Writing an Inclusive Carol - A Modern Magnificat?

Last night I took part in Queer Carols with Pride Church Leeds.

We had an awesome time singing together and sharing some Christmas Joy with those who had come into the city centre doing their Christmas shopping.

This morning, one of my colleagues pointed out how non-inclusive the words of many traditional carols are. Last night, I wrote an LGBTQI+ verse to 'God rest you merry gentlemen.' This morning, I wrote a few more verses, picking up on some of the themes from the Magnificat as well as reflecting much of the work I have been involved in over the last couple of years.

I may be using some of these verses on Sunday, responding to the idea from my sermon that when in Matthew 11:4-5 , Jesus says:

"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them."

This is more than simply "hearing" the good news.

The Greek verb εὐαγγελίζομαι carries a richer semantic range than simply “someone tells someone else good news.” It can also convey:

• to receive good news

• to be the beneficiaries of good news

• to find oneself in a situation where good news is happening to you

  
  

In Biblical Greek, the passive or middle forms (here, εὐαγγελίζονται) can imply that the subject is not simply hearing information, but undergoing the reality of the good news, participating in its effects.

I hope this rewrite of God Rest You Merry Gentleman reflects something of that idea of the marginalised experiencing the Good News of the Gospel.

1.      God lifts the lowly and downcast

Reversing earth’s old ways;

The hungry fed, the lost restored,

And hearts sing songs of praise.

God’s mercy shines for all the small,

The broken and the meek

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

2.      God rest you queer and questioning,

Let nothing bring dismay;

For Love delights in all of you

And meets you on the way.

In every sacred story heard,

Your lives have voice and say

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

3.      God rest you, fierce and disabled ones,

Rise up without dismay;

For God is breaking down the walls

That bar you from the way.

Your bodies bear the image

That oppression can’t betray

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

4.      God rest you wandering migrants all,

Fear not the road you tread;

For God walks with the exiled ones

Wherever hope has led.

No border can deny the grace

By which your lives are fed

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

5.      God rest you, all whose daily lives

Feel heavy or constrained;

For God draws near to weary hearts

Where hope seems thinned or strained.

Your worth is never measured

By what’s lost or what’s attained

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

6.      God rest you, all who stand against

The weight of racist wrong;

For God upholds the ones who fight

Where hatred has stayed strong.

Your voices call the world to heal

Where harm and hatred hide

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

7.      God rest you, earth and all its kin,

From the oceans to the skies;

For God will heal what we have scarred

And raise what greed belies.

The trees, the seas, the creatures call

For justice to arise

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

Lyrics by Paul Coleman December 2025