I first encountered “Let There Be Peace On Earth” years ago when I was student-teaching with the Cartersville Middle School band. The high school chorus met in the same wing of the building as the band, and I should have recognized then that I was destined for choral, not band, conducting. When the choral director saw me hanging around the door, listening to their rehearsal, she invited me to come in and sing along. “Let There Be Peace on Earth” was one of the songs they were rehearsing for their spring concert.
It was a nice arrangement that was, as I recall, the culmination of the program. The tune was pretty, and it had a line about God - “With God as our Father, brothers all are we, let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony.”
Working in a secular environment, I appreciated it because I knew that any reference to God could move mysteriously in someone’s heart. In the months before I became a Christian, I listened to “Jesus Christ, Superstar” over and over, drawn to the person of Christ that shone through the imperfect medium of a rock opera intended for a Broadway audience. The wind of God’s Spirit blows where it will. I enjoyed “Let There Be Peace on Earth” in the context of that school concert, though years later I was very surprised to see it in the Methodist hymnal and even more surprised when I read the change in text.
Like generations before me, I was taught that the word “brothers,” in many contexts, meant brothers and sisters. Male terminology could be gender-neutral. Later generations have not been taught the same way, and in a well-intentioned attempt to be inclusive, the line that mentioned God was changed to “With God our Creator, children all are we.” But the original sentiment of the song, written by a woman, is that we are united as siblings because God is our Father, not reduced to children because we share a Creator. This is not a small point. The song is already very “me” centered, not God-centered. I don’t think the original wording should be included in the hymnal for reasons I’ll state below, but the change in wording removes significant connection to God at all.
In Romans 12:18 we are instructed “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” This may be the verse that some may have used to connect the song with Christian theology. But note the wording in the Bible verse. There is no illusion that this is going to be easy. Other versions use similar wording - “do all that you can to live at peace with everyone,” “try your best to live at peace with everyone.” There is no idealized hand-holding as we skip into the sunrise of a new day. Our Lord came as the prince of peace, but he also calls us to take up his cross and follow him. By nature of his call, a Christian is never going to be in “perfect harmony” with anyone on this earth. We may be able to live at peace as far as it depends on us, but there should be no illusions that this is going to be the work of children. (And anyone who has spent much time with children is under no illusion that they are examples of perfect harmony.) We are to come to Jesus with the faith of little children (Matt. 19:14), but as we grow in Christ we are to partake of “meat, not milk” (I Cor. 3:2) - solid food - and move on to become teachers ourselves (Heb. 5:12-14).
We have been “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13) Christians literally belong to the supernatural, eternal kingdom of God while living on this earth. Being at peace on this earth takes work, prayer, discernment, and, at times, a degree of detachment from sentimentalism.
There is a reference to “perfect peace” in the Bible. Isaiah 26:3 tells us that God will keep in “perfect peace’ those whose minds are faithful, those who trust him. Trusting God means giving our lives to him. This is not peace that is brought about as a result of our vows to be at peace or our intentions to stay peaceful “each moment.” The suggestion that we can, with good intentions, bring about peace on earth or even in our own lives, without relying on God, is a serious error.
Much of the song is idealized and exaggerated - are we really taking a “solemn vow” to take “each moment” and live “each moment” in peace “eternally?” What in scripture, world history, or our own lives gives us any idea that we have the power to do such things? Why, in a worship service for Christians, are we singing about making vows that we know we cannot keep apart from a moment to moment dependence on God?
Please hear this is the spirit in which it is intended - I’m referring to songs that Christians sing together as part of our worship. “Jesus Christ, Superstar” can still move me to tears, but I’m not advocating for the inclusion of “What’s the buzz, tell me what’s-a happenin’” in upcoming hymnals. I read recently that while Anglicans have the Book of Common Prayer and Presbyterians have the Westminster Confession, Methodists have their hymnal. Let’s guard what we are saying when we sing together in worship.
Contrast the text of “Let There Be Peace On Earth” with a few other songs from our hymnal-
Sweet Hour of Prayer
“In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found release, and thus escaped the tempter’s snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.” This hymn writer has learned that the solution for anxiety, depression, and temptation is prayer. A good solid hour of prayer. What problems in our lives and world would be solved, what peace would be achieved, if we really spent an hour in prayer on any kind of regular basis?
It is Well with My Soul
“Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.” Most of you know the story behind this song. Notice the act of will involved; the grieving father who wrote these words is affirming a deep, mysterious truth that he has been taught, not affirming a sentiment.
Blessed Assurance
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long…” Fanny Crosby was blind, but she could see and express great spiritual truths in an economy of words.
And Can It Be
“He left his father’s throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!), emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race. ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!” You can’t beat Charles Wesley for theology! The only problem with this great hymn “And Can It Be,” is that the tune is very hard to sing. But it is worth the effort and should be included more often.
“Terri, you are overthinking this. Why can’t we just sing the song?”
We can, with one request on my part. Let’s not end congregational favorites with it. If someone requests it, I’ll be professional and get it going, but we will need to follow it with something that affirms what we as Christians believe.
