"Praising You Eternally?"

For the record, the line is "Call us to rejoice in thee." Or it should be, at least. In this case, as in the case of many other modernist vandalizations of the hymnody of the Church, not only the wording, but also the meaning intended by Henry Van Dyke (1862-1933) has been changed. In the original, the flowering meadow and the flashing sea were inviting us to join in their praise of our common Creator. According to the bastardization I was recently subjected to, they seem to be doing it on their own.

Note to the editors of Gather: I still feel like I've been punched in the gut whenever I go to sing a classic hymn from memory and you change the text and make me look like a fool for belting out the right words.