Above, please see exhibited my and my mother's hymnals from the Bavarian state church. Also, please note that the dimensions are about 5 cm by 10 cm. I weighed them, also: 150 grams (5 oz.). --Sorry 5x10 cm was wrong. They are 8x13 cm (3.25x5 inches).
These books are softly bound in Leather and nicely fit into your hands. People have their own and carry them to church. North American hymnbook are huge and heavy by comparison. And it seems like people don't own them.
I was talking to Gary about this yesterday, who was the first person I met who understood my complaint properly. He says: "Yes, you can take it to the hospital with you or anywhere". Exactly.
The other issue is that the large hymnal has all the piano accompaniment with every single hymn. Who needs that? It takes up so much space and beaks up the words. People complain that they can't follow and concentrate on the hymns they sing, they'd rather have a happy-clappy ditty. Well, I think this is part of why. It is difficult to follow the text the way it is split up across the page.
See how the verses are kept together in the little hymnal above. To me, it makes more sense.
("Befiehl dem Herrn deine Wege" means "Commit your way to the Lord"; and "Lobet den Herren" means "Praise (pl.) the Lord".)
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