Features easy words and piano arrangements for 26 favorite hymns and spirituals.

In this special seasonal edition, bestselling author Robert J. Morgan shares the incredible stories behind traditional holiday hymns of faith, including Christmas, Easter, and more. Is there a festive season of the year that is complete without one of your favorite hymns? Not only do hymns connect you to great memories, but they also reveal the faith of those who lived throughout history. As Robert Morgan explored the stories behind some of the best-loved hymns, he found fascinating accounts of tribulations, triumphs, struggles, and hope—ordinary people who connected with God in amazing ways, sharing their experiences through song. Included inside this special edition are: 150 devotional-style stories with the words and music to each hymn Includes hymns for holidays including Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and more Jagged edged paper, giving it a classic feel Includes a complete hymn index by title, first line, and songwriter Perfect for use as a daily devotional, teaching illustration, or for song leaders and music ministers Discover the inspiration behind your favorite hymns. Find new favorites as you relate to the people whose walk of faith led them to write these classic songs of praise. Share these stories with your family, friends, and church, and find more depth and meaning as you worship God through song.

Understanding the culture of living with hymnbooks offers new insight into the histories of poetry, literacy, and religious devotion. It stands barely three inches high, a small brick of a book. The pages are skewed a bit, and evidence of a small handprint remains on the worn, cheap leather covers that don’t quite close. The book bears the marks of considerable use. But why—and for whom—was it made? Christopher N. Phillips’s The Hymnal is the first study to reconstruct the practices of reading and using hymnals, which were virtually everywhere in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Isaac Watts invented a small, words-only hymnal at the dawn of the eighteenth century. For the next two hundred years, such hymnals were their owners’ constant companions at home, school, church, and in between. They were children's first books, slaves’ treasured heirlooms, and sources of devotional reading for much of the English-speaking world. Hymnals helped many people learn to memorize poetry and to read; they provided space to record family memories, pass notes in church, and carry everything from railroad tickets to holy cards to business letters. In communities as diverse as African Methodists, Reform Jews, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Unitarians, hymnals were integral to religious and literate life. An extended historical treatment of the hymn as a read text and media form, rather than a source used solely for singing, this book traces the lives people lived with hymnals, from obscure schoolchildren to Emily Dickinson. Readers will discover a wealth of connections between reading, education, poetry, and religion in Phillips’s lively accounts of hymnals and their readers.

In the newest addition to his immensely popular "My Favorite" series, the late Norman Vincent Peale shares the musical works that inspired and sustained him throughout his life--more than 60 hymns, spirituals, ballads, and anthems that supported, motivated, and enriched him in his many years of uplifting others.

Written particularly for the Charismatic Renewal in the English-speaking world, Come, Creator Spirit is a helpful guide for a better understanding of the Holy Spirit. In this detailed commentary on the famous hymn Veni Creator, sung at the beginning of every new year, ecumenical council, and priestly ordination, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa describes the Paraclete and gives praise to its glory. Progressing through the hymn line by line, he provides insights, reflections, hymnography of Christian traditions, and testimonies of the saints. This book describes the Church's experience of the Spirit of today, as well as the past. The biblical and theological base of the hymn opens the reader to the perspectives and inspirations in this book. Its Vision of the Holy Spirit in the history of salvation emerges as the reader progresses through the reading. In the celebration of the ecumenical character of Veni Creator, this book draws from Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic traditions for all those who wish to seek a better understanding of the Holy Spirit. Chapters are "Spirit, Come!" “Creator,” “Fill with Heavenly Grace the Hearts that You Have Made,” “You Whom We Name the Paraclete,” “Most High Gift of God,” “Living Water,” “Fire,” “Love,” “Anointing for the Soul,” “Sevenfold in Your Gifts,” “Finger of God’s Right Hand,” “The Father’s Solemn Promise,” “Gifting Lips with the Word to Say,” “Kindle Your Light in Our Minds,” “Pour Love into Our Hearts,” “Infirmity in This Body of Ours Overcoming with Strength Secure,” “The Enemy Drive from Us Away,” “Peace Then Give without Delay,” “With You As Guide We Avoid All Cause of Harm,” “Through You May We the Father Know,” “Through You May We Know the Son As Well,” and “And You, the Spirit of Them Both, May We Always Believe.”

There is no doubt that America is in the midst of a spiritual crisis. Millions of people are trying to find meaning in their lives by returning to old-time religions, or by seeking out new cults, fads, channelers, 12-step programs, and self-help books. Bill Moyers has called this search for spirituality "the biggest story -- not only of the decade but of the century." Now, Sam Keen, the New York Times bestselling author of Fire in the Belly, addresses this crisis and provides a blueprint for bringing spirituality into everyday life in Hymns to an Unknown God: Awakening the Spirit in Everyday Life. Using practical examples from his and other people's lives, Keen tells readers how to cut through what he calls the "spiritual bullshit," and recover the sacred in their love affairs, families, jobs, and politics -- in short, how to recover the "Unknown God." Down-to-earth and articulate, Sam Keen is a popular social commentator, philosopher, and teacher. He describes himself as "overeducated at the Ivies," with degrees from Harvard and Princeton. His work has been featured in a special Bill Moyers PBS interview, and for over twenty years he was a consulting editor at Psychology Today. How to Use Your Spiritual Bullshit Detector: In a world of one-minute solutions, false spiritual leaders, and instant spirituality, how can you tell which beliefs are valid and separate the bogus from the genuine. Sex and the Spirit: Why is it that sex and spirituality are so interconnected and confusing? Keen explains the conflict between "I want" and "I should," and tells readers how to integrate sensuality, sexuality and spirituality to experience truly deep and loving relationships. Consecrating Our Days: Rituals for Living: Keen gives more than a dozen suggestions for personal rituals to remind readers of the sacredness in their everyday lives, including creating a private place as a personal sanctuary, learning to make time to think deeply, setting aside personal days as times of celebration, and more.

For over 200 years in African-American churches throughout the country, gospel and spiritual music have offered solace and been a source of celebration, leaving a mark not only on the Christian world, but on popular music as well. Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit contains the lyrics and music of 101 of the most widely known and cherished of these pieces, ranging from heartring spirituals sung during slave times (Steal Away; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot) to songs of unity from the civil rights movement and contemporary times (We Shall Overcome, I'll Fly Away). The book also presents a biography of each composer and the history of the evolution of each song, examining the role it played in enabling African-Americans to develop the strength to carry on in the face of adversity. An important historical document as well as an inspirational gift, the book captures the rich connections between song and experience as no other volume does.