In the Wesleyan sense of perfection, as we move toward the Holy One, God’s image is increasingly reflected in us. The oneness that we share in God “hallows” our days. The refrain focuses on “one Giver, one Lord, one Spirit, one Word” that unites us in our diversity. “Many old ways” need to change, as the author states at the end of stanza two: We need to change from hatred and bigotry to love and openness. We need to change from a sense of exclusive provincial views to an inclusiveness that embraces. Difference is a “blessing.” Change may be feared by many, but change is inherent to the Christian experience. Variety in nature is to be celebrated and is a sign from God in stanza two.
Stanza one concludes, “In the midst of changing ways, give us still the grace to praise.” Rather than decrying change, Carmines takes a more hopeful perspective: The “God of time and space” will “give to us grace” in the midst of an unknown future. We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,Īnd wither and perish, but naught changest thee. 103) also paints a rather gloomy picture of earthly change in stanza three: 700), where the author states in stanza two, “change and decay in all around I see.” Walter Chalmers Smith’s “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” (No. Take for, for example, Henry Francis Lyte’s “Abide with Me” ( UM Hymnal, No. The first line of stanza one takes a different direction from many classic hymns: “God of change.” How many hymns seem to view change as negative?
The hymn first appeared in Go to Galilee: Songs by Al Carmines (1974). Carlton Young, editor of the UM Hymnal, notes that this hymn “is one of the first texts to express the unity, creativity and witness of the Spirit within our diversity of human gifts and conditions in completely inclusive language with respect to both people and deity.” The hymn was commissioned for an Assembly of the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries in 1973. (1936-2005), the author and composer of “Many Gifts, One Spirit,” was a leading figure in the expansion of the Off-Off-Broadway theater in the 1960s. It’s a rare hymn writer who can live both in the church and on Broadway.
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