The B – I – B – L – E,
Yes that’s the book for me.
I stand alone on the Word of God
The B – I – B – L – E.

It is my guess that most of the people who read this blog have sung this song at some point in their life – I certainly have – and – in the past, I have also asked others to sing it – including young children – and therein is the problem.

Ask any young child to explain the meaning of the third line of the song: “I stand alone on the Word of God.”

YES – I have also done that.

Possible explanations –

I stand on my Bible

I stand on my Bible by myself – my Bible is not large enough to hold more than one person.

OR

I stand alone – no one is with me – I am alone.

With all due respect I am aware that none of these statements capture the intent of those who wrote this song – but – those are the words – and – most young children will not grasp the actual intent – most who sing this song will not receive an explanation of the intended meaning of the text – but they WILL remember the text.

I hear some of you saying, “Oh, come on, it is an innocent harmless little children’s song.” Maybe – maybe not – but – we do learn what we sing.

However – many many songs have been composed that are more appropriate for young children – both text and music. This is certainly one instance when just because we have always done it in the past does not mean that we must continue to do it in the future.

Just some of my thoughts for our consideration and community conversation.

In the next post we will begin to consider the matter of inclusive language in hymn texts – almost always a superb way to generate interesting and lively conversation.