Faith Alive Christian Resources, the publishing house of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) and resource provider for the Reformed Church in America (RCA), has released its first comprehensive hymnal in more than 20 years.

Released June 1, Lift Up Your Hearts: Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs will be used by the CRCNA and RCA, nearly a decade after preliminary discussions began on the need for a new hymnal. Most hymnals currently in use in the RCA and CRC denominations were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"So much has changed in the past 20 years," said the Rev. Joyce Borger, worship and music editor for Faith Alive. "With more focus on social justice issues, creation care, authentic emotions and global awareness along with greater ethnic diversity, we are a different church. Songs need to be added to the existing repertoire of our churches to reflect these changes, while maintaining the timeless classics we've grown to know and love."

Available for $19.99, Lift Up Your Hearts "builds on the existing repertoire currently in use by the RCA and CRC by including many of the same songs, but providing a breadth of music and variety of genres from classic hymns to contemporary world music," Faith Alive officials said.

In addition to the hardcover pew edition of Lift Up Your Hearts, digital editions of the complete hymnal for projection will be available at the end of August.

"This is a hymnal of the church for the church," Borger said. "Our ultimate desire is that this collection be deep enough to give voice to our praises and laments, be both sung prayer and proclamation, and play a significant role in the faith formation of Reformed Christians old and young alike."

For more information, go to www.liftupyourheartshymnal.org.

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