From Psalm
98
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the
world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills
sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming to judge
the earth...
At this Christmas celebratory time, I love those psalms that
speak about the earth singing and clapping hands.
All creation is singing hymns.
I love to sing and there seem to be more opportunities to
sing at Christmas than at other times of year. However, I struggle with the
words of many of our favorite Christmas carols.
As I mentioned in the last post, I’ve connected with hymns
written by Aussie, George Stuart, who is writing new words to well-known hymn
tunes. George describes his theology as progressive, a term that is being
bandied around to mean something more to the left of liberal.
See what you think of the traditional words and the
alternate words by George:
Away in a Manger
Away in a
manger, no crib for a bed
The little
Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head
The stars in
the bright sky looked down where he lay
The little
Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
The cattle
are lowing, the Baby awakes
But little
Lord Jesus, no crying He makes
I love Thee,
Lord Jesus, look down from the sky.
And stay by
my side until morning is nigh,
Be near me,
Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me
forever and love me, I pray
to
Bless all
the dear children in Thy tender care
And take us
to Heaven to live with Thee there
Alternate Lyrics:
Away in a
manger, no pillow or bed,
the baby boy
Jesus is born in a shed
The stars in
the bright sky looked down where he lay
the baby boy
Jesus asleep on the hay.
While cattle
stand quietly, the baby’s asleep
sought after
by shepherds who leave all their sheep
And wise
ones bring treasures, they’ve come from afar
to give
gifts to Jesus, they followed a star.
Yes, Jesus
is near me, I know he will stay
close by me
forever and love me each day
He blesses
all children, we know we all share
a wonderful
friendship in his tender care.
Our Advent Exploration question for today
is: What are your thoughts about changing or updating words of hymns?
