Each year, Progressive Christians have a dilemma: carols and hymns without inclusive language and limiting language about Jesus are annoying, but the songs are so nostalgic and traditional and beloved. So each year we put our theology on the shelf and sing with gusto…while sometimes rewriting the hymn under our breath.
Thankfully, one silver lining of the awful 2020 is that, for many Christians, singing along to livestreams at home or in a drive-thru Christmas Eve service means that no one can be annoyed at your rewriting. So this year is the PERFECT year to rewrite Christmas carols to be more inclusive.
My suggestion is to print or bring up on your screen one of these two versions (or another—leave it in the comments!) so that you can sing along with your faith community with your full head and heart this Christmas season unlike any other. And then next year you have an experience to advocate for within your community so that everyone can join in next year.
Inclusive Christmas Carols by Tallessyn Grenfell-Lee
My friend Tallessyn Grenfell-Lee has posted on Facebook a note with the text of many of her rewritten Christmas carols. Many of these are in the public domain and suitable for congregational use. Here’s a few examples that show what inclusive Christmas carols can look like.
First example is, obviously, to do away with male-gendered imagery for God. Here’s her version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
God Rest Ye Merry
God rest ye merry, gentlefolk, let nothing ye dismay
Remember Christ our Healer was born this Christmas Day
To heal us all from sin and fear, when we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy; O tidings of comfort and joy!
Second example, for those who have issues with “lord” language, here’s the rewritten first verse of Away in a Manger:
Away In A Manger
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little love, Jesus, lay down his sweet head
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay
The little love, Jesus, asleep on the hay.
Final example, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is adapted to be more inclusive of the Earth (not nations) and includes a movement towards reconciliation not triumphilism:
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Hark! The herald angels sing, hear the heavenly anthems ring:
“Peace on Earth, and mercy mild; all the Earth is reconciled!”
Joyful, all the Earth arise, join the anthems of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim: “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! The herald angels sing: songs of Hope to us they bring!
Click here for the inclusive Christmas carols. I’ll update this post if she has new ones this year.
Songbook from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Texas
Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Austin, Texas, prints their own songbook you can download. Their edits are not as good as Tallessyn’s, in my biased opinion, but being able to print off a songbook is a nice option for folks. Here’s their page for inclusive Christmas carols.
But I do like their introduction as to why they produce this resource:
The mystery of Christmas is that “the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” (John 1:14) The business of becoming flesh involves taking on particular human identities—gender, race, sexuality, ability, and more. The eternal Word, through which all things were made, took on flesh and entered the human experience as a peasant baby born to an unwed teenage mother living under colonial occupation. The fullness of the miracle is not that about one particular set of human identities—male, Middle Eastern, Aramaic-speaking, able bodied, pre-modern— that were singled out as holier than all others. Rather, the miraculous good news is that the Holy takes on flesh every day and enters into our diverse, and particular, human experiences. Inclusive, intentional language is our way of honoring this mystery by refusing to limit the Word Made Flesh to words that reinforce the same oppressive hierarchies that Christ came to free us from.
Daniel Williams, Minister for Spiritual Formation, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
Your Turn
The pandemic has shaped so much of the church this year, but Christians can use this opportunity to shape our traditions into better reflections of the incarnate Christ that beckons us to draw the circle wide. While you are at it, feel free to make Christmas, not Easter, about Atonement as well. 🙂
Thoughts?
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Can someone explain to me the problem with proclaiming Jesus as Lord?
good question
I have sung these hymns and carols for almost 70 years! There is nothing wrong with the lyrics! Leave them alone. The problem is with those who want to change history and the Bible. For Heaven’s sake leave the carols alone and form your own snowflake church.
If you are not a Christian, and want to celebrate the birth of the Savior, then sing jingle bells Jesus is who he is only a fool rewrites these songs to hide the truth of who Christ is if God offends you, stay out of a Christian Church.
Lol
Why do people feel they have the right to change the words to hymns? In my opinion, hymns are creative expressions, just as other songs or even paintings. Do people who are offended by the nakedness of Michelangelo’s paintings have the right to paint clothes on the people? No! So, why should anyone be allowed to change the words of hymns? If people do not like the words of some hymns or Christmas carols, tell them either to write some new hymns or just not sing the traditional ones. Do not mess with someone else’s creative expressions!
Eric Limbo- Amen!
I hear you, and as an artist, I totally like to see creativity respected. My response has two parts: 1. I was born a woman. Very little in the “maleness” of many of the poetic phrases makes me feel included. 2. How many of the authors of these hymns were men? How can we expect them to understand something they have never experienced?
I was born/created female and I don’t feel excluded singing the carols as written because without a woman giving birth, we would not even have Jesus to argue about!
This isn’t just a change in texts. Some of these changes are a significant change in theology. In fact some of it is heretical universalism.
The inclusiveness in these changes is not the bigger problem. These changes are wiping out the doctrines of the faith…no more sinners, no Lord, no Savior, no King and no Satan, in fact no reconciliation with God…they wipe out the “why” Jesus came. We must tread carefully lest we become lukewarm…
Yes!! Jesus saved me from the pit, and He is Lord of heaven, earth and all that is in them. The Bible (the WORD of God) is clear. If we are offended by it, or these carols, it is our own insecurities at work in us–that is what Jesus wants to heal.
Jeremy, it’s time to come home. Read this back through. Recognize you’ve advocated for a version of Jesus who is neither Lord nor Savior. You’ve denied the glory due Him. God sent His Son to reconcile all people’s back to Him, not to each other. We need set free from sin, and the power of Satan.
It’s time to repent and come home. The Father’s arms are open wide, He will run to embrace you if you set your face towards home. Stop dwelling in a foreign land, the slop of the pigs is not your inheritance. He will killed the fattened calf and throw a party, if you will come home.
Just for the sake of history, I would like 18th century language to be 18th century language, etc. Commissioning a new hymn is a different matter. Methodists already “improve” Biblical language by saying “bright as snow,” a locution used nowhere but in the Methodist hymnal (and even though the contrast is with scarlet, not black), and do other revisions that make people like me wince. These are the folks who don’t see the difference between “as to war” and “to war,” I suppose.
I see no reason to give in to the crazies. Perhaps they are the ones who need to be more inclusive.
Jeremy, thanks for doing this. You’re a brave one to challenge authentically and work within your tradition to advocate for inclusion and justice. Peace and love.
Thank you, Rev. Jeremy, for your continued willingness to offer theological discussion even when it can upset or even frighten us. It’s a tough year, so I pray these carols may offer solace to some. In case anyone is interested in a general theological discussion of carols and the words and symbols they use, here is a post that helps describe the ideas and intent behind the revisions. Peace!
https://feminismandreligion.com/2019/12/21/joy-to-the-world-the-ceo-is-come-let-earth-receive-its-president-by-tallessyn-zawn-grenfell-lee/
While the examples given might not be acceptable to all, the UM Hymnal ALREADY has inclusive substitutions in the Christmas hymn texts, such as the 2nd verse of “Joy to the World” – “…let all their songs employ…” So this isn’t as new and radical as it might appear, friends.
On a related “note,” I just found this 1991 article about the “new” UM Hymnal:
New Hymnal Avoids Sexist Language, And Does So With Amazing Grace
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-09-15-1991258154-story.html
Sing as you will. Just don’t ask me to. If you don’t recognize Jesus Christ as Lord, why are you attending a Christian church? I’m in favor of inclusiveness; I just don’t think you do that by rewriting joyous hymns by which the congregations have celebrated the birth of Christ by hundreds of years. Write some new ones. If they’re good, we’ll sing them too.
Here are some new lyrics to the traditional Carol:
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay!
Remember Christ will bring love’s light the dawn of Christmas day,
To lead us all from woe and sin when we have gone astray.
Chorus
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.
God rest you also, women, who by men have been erased,
Through history ignored and scorned, defiled and displaced;
Remember that your stories too, are held within God’s grace.
Chorus
God rest you, queer and questioning, your anxious hearts be still,
Believe that you are deeply known and part of God’s good will
For all to live as one in peace; the global dream fulfilled.
Chorus
God rest your mind, O humankind, let strife and conflict cease.
Remember love is active here, and only to increase,
To carry us to well-springs of God’s joyous hope and peace.
Chorus
Created by Jeffrey Wilsor. Free to use or adapt.
These are great, Scott!