Themes in the Christian Relaunch Hymnal
The three areas are:
1. Before Christ
2. Christ Now
3. The Future
Each area is split into two themes:
1a. Creation: we celebrate and respond to God the Maker's all-originating creativity.
Here, we praise God in the same way as undefiled folk in an unspoiled world would have done. His creativity includes his love for us, and evokes our response, but words like "faithfulness" and "mercy" do not occcur here because such words allude to our defection and its consequences. Of course we should "ne'er forget the wormwood and the gall", and all the subsequent themes allude to it, but we cannot celebrate our restoration without being aware from what we have defected, so creation as such needs to be one strand of our hymnody. Sadly I have found few hymns that focus on creation, and even some of these "glance forward", as when All creatures of our god and king, on reaching man, mentions suffering, death and Christ.
1b. Realignment: we celebrate and respond to God's realigning grace.
Here is hope for salvation but no allusion to its present experience. This is what ancient Israel knew, and some hymns based on their Psalms are included here. These contain some elements superseded in Christ, such as the mad-made temple, but I let these stand because removing them would be too disruptive; the Christian singer need only be aware that those sections are "in quotes".
These hymns reflect conflict and intend persevence. They express a general confidence in God to overcome evil, but without specific reference to Christ, through whom, we now know, he is doing so.
2a. Saviour: we celebrate God the Mediator's bringing of salvation.
We celebrate his birth, growth, career, death, resurrection and session.
2b. Salvation: we express our receiving and following of Christ.
These hymns resemble those of Realignment, for godliness remains godliness, but with the present experience of salvation prominent.
3a. Task: we seek and celebrate God the Indweller's guidance in carrying out our task in this age.
1b and 2b sang of the individual's walk with God. Here God's holy nation ("Ekklesia Militant") is prominent.
Christians have neglected our role as stewards of the world, and even the best of these hymns scarcely mention it. We hope in due course to find songs to fill this gap.
3b. Goal: we hope for Christ's return and anticipate the age to come.
Here the new Zion ("Ekklesia Triumphant") is prominent.
"Our lord, come!"
The order is roughly that of our creed, but with some Creation items moved to later. Theory and practice sometimes follow different sequences.
Where a hymn has several equally-prominent themes, I assign it to the latest of them. Thus, the treatment of other topics can be seen as "recap".
These themes constitute an ordered framework, and a long enough reverence-singing should include one hymn of each theme, in order.
But if six is too many, take at least one hymn of each area. In the first two areas, the "a" is about God's work and the "b" is about our response, so 1a-and-2b or 1b-and-2a are generally the best pairings.