Abingdon Press is releasing a new congregational hymn collection "Zion Still Sings! You are invited to a January 18th preview, 9:30 a.m.

Come celebrate with us!

Zion Still Sings, and we lift our voices in praise and celebration! Our newest congregational hymn collection, Zion Still Sings! For Every Generation will publish in May 2007. This follow-up to Songs of Zion (Abingdon Press, 1981) will be an important congregational worship resource for many years to come.

As key leadership of The United Methodist Church in the Nashville area, we invite you to join with us here at the corner of 8th Avenue South and Demonbreun Street on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. as we preview this new songbook. The Editorial Committee of musicians, pastors, educators, and worship leaders will join with several composers and arrangers of new material to lead us in an hour of song-filled celebration. We ask that you make a reservation so we can be prepared for your arrival. Just contact Melanie Hollis at (615) 749-6747 or send Melanie an email: mhollis@umpublishing.org.

God meets us in every situation, for every generation, and in every location. That’s what we mean by Zion Still Sings. Zion is where we meet God. When heads were bowed down with the oppression of slavery, a song would come forth such as “Guide My Feet” or “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” and God would be there, lifting heads and hearts. God was in the hush arbors, the segregated galleries, the mission churches, and in the churches built from used bricks, as the community sang hymns such as “At the Cross” and “Yield Not to Temptation,” gaining the assurance that God’s kingdom was inclusive.

Zion Still Sings because just as God was present during the Great Migration with Charles Tindley and Kenneth Morris, just as God was present during the Civil Rights Movement when we sang “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round,” God meets the current generation in the streets of our 21st-century world. God will meet you with “It’s Incredible,” using call and response in a way that the ancestors would never have dreamed. God will be present as you rap out “Heavenly Father” and interpret the prayer of Jesus for post-moderns. God will meet you in the contemporary sounds of Martha Munizzi and Michael Smith, the hip-hop of Frederick (Ricky B.) Burchell, the jazz tones of a song for ushers, “Step,” and the upbeat, 12-bar blues of “All Around Me!” a song that echoes the biblical truth that God is so high, so low, and so wide. God is inclusive.

May God bless your work in the church. We look forward to seeing you on January 18th.


Marilyn E. Thornton Bob MacKendree
Music Editor for Zion Still Sings Director of Music Resources