Standing in the Living Present

last sunday i played for a church service in one of the churches in our town, filling in while the congregation searches for a new organist.  the minister preached on the doctrine of the trinity, and the hymns were all based on that theme.  the first hymn was "come, thou almighty king."   among the stanzas were these words: "father, all glorious, o'er all victorious, come and reign over us; gird on thy mighty sword; give thy word success; thou who almighty art; thy sov'reign majesty may we in glory see."  now, such language is not all that unusual in christian hymns, but i find it troubling.  the image of god on a throne ruling over humankind, enlisting followers in an army to conquer sin and, by implication, those who refuse to submit to the christian religion, is one that we ought to abandon.  this idea of God as an absolute ruler with all of us as subjects is archaic and contrary to the teachings of jesus.  what does a loving father need with a "mighty sword?"

we sing such words thoughtlessly because we've heard them all our lives, and their familiarity makes them attractive to us.  but words have meaning, and we need to examine them to see if we believe them to be true.  "onward, christian soldiers" is a fun hymn to sing, with a catchy tune by sir arthur sullivan of gilbert-and-sullivan fame, but it's so chockfull of imperialist imagery that most recent hymnals do not include it.  another such hymn that is still in many modern hymnals is "lead on, o king eternal," which is filled with martial and monarchial imagery, though the second stanza makes it clear that the armament of the christian is "deeds of love and mercy," rather than "swords loud clashing."  a favorite of mine that has been abandoned by most newer hymanls is "not alone for mighty empire."  this is a hymn with a wonderful tune that shifts from minor to major in the middle and is quite stirring.  the tune, "geneva" by george henry day, has been retained in many hymnals with other texts, and it is that tune that makes the older hymn memorable, rather than the words.

i'm glad that the editors of hymnals are more sensitive to the texts that are included than we who sing from them often are.  i hope that the trend toward abandoning hymn texts with militaristic, imperialistic, undemocratic, and racist language continues, so that eventually we will no longer reinforce such language by using it in our worship.  even when we mindlessly sing these words, the ideas creep into our minds and we proclaim them as heartfelt beliefs to those who hear and read them.

 may we be mindful that words do, indeed, have meaning, and we ought not to use them carelessly.  words can hurt others deeply and are often harder to heal from than physical wounds.  we use them as weapons even when we don't mean to.  may we choose the words we use with care and lovingkindness.  shalom.