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Changing the Words of Hymns

The subject of the changing of language in hymn lyrics is one that comes to me frequently. The practice will continue with every new hymnal committee and be debated endlessly by those who sing the lyrics. Here's a little background on our present (no longer the "new") United Methodist Hymnal (1989).

The enabling petition that was approved by the 1984 General Conference came from our agency, Discipleship Ministries, as is called for by The Book of Discipline. This petition, once approved by General Conference, authorized work to begin on a new hymnal and established some guidelines. One guideline stated, "It is recommended that the committee be sensitive to...inclusive and non-discriminatory language..." However, the very next sentence read, "The hymnal committee shall be instructed to respect the language of traditional hymns contained in the 1964-66 United Methodist [sic] hymnal, but may also include alternate texts for the same hymn tunes in instances determined by the committee."

This rather contradictory pair of guidelines, plus the fact that the enabling petition contained no official and specific rules about language, forced the committee to develop its own set of language guidelines. Thus, the committee produced its own rules which it then exhaustively tested through the editorial process. Many of us remember the heated controversy over the language issue that ensued all across the denomination, and the overwhelming number of telephone calls, mail, petitions, telegrams, personal visits, and media coverage that inundated the committee and the Discipleship Ministries.

Here is an abbreviated list of language guidelines devised and used by the committee:

  1. All texts shall be tested by the Wesleyan quadrilateral of Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason...
  2. In traditional hymns and new hymns in traditional language, employ inclusive forms of address for persons in the assembly, in the community, and the world.
  3. In traditional hymns and new hymns in traditional language, it should usually be possible to retain the poet's original forms of address, descriptions, and metaphors for God in all three persons, but to substitute for unnecessarily repeated gender metaphors, nouns, and pronouns. Language that is discriminatory or not in accord with the Social Principles should be altered or deleted.
  4. Substitutions may be made for gender descriptions, and forms of address for church, nation, nature, objects, and virtues.
  5. New hymn texts should be inclusive and universal in outlook, free from divisive elements and phrases that convey attitudes of superiority or indifference toward people outside the circle of singers.

See the full "Guidelines for the Language of Hymns As Developed and Used by the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal Revision Committee."

There was considerable disagreement within the denomination over some of the proposed language changes. For example, in referring to the human family, "men" was changed to "all," as in "Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! Let all their songs employ..." The question of substituting other pronouns and names for "he" or "him" when referring to Jesus was dealt with by the third of the committee's language guidelines above. This is the guideline that covers the change made to the third stanza of "Angels We Have Heard on High": "Come to Bethlehem and see him/Christ whose birth the angels sing."

The committee worked with a clear understanding that there had already been considerable education and changing of opinions in the areas of language sensitivity since the previous hymnal had been issued twenty years earlier. Committee members had a keen sense that this hymnal would serve not only the church of the late 1980s, but also the church and generations to follow into the next century and millennium. I hope we can also remember something about the decision-making process regarding this hymnal's contents:

  • The editorial committee membership was constituted by General Conference to be representative of the entire church — male, female, ethnicity, age, clergy, laity, geography, church size, and other factors; and
  • The editorial committee worked through its own democratic process, finally presenting its work to General Conference for acceptance and approval, the ultimate democratic authoritative body of the UMC. While the majority of the work was done by a committee of about 50 people, the final product was closely examined and approved by the full General Conference by a vote of 893-69, a 92 percent approval.

There is a thorough presentation of this issue — the history, the working of the committee, the controversy in the church, the guidelines, and the final acceptance and approval by the 1988 General Conference — in Carlton Young's Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal(Abingdon, 1993). It is available from Cokesbury,or a copy might be available in your church or pastor's library. (I strongly believe EVERY local UMC church musician with leadership responsibilities should have a copy sitting on the shelf next to the hymnal.)

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