This past Monday, my good friend Sarah leaned over to me in chapel and asked me what I thought about changing traditional song lyrics to be gender inclusive. At first I was taken aback by the seemingly random question. We hadn't sung any songs yet and I was a little confused about why she was asking. We started talking about how occasionally we will be singing a song in chapel or LOFT, or even at our home church, and the words will be different than normal. Sometimes it's as simple as changing a 'thou' to a 'you'. Other times, however, entire lines and verses are altered, reworded and rewritten. Here is one example:

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father; thine own may I be,
thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.

Now, if you grew up going to a traditional church, you'll notice that the second half of this verse is not the same as you grew up knowing it. The original texts reads, "Thou my great Father, and I thy true son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one." Therein lies the problem. Son. Why has this word caused such a response to have changed a hymn written in the 8th century?

After much discussion, fact checking and exploration of the internet, Sarah and I decided that at some point, the CRC, or perhaps just Calvin College, adopted this version of the song to be more inclusive to all people, not just men. Wow. Great! Calvin College is making actual effort to end century old oppression of women in the church. Not only have women been left out of preaching, baptizing, serving communion, collecting offering, and holding any leadership positions in general, they have also been left out of many parts of scripture and hymns.

Even as a young girl, I always wondered why songs like this one only included sons. My 8-year-old thought process went something like this: "I am a daughter. My parent's only daughter, to be exact. My parents are my true parents, which makes me their true daughter. If there are true sons of God, why not true daughters?" This is why I love this change. The editors of Be Thou My Vision did not just add daughters, they made the song so that anyone, even those without families or who do not prescribe to one specific gender, can relate to this song. An 8-year-old girl should not wonder about her belonging to Jesus because of a hymn, nor should anyone else. Not only are the lyrics gender inclusive, but they also rhyme!

You might be thinking, "But Victoria, this song, as you said, is very old. Why should we change it now? It throws me off when I'm singing the new lyrics. I just don't know if it's right to change something so historical!" To you I say, "Friend, this song was translated from Old Irish. Do you speak Old Irish? If so, I'm very sorry, and we can move on. However, I'm guessing you do not, and neither do I. This song has been translated for us to understand it, just as the Bible has been translated. Translations are never exact, and anyone who knows more than one language can tell you that. This version is just another translation, like how some people read ESV, others read NIV, and still more read KJV."

I hear you, though, about being thrown off. I was also a little confused at first. When things change and we aren't aware that they will be changing, it can be disorienting. Sarah even told me that she was so caught off guard by these lyrics that she could not enjoy the rest of the song. That's a problem. Hymns are meant to bring us closer to our Savior, which was the objective in this changing of lyrics. If, however, this change causes less people to connect to God than before it changed, it shouldn't be changed.

I would argue, though, that this is an adjustment that will take time, but that is necessary. It is not okay to speak of sons, and not daughters, even if "son" or "man" previously referred to all people. Today we do not speak of "mankind," we speak of "humankind." We do not say "the first men," but rather "the first people." This change might be confusing or off-putting, but God did not send Jesus just for the men, He sent Him for all people. He sent Jesus for white people and black people, for Asians and Hispanics, for men and for women, for rich and for poor, for gay and for straight, for cis and for trans, for young and for old. It is time our songs reflect that.