On Sunday 23rd August, at St John’s, we had a special service of blessing for our new hymn books. This prayer was used:

Almighty God, everlasting Father, You created Your people to offer thanks and praise to You. Grant Your blessing upon these copies of Hymns Old and New, that they may be for us instruments of praise by which we may worthily magnify Your holy name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord almighty, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, bless these hymn books and those who use them.
Amen.

As a symbolic act we then brought the green ones up and laid them on the altar on our way up to receive communion and picked up the new orange hymn books from the altar on the way back. Then sang the remaining hymns from the new book.

It went remarkably smoothly, considering!