supposed to curl up in a collective corner and suck their collective thumbs.

Continuing to pluck the harp

For today, Resting Wednesday is revoked.

He and They, a “Prodigal” Misgendering

In a sad state of affairs, leftists, liberals, and lost unbelievers asked for the keys to shape note singing, and some shape-note singing leaders gladly handed them over. They put them in official capacities in their organizations and teaching positions in their camps. They invited them to teach singing schools. The placed them on boards and committees.

Consider an example of how far we have traveled from a once-Christian singing tradition to acquiesce to the promotion of the leftist political and sexual agenda of (politically) correct pronouns. The prodigal son and his father are identified as male (in both the Greek and English). Nevertheless, persons who regularly complain about people misgendering others are fine with misgendering the prodigal son and his father. What is good for the goose is evidently not good for the gander.

Many “correct pronoun” sites tell us that “singular they” is used when referring to a single person whose gender is unknown, non-binary, or not specified. None of these three things apply to the prodigal son or his father. Jesus identifies the gender of both persons, which is clear in both the Greek original and the English translation. John Newton also specified the gender in his hymn “The Prodigal Son.” So, those who promote the supposed use of “correct pronouns” are inconsistent and freely contradict their own dictums. Such cases prove it is an agenda to be pushed, rather than a rule to be followed.

The following text (below) of the hymn “The Prodigal Son” by John Newton is presented in the left column. The hymn as corrupted and used with the tune Prodigal (Song No. 7) in the 2024 shape-note songbook The Valley Pocket Harmonist is shown in the right column.

[Note: I primarily marked the misgendering, with strikethrough for removals and yellow highlight for additions. However, I did mark a couple of other things, such as the apparent distaste of the editor  for killing a fatted calf. Some other minor differences may be in their sources rather than 2024 changes.]

The prodigal son becomes a plural amorphous they, and so does the prodigal’s father. That is not how Jesus told the story, is not how John Newton wrote it, and is not how Christians have passed either the story or the hymn down. This is a most egregious form of cultural appropriation – not only of the traditional form of shape note singing, but also turning the 18th century author of “Amazing Grace” into a purveyor of their modern (and unscriptural) ideas about gender and their “ideals” about pronouns!

There is something more sinister bungled up in the hatchet job. It may not be obvious – not only the father in the story, but the Lord God himself becomes “they.” The “he” in this line of Newton’s hymn – “More than a father’s love he feels” – is God. It is God who reveals his love and calls sinners home. It is God who feels more love than the father in the story, and welcomes all that come. To the irreverent hymn editor the line becomes, “More than the father’s love they feel” – unleashing the blasphemous “correct pronoun” on God the Father.

If you want to have and eat your cake, go find your own hymns – or make your own – but please leave our Christian hymns alone!

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Note: In East Texas, our Baptist forebears and other Christians sang from The Sacred Harp songbook. We know the book was present here shortly after it was published in 1844, and some of us still sing from it today. The songs are Christian-themed, Bible-based, and provide a form of praise & worship to God. While we do not have this problem locally, for a number of years there has been a move afoot that has placed in leadership positions those who do not believe in the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. This leads to a watering down of the faith and practice of the singings (i.e., people sing what they do not believe). The editors of The Valley Pocket Harmonist –the traffickers of this textual travesty – run in Sacred Harp circles. How long before such settles into The Sacred Harp? Will there be subtle shifts when the curtain is drawn back and we can actually see the 2025 Edition of The Sacred Harp?

No scruple to baptize upon a profession of faith

“Observe, Though Philip had very lately been deceived in Simon Magus, and had admitted him to baptism, though he afterwards appeared to be no true convert, yet he did not therefore scruple to baptize the eunuch upon his profession of faith immediately, without putting him upon a longer trial than usual. If some hypocrites crowd into the church, who afterwards prove a grief and scandal to us, yet we must not therefore make the door of admission any straiter than Christ has made it; they shall answer for their apostasy, and not we.”

Matthew Henry. Commentary of the Whole Bible, Vol. VI, Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, p. 107

Eternal source of every joy

“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” Psalm 65:11

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” Psalm 16:11.

This hymn is good for the season of the New Year. The author intended it for that purpose (considering its content and labeling). It opens considering God “whose goodness crowns the circling year.” The hymn continues through the seasons and the beauty of God’s creation, including every season. Then seasons, months, weeks, and days fade into eternity, “Where days and years revolve no more.” The eternal God is the source of the Christian’s joy, both now and forever!

This hymn, No. 43 in Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (page 38), is there titled “The Year crowned with the divine Goodness.” It references Psalm 65:11, and has the notation “For New-Year’s Day.” Though not published until 1755, some sources say it was written in 1736.

1. Eternal source of ev’ry joy!
Well may thy praise our lips employ,
While in thy temple we appear,
Whose goodness crowns the circling year.

2. While as the wheels of nature roll,
Thy hand supports the steady pole:
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness when to veil the skies.

3. The flow’ry Spring at thy command
Embalms the air, and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigour shine
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.

4. Thy hand in Autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores;
And Winters, softened by thy care,
No more a face of horror wear.

5. Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days
Demand successive songs of praise;
Still be the cheerful homage paid
With op’ning light, and ev’ning shade.

6. Here in thy house shall incense rise,
As circling sabbaths bless our eyes;
Still will we make thy mercies known,
Around thy board, and round our own.

7. O may our more harmonious tongues
In worlds unknown pursue the songs;
And in those brighter courts adore,
Where days and years revolve no more.

Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) was a 18th-century English Nonconformist preacher and hymnwriter. He was born June 26, 1702, the last of 20 children born to Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Doddridge. Philip and his sister Elizabeth were the only children who survived to adulthood. (Elizabeth married Dissenting minister John Nettleton.)

Doddridge preached his first sermon in 1722. He was ordained in 1730. In that same year, he married Mercy Maris. They had nine children. In addition to his hymns, his published works include The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, The Family Expositor, Three Sermons on the Evidences of the Gospel, Ten Sermons on the Power and Grace of Christ, and A Dissertation on the Inspiration of the New Testament. Doddridge died October 26, 1751, at age 49 while in Lisbon, Portugal. He was buried at the British Cemetery there. Several members of his family are interred in the burial ground of the Independent Chapel of Tewkesbury.

The most commonly-used tune for this hymn is Wareham. The tune Wareham was composed by William Knapp. He named it for his birthplace – Wareham in Dorsetshire, England. Knapp served as church organist in Wareham and Poole. In 1738 Knapp compiled A Set of New Psalm Tunes and Anthems, In Four Parts; On Various Occasions and set Wareham with the words based on Psalm 36 (p. 47). The hymn and tune are Long Meter.

Trust in Christ Alone

Sometimes satire bats 1000% when putting a fine point on the truth.

President Donald Trump: 

“I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this [Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations] will be one of the reasons.”

Babylon Bee:

“Celestial sources report that in response to hearing of President Trump’s hopes for getting into heaven, God has agreed to let Trump into His kingdom if he simply repents of his sin and trusts in Christ alone for his salvation.

“According to the angelic hosts, the Lord had mercifully declined Trump’s wish to have his merits weighed against his faults, instead offering His only begotten Son as the spotless sacrifice for Trump’s sins.

“‘Peace deals are wonderful – yet, none are righteous. No, not one,’ the angel Gabriel confirmed. ‘But, peace deal or no, God in his love and mercy has agreed to let Trump into Heaven all the same, if he will only repent and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s grace is sufficient.’

“Heavenly sources confirmed that no one throughout history who trusted in their own goodness has been able to enter the presence of the Holy of Holies.”

Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Pray for the President, and ALL that trust in themselves, rather than trusting in God which raiseth the dead, and his Son who rose from the dead!

Love of the...

The phrase “Love of the…” appears 5 times in the King James Bible.

1. Love of the Lord.
2. Love of the Spirit.
3. Love of the truth.
4. Love of the brethren.
5. Love of the Father.

1. Hosea 3:1

Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

2. Romans 15:30

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

3. 2 Thessalonians 2:10

and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

4. 1 Peter 1:22

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

5. 1 John 2:15

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Acts 25:1-5

Chapter 25 divides into three parts – 1-5 in Jerusalem, Jews inform Festus against Paul; 6-12 plaintiffs and Paul before Festus in Cæsarea; 13-27 Festus solicits Agrippa to hear the case (13-22, explaining to Agrippa; 23-27, the court convenes).

1-5 in Jerusalem, Jews inform Festus against Paul

Verses 1-3: The Jews had perhaps despaired of Felix doing anything with Paul, possibly understanding his nature or perhaps becoming complacent after Paul had been held in custody for so long. However, with a new governor comes renewed effort. After three days of coming into his position, Festus traveled from Cæsarea up to Jerusalem. The high priest and chief leaders talked to Festus about (and against) Paul. They requested Paul be brought up to Jerusalem. They would renew their plain of laying wait to ambush Paul and kill him.

Verses 4-5: Festus would not agree to their suggested plan. He expected to soon return to Cæsarea, and required that the Jews rather come to Cæsarea. Anyone who was willing and able could travel back with him. They were free to bring their accusations against Paul, and Festus would judge “if there be any wickedness in him.”

Baptists in Australia

As best I can tell, I have posted only once about the Baptists in Australia (See “Baptists in Britain, Australia, and Canada). That has been almost 20 years ago now! My knowledge of Baptists in Australia is limited, but I offer the following updated research. I would appreciate more information about Baptists in Australia, from any of you readers who are “in the know.”

Baptists got a very late start in Australia – compared to 1638 in the United States and 1763 in Canada, the first Baptist work in Australia began with Baptist preaching in 1831 (in Sydney), with the first Baptist church organized in 1835 (in Hobart Town). This was 43 years after the British penal colony was established in 1788.

The oldest continuing Baptist church in Australia is the Collins Street Baptist Church in Melbourne, Victoria, constituted in 1843. The congregation originally met in a tent, with the first meeting house erected at the present Collins Street location in 1845.

The first state body of Baptists was formed in Victoria in 1862. In August of 1926 existing state unions joined together in Sydney to create the Baptist Union of Australia. Their current headquarters is in Belmont. The body has six state organizations, and is also affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. The Baptist Union of Australia is the legal name, but in 2009 this body launched a new operating name and logo.

I did not research and confirm the number of churches in various organizations as to whether they were accurate and up-to-date. I have simply repeated what I saw on websites, or in other sources. The numbers are provided to allow the reader to get some sense of how many Baptists churches exist in Australia, and how many are affiliated with which bodies. I did not find recent information on the Australian Baptist Independent Fellowship or the Faith Baptist Churches Fellowship. They may have ceased to exist, changed their names, or simply do not have a World Wide Web presence. I have left them on the list for now, and will leave them unless I confirm their non-existence.

A list of Baptist associations and groups in Australia.

• Association of Seventh Day Baptists Australia (about 5 churches)
• Australian Baptist Independent Fellowship (current status unknown)
• Australian Baptist Ministries/Baptist Union of Australia (over 1,000 churches)
• Baptist Churches of New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory (over 360 churches)
• Baptist Churches of South Australia and Northern Territory (about 90 churches)
• Baptist Churches of Western Australia (org. 1896)
• Baptist Union of Tasmania (about 30 churches)
• Baptist Union of Victoria (over 250 churches)
• Queensland Baptists
• Australian Fellowship of Bible-Believing Churches/Declare [i] (about 30 churches) (began in 1996)
• Australian Strict Baptists (2 churches)[ii]
• Faith Baptist Churches Fellowship (current status unknown)
• Open Baptists, Ltd (org. 2023)[iii]
• Reformed Baptists (8 churches)
• U.S.A.-based denominations [such as American Baptist Association (1), Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (7), Baptist Bible Fellowship International (6), and Baptist Mid-Missions (1)]

There are independent or unaffiliated churches that exist apart from these groups, including some created by American missionary work.[iv] However, it seems that the vast majority of Baptists in Australia participate in the Baptist Union.

Baptists in Australia for 2013 claimed, “There are four groups of Baptist churches in Australia that are not associated with the state Baptist Unions.” They listed: (1) Independent Baptists, 196; (2) Baptist Reformed Churches, 12; (3) Strict and Particular Baptist Churches, 4; and (4) Seventh Day Baptists, 4.[v] It would seem Hughes and Cronshaw had to include some different groups as “independent Baptists” in order to reduce the number of different types to four.

Baptist Mission Australia is a foreign missions organization headquartered in Hawthorn, Victoria. It was formed in 1912 as the Australian Baptist Foreign Mission (it has also been known as the Australian Baptist Missionary Society and Global Interaction). It appears they may partner in mission with different Baptist groups.

The 2021 Australian census data, the 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, and the Cultural Atlas consistently agree that Baptists make up 1.4% of the population of Australia. According to the Cultural Atlas, Baptists are the 6th-largest Christian denomination in Australia, after Roman Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Eastern Orthodox, and Presbyterian & Reformed. 43.9% of the total population identify as Christians.

Sources: Web sites; Baptists Around the World: A Comprehensive Handbook, Albert William Wardin Jr. (Broadman & Holman, 1995); Baptists in Australia: A church with a heritage and a future, Philip J. Hughes and Darren Cronshaw. Nunawading, VIC: Christian Research Association, 2013; The Baptist Encyclopedia [Volume I], William Cathcart, editor. 1881, p. 50; “The Particular Baptists in Australia,” by Brett Lee-Price.

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[i] Declare is a missions organization that seems to also have some relationship to the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.
[ii] These churches have a relationship with the Gospel Standard Baptists in England.
[iii] Open Baptists Ltd was created in response to a controversy in the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, which body in 2022 voted to require churches and ministers to affirm an exclusively heterosexual view of marriage. This led those who support and advocate for homosexual marriage to form a new association. It is open to churches in Australia or New Zealand that “support the objects and declaration of principles” of the constitution of Open Baptists Ltd. It is not exclusively distinct from the Baptist Union of Australia, in that some churches “continue to support their state associations” (i.e., those who remain in state associations that are not restrictive on the homosexual marriage issue). The group seems to be operating both inside and outside the state associations. See also Baptists will remove churches that fail to accept marriage statement.
[iv] “In 2013 there were 196 Independent Baptist Churches throughout the nation. Most of them were quite small, having congregations of less than fifty people and a total attendance of about 8000 people. The major growth of these churches has been in New South Wales and Queensland.” Baptists in Australia: A church with a heritage and a future, Philip J. Hughes and Darren Cronshaw. Nunawading, VIC: Christian Research Association, 2013, p. 54.
[v] Baptists in Australia, pp. 54-55.