Hymns Change

Culture changes. Styles change. Meanings change. People change. And hymns change. Every new hymnal that comes out changes the words of hymns from what they were in the previous hymnal. The reasons may be political, theological, cultural, or any of numerous reasons. The changes are greeted by some as good and by others as bad.

Charles Wesley's original words "Hark how all the welkin rings" rather quickly became "Hark! the herald angels sing," and today few people even know the meaning of "welkin." The same Christmas hymn originally read, "Late in time behold him come, offspring of a Virgin's womb." Our 1935 Methodist Hymnal changed that phrase to "Long desired, behold him come, finding here his humble home," resulting in a great controversy over its removing the virgin birth. The 1966 Methodist Hymnal restored the original text except for its use of "the virgin" rather than Wesley's "a virgin." The 1989 United Methodist Hymnal fully restored Wesley's original phrase.

Under the heading of cultural change, consider our hymn 386, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown," regarded by many to be Charles Wesley's greatest hymn. I recently received a message from a pastor about their use of this hymn the previous Sunday. Apparently the person in that church who prepares projection slides for Sunday worship could not access his copy of the United Methodist Hymnal on disc, so he went online looking for the hymn. He found the lyrics and prepared the slide for congregational use, and his stanza four read:

'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

As you might imagine, there were a variety of reactions from the people upon singing that stanza; and it was quite the topic of conversation. As they checked the lyrics in our hymnal, they found that our more sanitized version of line five reads, "To me, to all, thy mercies move."

It is difficult to imagine that Charles would have written "Thy bowels move" for shock value or if he thought for a moment that those singing the hymn would be offended by the reference to bodily function. We're left to conclude that people of Wesley's day were far more comfortable with such references in their hymns than are people of today and that our modern editors changed the text out of consideration for modern understandings and sensitivities. Writing perhaps a generation earlier than Wesley, Isaac Watts included similar references in his hymn on Psalm 41, available online at www.ccel.org/ccel/watts/psalmshymns.html.

As we prepare a new hymnal over the next four years, I expect there to be debate over changing the language of hymns. We'll discuss inclusive language and God's gender, references to color and race, theological issues such as "second rest" and the virgin birth, militaristic and war language, changes in the meaning of words, and a host of different images, symbols, and metaphors. We may even discuss bodily functions. It is part of the task of every new hymnal committee to struggle with these issues for every present, new, and future generation. And there will be changes to texts. Some may return to original language; some may bring us new language. I'm confident that all will be accomplished for the good of those who sing the present and future church's song.