Hymn #177: God of Change and Glory | First Congregational Church

Alvin Allison Carmines Jr. (b. 1936) was commissioned to write this hymn in 1973 for the Assembly of the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. The text expresses the diversity and acceptability of all human gifts.

Al Carmines was ordained to the United Church of Christ ministry in 1960. He was pastor at Judson Memorial Church in New York’s Greenwich Village for twenty years before moving to Rauschenbusch United Church of Christ, also in New York City.

Al Carmines wrote this tune to accompany his own words and named it KATHERINE after his mother. The hymn often appears in hymnals under its familiar title “Many Gifts, One Spirit.”

Al Carmines has served as adjunct professor of musical theater at Columbia University. He is the recipient of five Obie Awards, the Drama Desk Award, and the Vernon Rice Award.