NORWAY – Saturday will be a hymn-singing kind of day for anyone walking into Christ Episcopal Church in Norway.

People will be singing morning hymns, noon and evening hymns and hymns for all the seasons of the church.

There will be hymns for the sacraments, general hymns, theme hymns and then some Christian life hymns and then, oh yes, the national songs.

Their hymns have hymns.

And for eight hours, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., parishioners and anybody else who wishes, can help sing the first verse of the 720 hymns in the nearly 2-inch thick church hymnal.

Pastor Anne Stanley said it’s going to be fun.

And when it’s all over, the church will have a gourmet international banquet featuring food of India, Israel, Lebanon, Asia and Scotland.

Stanley said the church is holding the event as a fund-raiser with the proceeds split between its new roof project and the Oxford Hills Family Shelter.

“It started out as something we just wanted to do so we could become familiar with the hymnal,” Stanley said. “It’ll be a challenge. It’ll be fun.

“Hymns are really an important part of our public worship,” she said. “It’s our take-home package. You often leave remembering the words or sometimes take a phrase with you, or sometimes just hum a hymn.”

The sing-along will begin at 10 a.m. with the first hymn in the hymnal, “Father We Praise Thee,” and end about 6 p.m. with “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Stanley said there are no sign-ups and she has no idea how many people will show up. She said people can come for part of the event, all of it or just come to dinner. Refreshments will be available for singers. Tickets for the banquet are $10 each and $5 for children under 12 years of age.

Stanley said an organist will be playing for most of the hymns except for when she gives him a break by playing the violin.

She said the church has been wanting to stage this event ever since hearing about it from Bob and Lynne Orsini, who knew of a large church in Illinois that has been doing the same event for many years.

“To sing 90 an hour we’re going to have to be moving,” Stanley said. “We have tons of books to hand out.”