The problem nowadays with the "bring your own hymnal" idea is that people are too mobile, both in where they live, and what church they attend. When you lived in the same town all your life, and went to the same church all your life, you could get your own copy of the hymnal they use, and be safe bringing it to church with you every Sunday.

Nowadays, people move on the average every -- what? -- 7 years, and then you have to go looking for a new church. The larger denominations all have in-house hymnal publishing groups, but if you go to a "non-denominational" or smaller denom. church, then you never know what hymnal (if any!) they will be using the first time you show up. Or how long they'll keep using that hymnal until they decide to jump to a new one.

And even if you settle down in one of the "big" denoms, there may not be one of those churches in your town if you move to a small enough town, or one in a different part of the country.

Further, even more often than they move, it seems, some people have itchy butts and can't sit in the same pew more than a year or so, and have to go to a different church.

Not that anybody here has this unpleasant quality, but the churches have to take those who do into account, along with the movers and all that. Thus each church these days has to stock enough hymnals for everyone.

By and large I think that it's not that we've decided the church should be responsible for this and have shaken off responsibility from ourselves; rather, changing demographics as far as how often people move, and how "loyal" they are to one church, have made it a necessity for the church to supply the hymnals rather than the worshippers themselves.

Must my $.02.

Of course I go to a church that doesn't even HAVE hymnals. But that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish!

Alex
O..O
=o=