About Hymnbook Treasures

Hymnbook Treasures is a 365-day perpetual desk calendar compiled by Bruce Milligan, featuring one stanza from a traditional Protestant hymn for every day of the year alongside the author/translator, year written, traditional tune name, and a related scripture citation. Drawing on five centuries of hymnody - from Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley to Fanny Crosby and beyond - the calendar includes hundreds of beloved, classic hymns.

A QR code on every page links to Hymnary.org, where readers can explore each hymn's full text and history, learn about the author, and listen to recordings of the hymn. All included hymns are in the public domain. Because it has no year printed in the calendar, it is designed to be reused year after year.

Hymnbook Treasures is the first product from Sonrise Media LLC, a new Christian publishing company based in Indian Harbour Beach, FL.  

Bruce's Story

I'm the son of a minister and a church organist, so hymns have been part of my life since before I can remember. What I didn't expect, working on this project, was how much I'd come to love the people who wrote them.

I've spent the last couple of years reading about the trials and triumphs of hymnists like Isaac Watts, John Newton, and Charles Wesley — and lesser-known figures like Augustus Toplady, Fanny Crosby, George Bennard, and Catherine Winkworth. Their stories taught me just how central hymns have been in shaping the church, and culture, for the last 500 years.

This calendar is a departure from my career in high-tech marketing consulting, but it fits perfectly into my life as a believer and my years as a high school and college musician. It's a work of love, plain and simple.

I hope Hymnbook Treasures brings you the same thing it's brought me: hymns you've long known and loved, and a few new ones worth discovering.

From the Foreword

"The origins of religious singing precede recorded history. Music enriches the hymn, adding life and expressive power... For centuries, stained glass windows were powerful teachers of the Christian story. But music is also a powerful teacher of the Christian story."
— The Rev. Dr. Ralph W. Milligan

Our Giving Mission

All net proceeds from the Hymnbook Treasures calendar benefit loved ones who are living on a fixed disability or retirement income. It's a small thing, but it adds up. A mite from many can add up to a life-changing blessing.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." — James 1:27

Links to Hymnary.org

Every page in Hymnbook Treasures has a custom QR code that links to Hymnary.org — the world's most complete database of North American hymnody. Their generosity in letting us link directly to their hymn pages turns this paper calendar into an interactive experience of exploration.