Few can argue with the power of music to touch the heart. Voices shared in worshipful song allow us to honor God in a truly beautiful way. In "Hymns for Today," renowned hymn writer Brian Wren helps us understand why this is so. Wren surveyed hundreds of hymns written since the 1960s to compile this discussion of forty hymn poems and to share the insights they provide for Christian faith. These contemporary hymns are analyzed for how they express Christian faith and traditional themes in fresh ways. Questions for discussion are included for each chapter, making this book an excellent group study resource.

The For Today series was designed to provide reliable and accessible resources for the study and real life application of important biblical texts, theological documents, and Christian practices. The emphasis of the series is not only on the realization and appreciation of what these subjects have meant in the past, but also on their value in the present--"for today." Thought-provoking questions are included at the end of each chapter, making the books ideal for personal study and group use.

Preeminent hymn writer and liturgist Brian Wren offers this new collection of worship resources suitable for a variety of worship traditions during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. These theologically sound and creative worship resources include prayers, litanies, calls to worship, and complete liturgies crafted to encourage rhythmic public responses during worship. All material is drawn from the readings from all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary. This collection also contains Scripture selections from the nativity narratives in Matthew and Luke and the messianic sections of Isaiah and the Psalms, making it just as useful to churches that do not follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Additional features of this volume include a Scripture index that points users to materials drawn from passages, a topical index listing items that can be used on other occasions during the church year, and a searchable CD Rom.

Wren discusses the thorny issues involving congregational singing today: the indispensable nature of public worship; contemporary worship music; the lyrics of different types of congregational songs, such as choruses, hymns, chants and ritual songs; and the importance of using hymn lyrics as poetry. He shows why hymn lyrics are altered throughout time and how they illustrate theology.

'Takes us through a daringly comprehensive argument ... the simplicity and sheer readability of his writing and the lucidity and humaneness of his overall position deserve, and will attract, one hopes, a wide readership. For Wren, education in justice consists in the development of a critical awareness of ourselves as oppressor or oppressed in the unjust society . He shows us something of what justice might be and why we should aspire to it. He also offers vivid illustration of what injustice and cultural oppression mean in the contemporary world' (Epworth Review). 'It is a measure of Brian Wren's achievement that he has caused at least one world-weary reader to think again about the possibility of radical and effective political change. His analysis of contemporary institutional oppression and our implication in it, particularly in its damaging effect upon the Third World, is a well-stated repetition of the socialist critique of the use and abuse of power. The new thing here, however, is the tone of the book: there is a calm and loving but utterly piercing description of the pathology of power and the lengths to which we'll all go to justify our share in it' (Church Times)