0.6 more lbs of weight to throw behind Psalmody

Christian Renewal reports in its most recent edition that “The Church of Scotland recently introduced its latest hymn book, called CH4, which contains 130 more songs, psalms, and canticles than the previous version and weighs almost 2.2 pounds. The Kirk’s senior citizens complain that it is too much of a strain to hold for an hour-long Sunday morning service. A spokesman for the Revision Hymnary Committee said that the new hymn book was intended to keep church music in tune with the times and said that CH4 contained 825 items instead of 695, because the new edition included worship songs suitable for praise bands and guitars as well as traditional organ music.”

By contrast, the Psalter of the RPCNA (2001 printing) weighs a mere 1.6 pounds. The limit of using the 150 Psalms (even if we do have 438 selections) for worship praise does have its benefits. At least our hoary headed will not be exhausted by worship. I have noticed, however, that the 2005 printing of the Book of Psalms for Singing is about one half to three quarters of an inch taller than the previous printings. The font remains the same, but there is more white space. Does anyone know why this is so?