South Manchester Reporter, England
Nov 18 2004
Church turns Joseph into a `new man’
REVEREND Greg Forster: Loves the new carol.
A TRENDY church has turned the biblical Joseph into a touchy-feely
`new man’.
Instead of the age-old image of Joseph as a reluctant father, St
Wilfrid’s Church in Northenden has reincarnated the famous biblical
figure as a sensitive soul firmly in touch with his feminine side.
In a Christmas service on December 2, parishioners will get their
first taste of a new carol by singer/songwriter Ian Vesty, a former
Buddhist whose jolly ditty Joseph of Nazareth was written as an
antidote to the rather more austere carols from the Victorian and
Medieval eras.
The song – in which Joseph dotes on a pregnant Mary and accepts the
Virgin Birth despite having doubts – has been endorsed by the Rev
Greg Forster at the 19th-century church.
He said: “I’m very happy with the carol; it sticks strictly to the
scriptures and the gospel according to Matthew, Luke and John.
“It is saying that Joseph went along with what Mary was telling him
even if he didn’t know what it was about.
“Ian’s lyrics are teasing words. The song is all about making people
think of Joseph in a new, much better light rather than the darker
versions we’ve had before.”
The new image of Jospeh is very close to the one I read in the bible,
and is far more sympathetic with him than the one depicted in the old
Victorian and Medieval songs.”
Unlike in more traditional carols, in which Joseph was mainly
depicted as an old man courting a very young Virgin Mary, Ian’s
lyrics depict the carpenter as a bit of a soft touch.
Lines such as “Since you’re with child and we know it’s not me but a
gift from on high, And I know in your heart and that’s all that
matters to me,” turn Joseph into a retrospective new man of his day.
In the second verse, Joseph spares a heavily-pregnant Mary the
ignominoy of being presented to his relatives.
Instead, she is taken straight to the inn where, in the gospel
according to Ian Vesty, she gives birth prematurely after the rigours
of her long journey on the back of a donkey.
Rev Forster goes along with this too. He said: “The bible doesn’t say
that Mary gave birth prematurely, but it’s something I suspect as
well after all that travelling.”
In comparsion to the famous 12th-century song the Cherry Tree Carol,
in which Joseph casts doubt on the Virgin Birth, Joseph of Nazareth
depicts its eponymous character almost as a slave to Mary’s wishes
rather than a hard-headed sceptic.
Ian, who has tried several faiths but no longer goes to church, said:
“It occurred to me that here is this man who is engaged to be married
to a young girl and she tells him, `Okay, I’m now pregnant’.
“I think he was in love with this woman because obviously he went
along with the Virgin Birth without really understanding it.
“The difference between my lyrics and the old carols is that mine
suggests Joseph was a changed man after he was visited in his dream
by the angel who told him of the Virgin Birth, whereas in the old
ones he was seen as a unbeliever until the miracle actually
happened.”
Ian’s song lyrics are not the first time St Wilfrid’s has strayed
from strict religious traditions. Three months ago, the South
Manchester Reporter told how Rev Forster had changed the words to the
famous hymn I Vow to Thee My Country to make it, as he put it, `less
nationalistic and more Christian’.
Ian will be selling copies of Jospeh of Nazareth on CD format at the
Christmas carol service on Thursday, December 2. All proceeds from
the CDs, which also feature The Cherry Tree and his own song Armenian
Mass, will go to the Booth Centre, a drop-in for the destitute at
Manchester Cathedral.