Changing attitudes – or just changing words??

I always enjoy going to church at Christmastime. The familiar Bible stories bring a lump to my throat and I love to sing the carols that I learnt when I was a child. Nobody has ever accused me of being a tuneful singer but that doesn’t stop me from belting out those familiar words – and therein lies a problem. Those familiar words just aren’t familiar any longer. The language in some of my favorite hymns has been rendered “gender neutral”. Last Sunday, we sang that old favorite “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. I haven’t needed to refer to a hymnal for those words since I was about eight years old. So, there I was, singing “pleased as man with man to dwell” while the choir and most of the congregation sang “pleased with us in flesh to dwell”. At least we both agreed that Jesus was “our Emmanuel”.

Another of my favorite hymns is the old Irish classic, “Be Thou my Vision”. Again, I learnt the words of that hymn many, many years ago and in today’s material world the original phrase “Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise” always make me stop and think about the motivation for my actions. Nowadays, the hymnal reads, “Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise”. Removing the focus from the source of that empty praise has, in my humble opinion, dramatically weakened that stanza – and the struggle for the right motive for service.

As I formulated my usual silent tirade about people who see problems where none exist and change what is not broken I started to wonder if maybe I was the one who was insensitive. Are there women who see mainstream Christianity as inherently sexist, dominated by the masculine gender and discriminating against anything feminine? Is my attitude to these changes an example that “I don’t get it?” If so, maybe I am equally insensitive to other forms of discrimination. I am a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. I am over 6 foot 3 inches tall. I was blessed with reasonable intelligence, was brought up by loving parents, went to collage, got married and have been reasonably successful in careers. All these attributes and experiences must tinge my attitudes. Can I really understand the situation of people of color, short people, Roman Catholics in Ireland, those without education or a job? There are lots of “shoes” I have not walked in and I suppose lots of attitudes and opinions that I don't (or can’t?) really understand.

So, as 2009 starts, my first resolution is to try not to react when change comes - especially to those things I consider should be carved in stone. I admit that I will have a hard time un-learning some of that "sexist" language in those old hymns. But, if any of my readers suspect that maybe my opinions or attitude in other areas might also be due for a change, just drop a gentle hint into the conversation – maybe a code word - like “Luddite”