Today I've been working on a session with our students looking at the language of hymns and the way words can become problematic over time or in certain contexts.  One of the hymns I had chosen, quite innocuously, because I love it's imagery of God at different ages all at once, is Brian Wren's 'Bring Many Names', a song I learned in its final version not long after I moved to Glasgow.  Hunting for a recording today, the one I found turned out to be closer to the version in Wren's book 'What Language shall I Borrow'  which I assume has the original version of verse about 'young, growing God' - quite different from the 'definitive version' which, in itself has moved beyond the unintentionally 'ableist' language of the middle version.

Curious to see a move away from a God who can learn to a God who observes (though probably more palatable for for most contexts).  And interesting to see the change from metaphorical blindness (long before it would have been described as ableist) to a calling out of falsehood (possibly giving more 'intent' to human greed than the 'unintended consequence' of not being able to recognise it?).

Anyway, it entertained me for longer than it should have done... and I still love the hymn.