There is a eucharistic hymn that we sing a lot at my local parish, "Lord, who at your first Eucharist did pray" (William H. Turton). (We use UNDE ET MEMORES.) I don't love it, but I'm happy to have a text based on John 17 that we're singing. In theory. In practice I hate singing it because of one particular stanza.
The problem for me is stanza 3. Quoted from memory, it reads (Worship 4, 954)
We pray for those who wander from your fold
O bring them back, Good Shepherd of the sheep
Back to the faith which saints believed of old
Back to the church which still that faith does keep... Refrain.
In my current local context, and given the other verses which speak of church unity, it seems to suggest praying for Christian members of other churches who have "wandered" from the fold and church of Rome. This understanding of other Christians is mistaken, hurtful, and counterproductive for contemporary ecumenical dialogue. I don't yet know exactly what William Turton, who was an Anglo-Catholic, I believe (part of the Oxford Movement), meant by this verse, but that isn't relevant in the present pastoral context.
In honor of the Week of Christian Unity that begins today, I decided to adapt stanza 3 this week. Surprisingly, my son Thomas (now 11), enthusiastically asked to help me. It turns out that he has a good sensibility for hymn texts, and he easily understood the theological principle at stake. So we spent some time Sunday rewriting the text.
Stanza three (in the version above) extends the John 17 core of the hymn by drawing from the imagery of John 10, Christ the gate (not often remembered, and I didn't attempt to resuscitate it here) and the Good Shepherd. We stayed with this image and worked outward from John 10:14-16 (NRSV): "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." In addition to these verses, we drew on language from John 17. Here's the result:
We long for those who rest in other folds;
They hear your voice, Good Shepherd of the sheep.
Expand in faith each church your love enfolds,
Who gather by your call your word to keep.
Thus may we all one bread, one body be
In this blest sacrament of unity.
Realistically, I don't expect anyone but me (and maybe Thomas) to start singing this stanza, but if anyone wants to, I'm sharing it CC-BY-NC 4.0. Credit Kimberly and Thomas Belcher.
Blessed Week of Christian Unity. May we refuse to stop walking until we find ourselves one flock with one Shepherd.
