Singing the Politically Correct Asterisk

United Methodist Bishop Rüdiger Minor, bishop of Russia and former president of the Council of Bishops, preached the sermon at my Nashville church a few weeks ago. One of his comments, actually a minor aside to his sermon, led me to follow up with some research in our hymnal. Bishop Minor commented on the asterisk that appears at the bottom of "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" (no. 57). The asterisk gives permission to omit stanza six: "Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ; ye blind, behold your Savior come, and leap, ye lame, for joy." The bishop was critical of this asterisk and complained about this invasion of political correctness (PC) into our hymnal and especially into this signature hymn of our denomination.

I have collected together all the asterisks that appear below the hymns in our hymnal that some might claim to be evidence of "PC" by the hymnal revision committee and our General Conference for approving them. Here they are:

• No. 57, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing": Stanza six may be perceived as containing discriminatory language by people who are unable to hear, speak, or walk.
• No. 143, "On Eagle's Wings": The original version of this song is written as if spoken by God: "And I will raise you up…and hold you in the palm of my hand." Our hymnal replaces "I" with "God." A second asterisk suggests replacing "you" with "us," presumably to pluralize rather than individualize the context. A third asterisk suggests replacing "God" with "your" in the final phrase, "…and hold you/us in the palm of your hand." This last suggestion results in confusion around to whom the text is addressed: "And God will raise you up…and hold you in the palm of your hand."
• No. 218, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear": suggests replacing "men" with "all" in stanza three's "Peace on the earth, good will to men."
• No. 364, "Because He Lives": Stanza two's "new-born baby" refers to the birth of the Gaithers' third child, a son. The asterisk for the first "he" refers to this son. Apparently the hymnal committee did not know this at the time of publication, so the committee suggests that this "he" and the second "he" at the end of this stanza refer to Jesus. Hymnal editor Carlton Young has said that had the committee known that "he" referred to the Gaithers' own son rather than to Jesus, the hymn probably would not have been included in the hymnal because of the exclusive reference to a male baby.
• No. 431, "Let There Be Peace on Earth": Changes "With God as our Father, brothers all are we. Let me walk with my brother…" to "With God our creator, children all are we. Let us walk with each other…"
• No. 439, "We Utter Our Cry": The asterisk gives permission to omit stanzas four and five. The hymnal committee was concerned with the hymn's encouraging of peace and antinuclear arms protests and marches in this hymn about issues of world peace and ecology. The committee had just gone through the heated controversy over the "Onward Christian Soldiers" debate and was concerned about appearing to encourage unpatriotic activities. The committee asked author Fred Kaan's permission to omit those two stanzas, and Kaan declined. Kaan's eloquent comments are available inThe Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal,page 682.
• No. 576, "Rise Up, O Men of God": The asterisk suggests substituting "Ye saints" for "O men."
• No. 710, "Faith of Our Fathers": The asterisk suggests substituting "the martyrs" for "our fathers." The "fathers" in this text refers to Roman Catholic priests martyred in the struggle between the Church of England and the Roman church. Thus, in its original context, there is no question of political correctness applying. However, the committee also changed stanza two's original "mankind shall then be truly free" to "we all shall then be truly free." There is no asterisk at the bottom since the change had already been made in the text.
• No. 240, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing": I have included this song as one example of many in our hymnal whose texts have been changed without asterisks noting the changes. Wesley's original text in stanza three read, "born that men no more may die. an Here it is changed to "born that we no more may die."

The question here is not, "Have changes been made?" Clearly, they have been. Nor should we ask, "Have these changes been made because of political correctness?" Despite the negative and pejorative associations of political correctness, making changes for the sake of political correctness can be argued to be a positive, sensitive, and caring response to a perceived or actual injustice, whether in real life or in the meaning and interpretation of a hymn text. The question we should ask ourselves is, "Are the hymn texts' changes good changes to make or not?" Should we argue against such changes simply because they are perceived as politically correct — a rather shallow and unthinking response, I believe — or should we thoughtfully examine the texts, their meanings today, and the implications of how they are received by some of our seekers and members? Shall we sing the asterisk?