Hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
God, with joy we look around us
At your world's diversity.
Folk of every kind surround us
And you call your church to see:
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love!
In the times we've hurt each other,
Lord, we've hurt the ones you bless.
Hating sister, cursing brother,
We've denied what you express:
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love!
God, you sent a Savior to us,
Breaking walls that would divide.
By your Spirit, now work through us
As we witness side by side:
All are made in your own image!
All are people whom you love!
Hymn Use Permission: Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009) includes a permission note for those who own this book to use this hymn (along with the 76 other new hymns in the book) in their local church's worship services. People who do not own Songs of Grace are asked to contact Carolyn (bcgillette@comcast.net) for permission to use the hymn and to get a copy of the hymn formatted for worship bulletin use.
A seminary classmate, Richard Lanford, was serving as the pastor at St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Skokie, Illinois, when the Ku Klux Klan announced they were going to have a rally in front of a Cook County Courthouse a few days before Christmas. Richard asked that a new hymn be written that the churches in the community could sing to counter the hate group's rally. The hymn tune is a traditional Christmas tune, reflecting the season of year when it was first sung. The hymn has since been used by many churches as part of their annual celebrations of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
We hope and pray that there is less prejudice than there used to be — that things are getting better — but we still see attitudes of hatred, intolerance and fear in too many places. You know where it exists in your own community. You know the work that still needs to be done.
Colossians 1:19 reminds us of the meaning of Christ's coming into our world: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross." Jesus Christ is the one who tears down the walls that divide us. What walls of hatred and prejudice need to be taken down in your community? In your life?
When this hymn was first sung by churches struggling to respond to a Klan rally in their community, they had a creative response beyond the hymn. In addition to inviting people of faith to attend services in their houses of worship, they also encouraged them to pledge money for a group working to end racism, the Southern Poverty Law Center. So, even as the Klan rally was going on outside, people of faith were responding with acts of worship, peace and justice.
Copied from Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009).
- Check out the rest of this web site for other wonderful hymns.
- Consider buying Carolyn's two books of hymns that give permission to use the book's hymns in a local church: Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000) and Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009)
- Share the hymn and her hymns web site with people in your church and other online friends in other churches.
- Check out A Dozen Ways to Support Carolyn's Hymn-writing (including hymn use permission).