Listen: By His Wounds (Brian Littrell, Mac Powell, Mark Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman, from the 2007 album Glory Revealed, iTunes link)
(There should be an embedded audio file above and a play arrow, but sometimes WordPress has been balky recently with embedded audio. Should the song not be showing up, or not playing, you can find a YouTube version here.)
Listen:Stricken Smitten and Afflicted (Fernando Ortega, from his 2005 Album Beginnings, iTunes link)
(There should be an embedded audio file above and a play arrow, but sometimes WordPress has been balky recently with embedded audio. Should the song not be showing up, or not playing, you can find a YouTube version here.)
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, See Him dying on the tree! ’Tis the Christ by man rejected; Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He! ’Tis the long expected prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord; Proofs I see sufficient of it: ’Tis a true and faithful Word.
Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, Was there ever grief like His? Friends through fear His cause disowning, Foes insulting his distress: Many hands were raised to wound Him, None would interpose to save; But the deepest stroke that pierced Him Was the stroke that Justice gave.
Ye who think of sin but lightly, Nor suppose the evil great, Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the Sacrifice appointed! See Who bears the awful load! ’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man, and Son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation, Here the refuge of the lost. Christ the Rock of our salvation, Christ the Name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded! Sacrifice to cancel guilt! None shall ever be confounded Who on Him their hope have built.
O Lord, you received affronts without number from your blasphemers, yet each day you free captive souls from the grip of the ancient enemy.
You did not avert your face from the spittle of perfidy, yet you wash souls in saving waters.
You accepted your scourging without murmur, yet through your mediation you deliver us from endless chastisements.
You endured ill-treatment of all kinds, yet you want to give us a share in the choirs of angels in glory everlasting.
You did not refuse to be crowned with thorns, yet you save us from the wounds of sin.
In your thirst you accepted the bitterness of gall, yet you prepare yourself to fill us with eternal delights.
You kept silence under the derisive homage rendered you by your executioners, yet you petition the Father for us although you are his equal in divinity.
You came to taste death, yet you were the Life and had come to bring it to the dead. Amen.
(Note: this contains only a few of our 2014 Good Friday entries, click on the first link below to see all the latest entries)
We’ve posted many fantastic Good Friday quotes and devotionals in recent years. Here are a links to some of our past posts for Good Friday. (The entries below are in reverse chronological order from 2013 – 2006, not in order of importance or preference.)
Here are all the worship songs we’ve included in various Devotional entries in past years during Holy Week. In most cases accompanying devotionals are also linked. I’ve also included some music from several favorite Lenten devotional posts.
Wash Me, Lord (Ed Kerr of Harvest, 1988 live concert video)
What Wondrous Love (Fernando Ortega, from his album Beginnings). The link is to a YouTube video. Note: in the playlist below, I’ve substituted Cynthia Clawson’s version of this hymn from her fantastic 2004 album Prayer & Plainsong, since my only copy of Fernando Ortega’s version is protected by DRM.)
Modern hymnwriters Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend have written a powerful hymn for Maundy Thursday: Gethsemane. (Here’s an iTunes link for a version from Stuart Townend’s album Creation Sings)
GETHSEMANE
To see the King of heaven fall
In anguish to His knees,
The Light and Hope of all the world
Now overwhelmed with grief.
What nameless horrors must He see,
To cry out in the garden:
Oh, take this cup away from me
Yet not my will but Yours,
Yet not my will but Yours.
To know each friend will fall away,
And heaven’s voice be still,
For hell to have its vengeful day
Upon Golgotha’s hill.
No words describe the Saviour’s plight –
To be by God forsaken
Till wrath and love are satisfied
And every sin is paid
And every sin is paid
What took Him to this wretched place,
What kept Him on this road?
His love for Adam’s cursed race,
For every broken soul.
No sin too slight to overlook,
No crime too great to carry,
All mingled in this poisoned cup ‚
And yet He drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all,
The Saviour drank it all.
From Pastor Scotty Smith’s Maundy Thursday prayer, posted today at Heavenward:
Your disrobing to wash their feet was with a full view to your being stripped naked to wash their hearts and our hearts, my heart. What wondrous love is this indeed! How wide, long, high, and deep? Don’t let us ever forget that the measure of your love is not just the basin and towel of the upper room, but your cross and death at Calvary. There simply is no greater love—none.
art credit: Francisco de Zurbarán. “Agnus Dei” found at StevenSizer.com
***
Earlier this Lent, I came across two posts at the King’s English blog which I highly recommend as aids for reflecting on the Passover symbolism and the Exodus and their meaning for those who believe in Christ, our Passover, the Sacrifice Lamb:
Passover: I HIGHLY recommend reading it all! But here’s an excerpt:
It’s not about the LORD inspecting each household to see whether it’s up to scratch. It’s onlyabout whether the household is sheltering under the blood. That is the only issue.
And it’s not even about how much faith you have in the blood. If the blood is applied at all, you’re saved. Strong faith in the blood and wavering faith in the blood lead to exactly the same outcome. Because it’s not the faith in the blood that saves. It’s the blood.
Do we see how Passover teaches us about our Christian lives? Christ is our Lamb. And His death on the cross was the true Passover – a plague of judgement that provides salvation for all who shelter under Him.
Therefore our salvation is entirely down to Him. It’s not about the quality of our living, speaking, acting, praying. It’s not even about the quality of our own faith. It’s only about the blood. It’s the quality of His death, not the quality of our life. Our salvation has nothing to do with our performance and everything to do with His performance.
Passover takes our eyes off our sins and off ourselves. Our salvation is entirely outside ourselves. It’s all about Jesus our Lamb.
If you’re saved from judgement by Jesus’ sacrifice, won’t you just keep on wallowing in sin? Doesn’t the cross mean that Christians will be complacent about sin and go on indulging in it?”
Actually the opposite is true. Jesus doesn’t save us for sin, He saves us from sin. And here’s how. He doesn’t just die for us, He also rises to new life for us.
Or to put it in Exodus terms. We don’t just enjoy a Passover, we also experience a Red Sea. We’re not just sheltered under the blood of the Lamb, we’re also brought out of the land of slavery.
Those who benefited from the sacrificial lamb were also those who left Egypt.
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover. (Exodus 12:11)
The lamb was not given so that God’s people could enjoy Egypt. It was given to bring them out. Any who said ‘Yes’ to the substitutionary sacrifice were also saying ‘No’ to the old life.
(There should be an embedded audio file and play arrow above, sometimes WordPress is being balky with embedded music. If the song does not show up or does not play, there is a YouTube version here.)
This poem by Anglican blogger Teresa Roberts Johnson, who blogs at Angliverse, was originally posted on Feb. 7 and I discovered it quite early in Lent, and have kept it bookmarked for a Maundy Thursday post, as we reflect on Christ, the Sacrifice Lamb.
***
Thou, God’s Lamb, our Passover art,
And from Thy side deliverance flows;
Yea, Thy dread wounds did death impart
New life, for in Thee we arose.
Now from Thy side a river pours
To cleanse Thine own from every stain,
From every evil God abhors:
It was for this the Lamb was slain.
Now Thou dost give us bread and wine,
And perfect rest that naught disturbs,
For Thou has made us wholly Thine
And banned for aye the bitter herbs.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me.
It had to have been mortifying. The Master, with a towel wrapped around His waist like a slave, kneeling to wash His disciples’ dirty smelly feet covered with the dust of Jerusalem. Though Peter protested, he was rebuked to submit, to comprehend the symbolism of the act.
It was this reversal that carried Him to the cross, the ultimate cleansing coming not just from His hands, but from His wounds, from His suffering, from His blood.
So He continues to wash off our everyday grime and gently, tenderly wipes us clean, knowing, realizing we will only get soiled again.
What wondrous love is this?
***
Songs for worship:
Wash Me, Lord (Ed Kerr of Harvest, 1988 live concert video)
What Wondrous Love (Fernando Ortega, from his album Beginnings). The link is to a YouTube video. Note: in the playlist below, I’ve substituted Cynthia Clawson’s version of this hymn from her fantastic 2004 album Prayer & Plainsong, since my only copy of Fernando Ortega’s version is protected by DRM.)
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)
Jesus, thank you for giving yourself to me. Thank you for being broken for me. Thank you for breaking into my life.
Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:23-25)
Jesus, thank you for pouring out your life-blood for me.
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:26)
Holy Spirit, help us join with Jesus and the other disciples in singing hymns and songs of praise to God our Father this week. Thank you.
A word received: Keep coming to me for what only I can do.
Maundy Thursday: 102 * 142, 143; Lam. 2:10-18: 1 Cor. 10:14-17; 11:27-32: Mark 14:12-25 Maundy Thursday Holy Communion: 78:14-20,23-25; Exodus 12:1-14a; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26(27-32); John 13:1-15 or Luke 22:14-30 Good Friday: 95* & 22 * 40:1-14(15-19),54; Lam. 3:1-9, 19-33: 1 Pet. 1:10-20: John 13:36-38**; : : : : : :: John 19:38-42*** Good Friday Holy Communion: 22:1-21 or 22:1-11 or 40:1-14 or 69:1-23; Isaiah 52:13-53:12 or Genesis 22:1-18 r Wisdom 2:1,12-24; ebrews 10:1-25; John (18:1-40)19:1-37
Notes from the Front Line
***** Start now reading and reflecting on the lessons for Sunday so that you can receive all that God has for you (Easter Day: 118:14-29 or 118:14-17,22-24; Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 25:6-9; Colossians 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; Mark 16:1-8 ).
***** Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012
From: Nigel Mumford
Subject: Daily Quote Dear Philothea,
Do you love God? Does your very soul love God? If you do, you have a name. “Philothea” a soul that loves God. I just thought you should know that! Good to know I think. God to know… You.
~ Fr. Nigel Mumford+
From the Internet Archive site, I’ve been able to pull together this collection of the Lent, Holy Week & Easter devotional citations (quotes / devotionals / prayers) posted by Fr. Al Kimel at his renowned Pontifications blog in 2005.
Note: I’ve found that links to the internet archive are not always all that stable, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It is quite surprising to find any Pontifications archives links working at all because there was a domain name issue (a commercial site bought Fr. Al’s old domain name and subsequently blocked all his archives). The moral of the story: If a link work and you value the post, make a PDF (using http://www.pdfmyurl.com or a similar site) or save it in some other fashion. I regret that I am unable to take the time early this Maundy Thursday morning to somehow preserve these entries.
While reviewing some old 2004 Holy Week posts from the L&B archives at the Internet Archive site, I came across a post with links to 18 Holy Week devotional posts compiled by Fr. Al Kimel at his old blog Pontifications. Amazingly, the archive links are working. (I say “amazingly” because I had been under the impression that the blog’s archives had been totally destroyed and lost when Fr. Kimel lost the original domain name to the site). Anyway… it is a great pleasure to find these links work.
Note: I’ve found that links to the internet archive are not always all that stable, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It is quite surprising to find any Pontifications archives links working at all because there was a domain name issue (a commercial site bought Fr. Al’s old domain name and subsequently blocked all his archives). The moral of the story: If a link works and you value the post, make a PDF (using http://www.pdfmyurl.com or a similar site) or save it in some other fashion. I regret that I am unable to take the time early this Maundy Thursday morning to somehow preserve these entries, but hopefully the links will remain valid for some time.
After blogging pretty much every day in Lent, I (Karen), need some time away from the computer for the next 4 -5 days and do not intend to browse the blogosphere and may not even to log in here to Lent & Beyond from Thursday – Sunday.
However, I’ve been hard at work in recent days pre-posting a full line up of devotional entries, prayers, poems, pictures, music that will appear over the coming days. Generally there will be 3 – 6 devotional entries spaced throughout each day.
I’ll regret not being able to post new Holy Week and Easter Day devotional entries from some of my favorite blogs. But for those of you who would like some ideas of where you might find other great devotional posts throughout the Triduum, this post and this one [the links here take you to specific posts but you can click on the home page to find new entries] will give you some excellent blogs to browse.
I hope and pray that everything posted in the coming days will glorify and exalt Jesus and aid each of our readers to more fully reflect on and worship Him for “His mighty acts” and His perfect obedience to the Father.
Posted by anglicanprayer 
Lent & Beyond 