Transgender words for familiar hymns

Transgender Week of Awareness begins today. In anticipation of this week I have thought with so much sadness remembering those who have lost their lives because of their gender expression. However what keeps coming to me are these new words to deeply familiar tunes — I keep singing them in my mind. Originally written for my Pilgrim Press book (with Leanne McCall Tigert) Transgendering Faith — Identity, Sexuality and Spirituality, they have returned to me legally since the book went out of print. I want to celebrate! And in the name of those who have died I want to say — No more, never again … as God is our witness!

Just as I am

Just as I am, your holy child,
my truth so fragile, undefiled,
I turned to you and then you smiled –
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am though others curse,
and label me – profane, perverse.
Now — all your love, my universe.
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Breathe on Me, Breath of God

Breathe on me breath of God,
and make my gender true.
Return my earthly shape again,
to that which pleases you.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
teach me to trust my heart,
A woman’s song or man’s bright eye,
True to your matchless art.

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace, expressed in change —
in voice, in shape, in stance.
As butterfly from chrysalis,
my spirit starts to dance.

So many years the questions churned —
my life within,without.
But now my body has returned,
and hope replaces doubt.

For the Beauty

For the joy of human form
shaped to meet the inner soul.
Man or woman, each reborn,
flowering out, becoming whole —

God of all to you we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For transgendered rainbow cast
after floods of human tears,
arks of safety in the past, —
claiming faith and conquering fears.

God of all, to you we raise —
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love –
partners named by church and state,
allies here and friends above
who, with joy, have silenced hate –

God of all to you we raise –
this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the church with open doors,
for the pews where all may rest,
for each child by love restored,
once outside, now home and blessed –

God of all, to you we raise —
this our hymn of grateful praise.