Max Lucado – the Main Event

The Cross IS the Main Event of human history.

Listen to Max Lucado’s reflection on this truth from the Holy Week musical “He Chose the Nails” (a great CD released in 2000, accompanying Max Lucado’s devotional of the same name – now out of print.)

 

 

Here is a partial transcript of the words:

[…] History has only one main event.
Scripture has only one main event.
Others matter but only one is essential . . .
David’s defeat of Goliath might reduce your timidity but only the cross prepares you for eternity.

For if there is no cross of Christ, then there is no truth to Christ . . .

To remove the cross is to remove the hingepin from the door of hope, the door of your hope.
For if there is no cross, then there is no sacrifice for sin.
If there is no sacrifice for sin, how will you face the sinless God?
Will you cleanse your own sin?

And if there is no cross of Christ, then there is no resurrection of Christ.
And if there is no resurrection, how will you live again?
Will you push back your own grave?

[…]

Let there be no mistake, the cross is not an event in history,
it is The Event of History.

– words courtesy of Janell Price’s blog Releasing the Word

Music for Good Friday- John Michael Talbot- Prayer Before the Cross

One of my favorite worship songs – a musical prayer – just played in my Good Friday playlist.  I’m spending the evening listening to music focused on the Cross.  I thought I’d share this here since it’s from an older album that may not be so widely known or played these days.

(John Michael Talbot,  from Troubadour of the Great King, 1981.  iTunes link)

We adore You, most holy Lord
Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ
As we gather together in this place
And throughout all the world

We worship You, Lord
We adore you, Oh Lord
And we bless Your holy name
For by Your cross
You have redeemed us
You have redeemed all the world

Trevin Wax: My Jesus – Dead

Trevin Wax has written an amazing poem /meditation for Good Friday.  I’m reproducing the whole entry here.  Thanks Trevin for such profound words. (I’ve also tagged this under Holy Saturday, since it makes a good Holy Saturday reflection as well.)

Art Credit: Carracci,Annibale The dead Christ c 1582, Stuttgart Staatsga

And Jesus called out with a loud voice,
“Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit.”
Saying this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46)

~~~~~

He is dead: this man from Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, the Lord of the world.

With His dying breaths, He spoke words of forgiveness, finality, and faith.

But now the breathing has ceased, and the lungs that exhaled forgiveness are deflated. My Jesus – dead.

The eyes that looked at the crowds with compassion are closed. My Jesus – dead.

The arms that reached out to the unworthy are lifeless. My Jesus – dead.

The hands that touched the leper are driven through with spikes. My Jesus – dead.

The ears that heard the cries of blind men are deaf. My Jesus – dead.

The lips that that told news of a kingdom are stilled. My Jesus – dead.

The voice that calmed the seas is silent. My Jesus – dead.

The feet that walked on water are stopped. My Jesus – dead.

The heart that bled for sinful humanity no longer beats. My Jesus – dead.

The Bread from heaven, broken on earth.

The Light of the world, in the shadow of death.

The Vine that bears fruit, withered and fallen.

The Gateway to God, now sealed in a tomb.

The Shepherd of souls, struck down by the sheep.

The resurrection and life, a crucified corpse.

My Jesus – dead.

~~~~~

He loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Emily Polis Gibson – In the midst of sorrow, a terrible question (a Good Friday reflection in memory of the Kenyan martyrs)

Reflecting on some of the writings of Frederich Buechner and Julia Esquivel (a Guatemalan poet and theologian), Emily Gibson has posted a powerful and beautiful Good Friday entry which she has dedicated to the memory of the 100+ Christian college students brutally murdered in Kenya this week in yet another persecution of our faith.

I’m posting here one of her quotations of Buechner and three stanzas of her original poem which spoke so powerfully to my heart as I think of and remember those who have been martyred for their faith.  Thanks be to God that through His suffering Christ HAS conquered death and hatred even if it often seems they have the upper hand in this life.  We know this life is just a shadow, and that the Cross shows we can rely totally on the Father’s love for us.  There is nothing He has spared to bring us into His joy, not even the life of His own Son.

…{His is} the love for the enemy–
love for the one who does not love you
but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain.
The tortured’s love for the torturer.
This is God’s love. It conquers the world.
~Frederich Buechner from The Magnificent Defeat

This is God with a man’s beating heart,
who bleeds from open wounds of a man’s skin,
while nailed to a tree,
considering His torturers below
and forgives them.

[…]
This is God with a man’s frailty and fear,
feeling forsaken,
conquering death and hatred
by dying for us.

This is God with a man’s last breath
giving His spirit into the hands of His father
and in so doing, ensures we live forever.

Go read and reflect on the full entry.  It’s one of Emily’s best.

And please keep praying for the families of the students killed in Kenya yesterday.

Pray for Kenya – Good Friday statement from Abp. Wabukala

Somehow the suffering of Christians in Kenya today following yesterday’s killing of 147 students by Al Shabbab terrorists, as well as the memory of the recent martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt brings Good Friday into focus much more sharply this year for me.  Below is the statement and the request for prayer from the Anglican Archbishop of Kenya Eliud Wabukala.  May the Lord who suffered at the hands of evil men be near to those families who have suffered at the hands of terrorists.

***

Good Friday statement from the Primate of Kenya

‘Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother’
John 19:25

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this Good Friday we gather in our churches across Kenya in the shadow of a great and terrible evil. People who deal in death have slaughtered 147 people in Garissa, most of them students, and brought wrenching anguish to their families and a deep sadness to our nation.

These young people died because they were Kenyans and they were Christians. This attack was a calculated manifestation of evil designed to destroy our nation and our faith, but on this Good Friday we are reminded that the very worst evil can do is not the last word.

Through spite and blatant miscarriage of justice, Jesus dies the agonising death of the cross, but his last words are ‘it is finished’. The cross was not a tragic accident, but the fulfilment of God’s purpose to reconcile men and women to himself through the atoning death of his Son, a reality gloriously confirmed by his resurrection from the dead.

But we must not rush on to Easter Day too quickly.  Today we stand at the cross with Mary and the other women, heartbroken by loss and suffering and despite the horror before their eyes, not running away.

Horror is fresh in our minds too and let us not run away or deny it, but stay by the cross. We stay with Jesus, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we share in the grief of Mary and we share in the grief of those who have been so shockingly bereaved, but as Mary was to discover, we know that this is not the end of the story.

Jesus death upon the cross was not in vain. By his death, death has been destroyed. The stone rolled away and the empty tomb of Jesus assures us that death does not have the last word. As we think of those dear ones who died at Garissa because they were Christians, let us remember the promise of the Lord Jesus that nothing can separate them and us from his love.

Above all, let us resolve today that these deaths, and those of other Kenyans who have died previously at the hands of Al Shabaab, will not be in vain. We call on the government to do all in its power to protect the lives of its citizens and we call on the world community to recognise that this latest outrage is not just an attack on Kenya, but part of an assault on world peace. The time has come for the world to unite as never before in defeating this growing menace.

While governments have a vital role, even more important are the hearts and minds of ordinary people. Let us covenant together before God that we will never ever surrender our nation or our faith in Christ to those who glory in death and destruction. We will not be intimidated because we know and trust in the power of the cross, God’s power to forgive our sins, to turn death into the gate of glory and to make us his children for ever.

Amen
Archbishop, Anglican Church of Kenya

via the GAFCON website

A Poem for Good Friday – Amy Carmichael: Lest We Forget

I know I p0sted this last year, but I think it is my favorite Good Friday poem of all time. We have so many questions, there is so much we don’t understand about suffering and pain, but Calvary has the power to still all our questions with the truth that Christ suffered more than we ever will, and in His death is our life.

Lent & Beyond

I’ve been re-reading a bunch of Amy Carmichael’s poetry from her books Toward Jerusalem, and Mountain Breezes, this Lent.  Here’s one of her poems that’s appropriate for Good Friday.  I particularly like the last line… it reminds me to pray for those who are lost and wandering, that they would find their home, rest and joy in Christ.  How incredible that Christ’s pain was for our joy, and His death became our life – fullness of life for now and eternity.

Home of our hearts, lest we forget
What our redemption meant to Thee,
Let our most reverent thoughts be set
Upon Thy Calvary.

We, when we suffer, turn and toss
And seek for ease, and seek again;
But Thou upon Thy bitter cross
Wast firmly fixed in pain.

And in our night star-clusters shine,
Flowers comfort us, and joy of song;
No star, no flower, no song was Thine,

View original post 60 more words

Good Friday entries at Kendall Harmon’s TitusOneNine (2009 – 2015)

Rather than just linking to Kendall Harmon’s Holy Week category at TitusOneNine as I’ve been wont to do on Good Friday in past years, I thought it would be good if I did a round up of some of Kendall’s best Good Friday entries from today (so far) and years’ past…  As I did in last night’s Maundy Thursday roundup, I’ll post several prayers in full, and then post links to quotes, poems, music, sermon excerpts, etc.

A Prayer for Good Friday (I)

Lord Jesus Christ, who for the redemption of mankind didst ascend the cross, that thou mightest enlighten the world that lay in darkness: gather us this day with all they faithful to that same holy cross; that, gazing in penitence upon thy great sacrifice for us, we may be loosed from all our sins, and entering into the mystery of thy passion, be crucified to the vain pomp and power of this passing world; and finding our glory in the cross alone, we may attain at last thy everlasting glory, where thou, the lamb that once was slain, reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

A Prayer for Good Friday (II)

O Christ, who by the thorns pressed upon thy head hast drawn the thorns from the sorrows of this world, and given us a crown of joy and peace: Make us so bold as never to fear suffering, nor to suffer without cheerfulness in thy service; to the glory of thy holy name.

A Prayer for Good Friday (III)

Lord Christ, who didst enter into thy triumph by the hard and lonely way of the cross: May thy courage and steadfast loyalty, thy unswerving devotion to the Father’s will, inspire and strengthen us to tread firmly and with joy the road which love bids us to take, even if it leads through suffering, misunderstanding, and darkness. We ask it for thy sake, who for the joy that was set before thee endured the cross, despising the shame, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

A Prayer for Good Friday (IV)

O God, whose blessed Son endured the loneliness and darkness of the cross, that we might enjoy eternal fellowship with thee: Grant that amidst life’s shadows we may know that we are never forsaken, but that we are ever walking in the light of thy countenance; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Prayer of William Temple

Lord Jesus Christ, who didst for me endure the horror of deep darkness, teach me by the depth of thine agony the vileness of my sin, and so bind me to thyself in bonds of gratitude and love that I may be united with thee in thy perfect sacrifice, my Saviour, my Lord, and my God.

A Prayer of John Wesley

O holy and ever-blessed Jesus, who being the eternal Son of God and most high in the glory of the Father, didst vouchsafe in love for us sinners to be born of a pure virgin, and didst humble thyself unto death, even the death of the cross : Deepen within us, we beseech thee, a due sense of thy infinite love; that adoring and believing in thee as our Lord and Saviour, we may trust in thy infinite merits, imitate thy holy example, obey thy commands, and finally enjoy thy promises; who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, one God, world without end.

And Another Good Friday Prayer

O holy and adorable Redeemer, by whose condemnation we are acquitted, by whose stripes we are healed, by whose death we have life, by whose cross we gain our crown: Keep us, we beseech thee, ever mindful of thy boundless love; and when thou dost call on us to bear for a while thy cross, like Simon of old, make us to rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for thy sake, and accept our feeble sacrifice, through the merits of thine eternal redemption. (W. E. Scudamore (Rector of Ditchingham and Fellow of Saint John’s College, Cambridge)

Still Another Good Friday Prayer

O God, the Father of mankind, who didst suffer thine only Son to be set forth as a spectacle despised, derided, and scornfully arrayed, yet in his humiliation to reveal his majesty: Draw us, we beseech thee, both to behold the Man and to worship the King, immortal, eternal, world without end. Amen.

A Prayer for Good Friday (IX)

Hear us, O merciful Lord, and remember now the hour in which thou didst commend thy blessed spirit into the hands of thy heavenly Father; and so assist us by this thy most precious death, that dying unto the world, we may live unto thee; and that at the hour of our departing from this mortal life, we may be received into thine everlasting kingdom, there to reign with thee, world without end.

A Prayer for Good Friday (VII)

Dear Lord, who hast blessed us with the gift of family life, that we may learn to love and care for others: We praise thee for the example of thy Son Jesus Christ, who even when deserted and betrayed by closest friends took thought for his mother and his disciple. Open our eyes to recognize in all men the claims of kinship, and stir our hearts to serve them as brethren called with us into the sonship of thy love.

A Prayer for Good Friday (VI)

Almighty and eternal God, who in thy great love didst give thine only Son to die for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world: Enable us, we beseech thee, by thy Holy Spirit, to worship thee with reverence, and meditate with humility upon those mighty acts by which thou didst bring redemption to thy people; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

***

Poems, Quotes, Sermon Excerpts…

• John Donne—Good Friday, 1613, Riding Westward
• George Herbert—The Sacrifice
• Richard John Neuhaus on Good Friday
• Of Which Wood Shall we Eat this day? (Martin Luther)
• Lord George Carey’s 2014 Good Friday Sermon
• “The love that Jesus showed on the Cross: love that endures and that saves”
• Good Friday is about the central and pivotal idea of a “happy exchange”
• Good Friday—A Five Year Old Gives Just a Glimpse of What the Cross Really Means
• For I the Lord have slain (John Newton)
• All generations shall lament and bewail themselves more than him (Martin Luther)
• Charles Spurgeon on the Dying Thief
• The Agony  (George Herbert)
• His Damnation our Liberation, His Defeat our Victory (Karl Barth)
• How shall I measure out thy bloud? (George Herbert)
• The Carpenter’s Son (A. E. Housman)
• And so we come to Good Friday (Benedict XVI)
• Ian Poulton’s Good Friday Sermon 2012 – Five Words from Matthew: Surely
• The 2012 Good Friday Homily of Father Raniero Cantalamessa (Preacher of the Papal Household)
• To open that Kingdom to them (St Thérèse of Lisieux)
• Father Cantalamessa’s Good Friday Homily 2011
• Meditations for Good Friday Via Crucis by Augustinian Sister Maria Rita Piccione
• Father Cantalamessa’s Good Friday Homily 2010
• A Ballad of Trees and the Master (–Sidney Lanier 1842-1881 )
• The Seven Last Words
• The Twelve –Allen Tate (1899-1979)
• Who was Jesus? –Attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389)
• Roosters –Elizabeth Bishop (1911 – 1979)
• Father Cantalamessa’s Sermon on Good Friday 2009
• Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of India: Meditations for Good Friday 2009

***

MUSIC & SERMONS – Audio & Video links – (I’m in the process of checking these links, not all may be working)

• From Sweden’s Lund Cathedral—The final Chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion

• St Pauls Cathedral Choir: God So Loved The World (John Stainer)

• Orlando Gibbons – Drop, Drop, Slow Tears

• Johnny Cash & The Carter Family – Were You There (1960)

• Kings College Cambridge Chapel Choir: Faure Pie Jesu and Agnus Dei

• J.S. Bach: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (Choir of King’s College, Cambridge)
  • Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M4uUJibpvw

• A Sermon for Good Friday: Tim Keller on 5 things the Cross Teaches us about Suffering 
  • try this link (web archive)

• Music For Prayer and Meditation on Good Friday 2011—Michael Card’s “Why”
  • try this link

• O Sacred Head Now Wounded – Fernando Ortega

Some short Good Friday quotes

This is my first Holy Week on Twitter, and several pastors and Christian leaders have been tweeting some very encouraging and meaningful short quotes and prayers for Good Friday.  I thought it would be good to compile some of the most striking quotes here.

 

At the cross, Jesus did not merely feel forsaken. He was forsaken. Not only by his disciples, but by God himself. http://t.co/LSzQqLrHFQ

— Desiring God (@desiringGod) April 3, 2015

Jesus endured the horrific agony of Good Friday so that we could share in the spectacular glory of Easter. http://t.co/LSzQqLrHFQ

— Desiring God (@desiringGod) April 3, 2015

Nails didn’t hold Jesus to the cross. Love did. #Jesus pic.twitter.com/KkFVqAsweM

— Tony Evans (@drtonyevans) April 2, 2015

Our God is none other than the God of the Cross – the God who has pledged His own being for us with every drop of His blood. #EnjoyYourDay

— Glen Scrivener ن (@glenscrivener) April 3, 2015

A prayer for Good Friday Love did not die upon that cross but, arms outstretched, still welcomes us, the twisted… http://t.co/4KU3r5yxbo

— John Birch (@faithandworship) April 3, 2015

The man who stands there making no defence, Is God. His hands are tied, His heart is open.#GoodFriday http://t.co/kBoG3QjhTg

— Malcolm Guite (@malcolmguite) April 3, 2015

There can only ever be 1 answer to the question: ‘Can you name the day on which you were saved?’ ‘I was saved on Good Friday’- @malcolmguite

— Ed Thornton (@Edthornton) April 3, 2015

Reason for the cross…Before the cross is for anyone else’s sake, the cross is for God’s sake (John 12:27-28).

— David Platt (@plattdavid) April 3, 2015

Today, he took our ugliness that we might have his loveliness.

— Mike Reeves (@mike_reeves) April 3, 2015

“Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once and He volunteered for it.” @rcsprouljr R C Sproul Jr.

— Scotty Smith (@ScottyWardSmith) April 3, 2015

“To become a man was something, but to become a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer…” Spurgeon

— Matt Redman (@matt_redman) April 3, 2015

I believe as they beat on his beautiful face He turned a torturer’s chair to an altar of grace http://t.co/XcNXFIPEgN #CrucifiedMan

— MakeWayMusic (@MakeWayMusic) April 3, 2015

Good Friday – evidence that no matter how desperate our circumstances, God has been there before us, and will meet us there. #EasterMeans

— Church of England (@c_of_e) April 3, 2015

#eastermeans the greatest sacrifice ever made, and the greatest love ever shown, for the greatest freedom ever given #thankyoujesus

— Hannah Frost (@Happityhan) April 3, 2015

New blog post: Quote of the Week: “Our sin was so great that nothing less than the death of Jesus could save u… http://t.co/TFUR2fT9aB

— jillsavage (@jillsavage) April 3, 2015

1 God + 3 Nails = 4 Given #GoodFriday

— Ann Voskamp (@AnnVoskamp) April 3, 2015

With every strike of the hammer, it looked liked the dark would win. This was God’s masterstroke. #GoodFriday #SundaysComing

— Ann Voskamp (@AnnVoskamp) April 3, 2015

By His love — you are held, By His grace — you are saved. And by His wounds — you are healed. #GoodFriday pic.twitter.com/eAfJPuYNbG

— Ann Voskamp (@AnnVoskamp) April 3, 2015

“When Satan tells me I am a sinner he comforts me immeasurably, since Christ died for sinners.” M. Luther #GoodFriday #gospel

— Alex Hawke (@AlexGTHawke) April 3, 2015

No matter what the controversies of the moment, here’s what matters: Pontius Pilate is still dead, and Jesus of Nazareth is feeling fine.

— Russell Moore (@drmoore) April 3, 2015

Good Friday Quotes. John Piper – The Intentionality of Christ’s Death

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16)

The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love.

“When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”

Therefore, to feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was.

Look at what Jesus said just after that violent moment when Peter tried to cleave the skull of the servant, but only cut off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52–54)

It is one thing to say that the details of Jesus’s death were predicted in the Old Testament. But it is much more to say that Jesus himself was making his choices precisely to see to it that the Scriptures would be fulfilled.

That is what Jesus said he was doing in Matthew 26:54. “I could escape this misery, but how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

I am not choosing to take the way out that I could take because I know the Scriptures. I know what must take place. It is my choice to fulfill all that is predicted of me in the Word of God.

from here:

http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en/devotionals/every-calvary-step-was-love

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-intensity-of-christs-love-and-the-intentionality-of-his-death

A few Good Friday Links

This post is sticky.  New entries follow below.   Note: the Lent 2015 Links post that was at the top of the blog is here, should you need access to those links.

Apologies that Lent devotional blogging has not been possible in recent weeks.  Here are a few Good Friday links that may be of interest:

Our Compilation of various Good Friday poems, quotes, prayers, devotionals

Poems for Good Friday

Good Friday 2014 around the blogosphere

Dr. Peter Toon’s 2004 Reflection on the Good Friday Collects

Good Friday 2014 Index – last year I took a three day Holy Week retreat, which allowed some time for posting a lot of Good Friday entries here at L&B.  This post has links to 15+ Good Friday entries posted last year.

***

Our Good Friday category is here should you want to browse through our past entries.  Here are several sub-categories & tags:

• Good Friday Art
• Good Friday Devotionals
• Good Friday Music (includes hymns & contemporary)
• Good Friday Poems
• Good Friday Quotes
• Good Friday Resources

Easter Quote: The Cross did not become Glorious until the tomb was empty!

Perhaps this should be a Good Friday quote, but I only discovered it after Good Friday had ended:

This Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we will have remembrances and celebrations of the cross. Some crosses will be backlit and draped with cloth. Others will be decorated with lilies. We will sing songs about the Wonderful, Beautiful Cross. All of that is good.

But let me encourage and caution my fellow pastors about something as we honor and praise what Jesus did on the cross. We must leave no room for misunderstanding. Let’s be very clear that this is not a celebration of violence and death, but of Jesus’ victory over it.

I’ve never known a church to glorify violence on purpose. But over the years I’ve heard far too many sermons and watched too many passion plays that seem to emphasize the pain and violence of the cross as if pain was the point.

Pain was never the point.

The cross did not become glorious until the tomb was empty.

Found at Anglicans Ablaze

the original post appears to be by Karl Vaters at New Small Church blog

Classic CCM for Holy Saturday into Easter: Christian Stephens’ The Descent, and Arise

This is the third of three posts with music from Christian Stephens’ self-titled album (1980, Creation records).

On Wednesday I posted 2 songs:  Look What You’ve Done, and Broken and Bleeding.  On Friday, I posted Song of the Cross which is the first part of a trilogy of songs for the Triduum.

Below follow the two additional songs:  The Descent and Arise.   You should listen to and read the lyrics from Song of the Cross before listening to the songs below.  As explained in yesterday’s entry, the songs imagine a dialogue between Jesus and the Father.

Here’s the audio file (the two songs are combined into one track).  The lyrics follow.

(The audio sometimes is slow to load, but it should play. Should there be a problem, use this link.)

 ***

The Descent
[S] = the Son, [F] = the Father

[S] O my Father, can You hear me call?
I need Your light, there’s darkness over all.
I ache to hear Your voice but remain here all alone
Father, when will I begin my journey home?

[F] O my Son, I know You cannot hear.
But I am coming, behold I am very near.
Hold to my words until You hear the trumpet call,
Then You my Son will rise the victor of all!

[S] I ache to hear Your voice, but remain here all alone
Father when will I begin my journey home?

***

Arise

[F] “Arise! And come to me my Son.
Arise! And come to me my Son!”

[S] Father, I feel Your touch of life from above
Lifting me by the power of Your love.
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
[Death] tried to hold me back,
tried to hold me down,
While the power of life lifts me off the ground.
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
Hallelujah, I am alive again!
And I have overcome!
Yes, I have overcome!
Yes, I have overcome!

***

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH!!!

Note: the songs posted are digitized versions of my original vinyl album.  There are some scratches, etc.  I believe the album is out of print, but if anyone knows of a CD or digital version available for purchase, I would love to know so I can link it here and ensure royalties go to the artist.

DEAD! The Author of Life lies in a tomb….

The Passion, detail. Hans Holbein the younger. From Web Gallery of Art.

art credit

How incredible.  Jesus, God Himself, the Author of Life, was nailed to a cross and died, and his Body was placed in a tomb.  How can it be?  A devotional reflection from Desiring God in 2013 reminds us how and why it happened.  The blame rests on US!!

Holy Week makes us uncomfortable. There is glorious life and victory to come on Easter Sunday, but to get there we must pass directly through the darkness of Good Friday. We must remember the day when human malice broke barriers and reached levels of previously unmatched atrocity. The Messiah, the King, come to save mankind, was nailed to an accursed tree and left to die.

There is no immunity for such cosmic treason.

On Good Friday we feel the finger of guilt and culpability rightly shoved into the ribs of humanity:

• “…this Jesus whom you crucified…” (Acts 2:36)

• “…you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life…” (Acts 3:14–15)

• “…whom you crucified…” (Acts 4:10)

• “…whom you killed by hanging him on a tree…” (Acts 5:30)

 

Think on that fact for the next 24 hours….

art credit: (clicking on the image below will give you a larger version)

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, Hans Holbein the Younger, from the Web Gallery of Art.

 

Lent and Beyond: Good Friday 2014 Index

I (Karen) have had the joy and privilege of being able to take a Holy Week retreat the past 2 days, which enabled me to find a a lot of wonderful devotional material online to share here.  I never expected to post so many entries today, but I have been so thankful to spend the day in worship, prayer and reflection through the various devotionals, hymns, poems, etc. that I’ve posted.  Here’s an index of all our Good Friday posts today, starting with the earliest entries first.

• GOOD FRIDAY 2014 (the header post which appeared at the top of the blog throughout the day with several key links)

• A Good Friday Hymn #1: Alas and Did my Savior Bleed
• Good Friday Quotes: Charles Spurgeon – I Slew Him
• One Brutal Death…. today’s Good Friday devotional from Desiring God
• A Hymn for Good Friday #2: O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done
• Good Friday 2014 around the blogosphere
• Patrick Comerford’s Sermons on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross
• Good Friday related entries from the King’s English blog
• A Poem for Good Friday – Amy Carmichael: Lest We Forget
• Hymns for Good Friday #3: Ah Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended
• A Baroque “Shape Poem” for Good Friday: On the Crucified Jesus
• For Good Friday: 3 tracks from Max Lucado’s He Chose the Nails
• Classic CCM for Good Friday: Christian Stephens – Song of the Cross
• Good Friday Hymns #4: In Evil Long I Took Delight (John Newton) / The Look (adaptation by Bob Kauflin)
• Various Scriptures Prayed [my colleague Torre’s post with personal prayer responses to the lectionary Scripture readings for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  Thanks Torre for always pointing us to the need to hear, respond to and obey the Scriptures!]
• DEAD! The Author of Life lies in a tomb….

 

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After the posting of “DEAD!” at 20:00 GMT this evening, I won’t post anything further until 16:00 GMT tomorrow (noon Eastern) [Jill or Torre may perhaps post some entries, however].  I’ve scheduled five posts for Holy Saturday tomorrow afternoon and evening.  I’ve so enjoyed devotional blogging this Lent and Holy Week.  I hope to be able to continue posting with some frequency throughout the 50 Days of Easter.  Stay tuned….

I and all of us here at Lent & Beyond wish a blessed Good Friday, Holy Saturday and a GLORIOUS Easter to all our readers and friends.  – Karen B.  L&B founder

Good Friday Hymns #4: In Evil Long I Took Delight (John Newton) / The Look (adaptation by Bob Kauflin)

Back in 2010 we posted the lyrics to John Newton’s hymn In Evil Long I Took Delight.  At the time, I referenced a modern adaptation of this classic hymn by Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Music.  However, the links provided in our old post no longer work, so I thought I’d post this hymn again this year.

First, the modern adaptation of Newton’s hymn by Bob Kauflin.

The Look, by Bob Kauflin, Sovereign Grace Music  (also available at iTunes)

VERSE 1
I saw one hanging on a tree
In agony and blood
Who fixed His loving eyes on me
As near His cross I stood
And never till my dying breath
Will I forget that look
It seemed to charge me with His death
Though not a word He spoke

VERSE 2
My conscience felt and owned the guilt
And plunged me in despair
I saw my sins His blood had spilt
And helped to nail Him there
But with a second look He said
“I freely all forgive
This blood is for your ransom paid
I died that you might live”

CHORUS
Forever etched upon my mind
Is the look of Him who died
The Lamb I crucified
And now my life will sing the praise
Of pure atoning grace
That looked on me and gladly took my place

VERSE 3
Thus while His death my sin displays
For all the world to view
Such is the mystery of grace
It seals my pardon too
With pleasing grief and mournful joy
My spirit now is filled
That I should such a life destroy
Yet live by Him I killed

© 2001 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

***

Now, as to John Newton’s original hymn, it is nearly impossible to find any recording of it (with sung lyrics) online or at iTunes.  With some deep digging in Google, however, I found a free download (which I thoroughly scanned for viruses!) of a very nice recording accompanied by acoustic guitar.   I enjoyed hearing John Newton’s lyrics brought to life with a tune that’s simple and singable.

UPDATE:  I kept searching online and I’ve now been able to identify the artist who recorded the version of Newton’s hymn I’ve posted below.  It’s a singer / songwriter from Indiana maned Phil Kirk.  The track is available on Soundcloud, as are other hymns by this artist.

(should the audio file not display or play properly, try this link)

This hymn by John Newton was part of the famous “Olney Hymnal”  of 1779.  (available online at CCEL) You can hear the tune at the Cyber Hymnal

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.

Alas, I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain.

A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief and mournful joy,
My spirit is now filled;
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by him I killed.

– John Newton

Finally, here is some good background on John Newton and his hymn.