I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so far about my new book of illustrated hymns. There are some dear Christian souls out there, however, who want their children to learn hymns, but worry that they themselves have a terrible singing voice. “How can I teach hymns to my kids if I have zero musical ability?” So I thought I’d come up with a few ideas along these lines that might help.

1) Sing anyway.   No, really, unless your kids and spouse are covering their ears and wincing, and you’re really worried you’re giving hymnody a rotten name by continuing, just go ahead and sing. Forget about the rude people in your past who have discouraged your vocalizing. This isn’t American Idol. In the privacy of your own home, who’s going to judge you? But if you just can’t bring yourself to do it, then…

2) At least look like you’re singing in church. When you have your kids next to you as the hymns come up (you do have your kids with you, right?), open the hymnal and at least speak or mouth the words if you can’t do anything else. Just keeping the hymnal closed and your mouth shut sends a message to kids that hymn-singing is something to be avoided, or something to be embarrassed about. Encourage them to sing out in church, especially with songs they are more familiar with, and affirm their attempts.

3) Ask your spouse, an aunt or uncle or grandma, or a fellow church member to sing with your kids. Got a “grandma” in the congregation or a youth who occasionally babysits your little ones? Ask nicely if they’d be willing to sing certain songs with the kiddies while you’re out.

4) Let your pastor and Sunday School superintendent know about your desire to teach your kids hymns. There’s a good chance that they’ll be delighted by your input and will have some ideas on how to incorporate this into SS or other church activities.

5) Get some good recordings of hymns and play them around the house. Hymns of Faith by CPH is a good example, and it uses children’s voices.

6) If you can’t teach the music, then teach the lyrics of various hymns to your children, as poetry. Explain to them what the words mean.

Happy teaching! Feel free to add any other ideas you may have in the comments section. 

Hosanna, Loud Hosanna is now available at Lulu.

Alex and I have just received our review copy of Hosanna, Loud Hosanna: A treasury of hymns for children. It looks amazing! After we do a couple of minor editing tweaks, we’ll upload the new version, and hopefully it will be ready for purchase as early as tomorrow!

For those who haven’t been following, this book is a collection of 25 illustrated hymns compiled into a full-color, 8 1/2 x 11, 88-page paperback book. Part 1 of the book is the hymns and their accompanying illustrations; Part 2 is called “Hymn Notes” and features melody lines, discussion questions, and memory verses to help parents and teachers explain the meaning of each song. There is also a foreword for parents and teachers that explains the concept behind the book and ideas for using it, and an index of Christian symbols that can be found throughout the book. In the previous post on the CLEAR blog, you can find the 8 free coloring book pages available with images that correspond to illustrations in the book.

The hymns were selected to cover a range of subjects, including hitting each major season of the church year. All the hymns are public domain, but they can also all be found in the Lutheran Service Book, and the lyrics are identical.

The hymn listing is as follows:

Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now
Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord
Silent Night, Holy Night
Away in a Manger
What Child Is This
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
On My Heart Imprint Your Image
Glory Be to Jesus
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna
What Wondrous Love Is This
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
O Love, How Deep
Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling
Jesus Loves Me
O Jesus So Sweet, O Jesus So Mild
Baptized into Your Name Most Holy
All Who Believe and Are Baptized
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Chief of Sinners Though I Be
Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb
Be Present at Our Table, Lord
Now Thank We All Our God
We All Believe in One True God

I took some photos of the book and uploaded them on Facebook. We self-published this book through Lulu (who did an excellent job on the last one as well) and I believe that the cost for each copy is $23.10, plus shipping. I think it’s a great deal for an independently-produced, full-color book like this. There’s no mark-up for us on this project, so that’s just Lulu’s cost of printing, etc. I’ll make the link available as soon as we iron out our last couple of edits. Canadians, if you want something that can be shipped to you directly, stand by and we’ll see about perhaps ordering a box, so you can get a copy through us.

By the way, if you get a copy of this project and you like what you see, please spread the word! A lot of hard work went into it, and we’re excited that it’s finally here and completed.    Again, we’ll post the link to Lulu once we’ve got the last couple edits done, so it should only be another day or so!

That’s the title of my latest book, a collection of illustrated hymns. More details about that to come once it’s available publicly, but until then, I thought I’d share a collection of 8 coloring book pages created using some of the images from the book. Warning: these are large files, so they are not recommended for dial-up users. You can download them here:

http://www.kellyklages.com/hymnbook/coloringbook.pdf

http://www.kellyklages.com/hymnbook/coloringbook.zip (same as the pdf, but in jpgs)

UPDATE: The book can be ordered through Lulu at this link.  More info about the project, such as the song listing, can be found at this post.

I’ve been very lax at posting lately. But I just ran across this neat little item that deserves mention. It’s a new cookie stamp shaped like a Luther rose, and the potential for crafting looks VERY good. I might have to pick up more than one… on for baking, one for crafting.

There is now a “Lutheran Barter System” up and running on Facebook. Do a search; it looks like it could be good fun. I’m looking forward to finding some artisans who create paraments, vestments, or other ecclesiastical materials so I can feature them on this blog. This barter system involves all creative services, but specifically church-related items for offering.

On Facebook this evening, I stumbled upon some woodworking pictures of Pr. David Kind, a campus pastor at the University of Minnesota. Then I discovered that a couple of the photos made it onto the University Lutheran Chapel’s website, too. Scroll down this page to see an impressive hand-turned processional set made of solid maple.

Alex and I met Pr. Kind in 2007 at the Higher Things For You conference in Minneapolis. He gave a very good presentation on art and Christian worship.

Check out this business, featuring custom liturgical embroidery. Nice work!

I’ve been very into rubber stamps lately, but I always had difficulty in finding good ones for various church occasions. Now I know where to go: Our Daily Bread Designs. Here is a great set of verse stamps for Baptism and Confirmation, and here’s an idea gallery to see how they can be used. There are a lot of great, classy-looking products on this site, including things like all the best Jolee’s and True Faith stickers that reflect liturgical worship and the sacraments. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be a new favorite product site for me.

Update: You can browse the stamp sets on the site for yourself, but here’s an example of what I’m talking about: a stamp set appropriate for Advent!

I’ve got a new book project in the works. It consists of illustrated hymns for children. Go here to read more about it.

Here are a few more rubber stamps to get your creative juices flowing, all from Cornish Heritage Farms:

- “Scripture Essentials I.” This is a collection of Bible verses.

-“A New Creation.”

-“He is not here; He is risen!” I got this stamp for my birthday. Looking forward to making Easter cards with it!

-“Modern church.” Actually a normal-looking church with a steeple, but the stamp is called “modern” because the image consists of a distressed-looking silhouette. I recently received this one, too. These stamps work really well. More religious images can be found on this site, but these are some of my favorites.