The Cross Have you ever heard, Of a story so strange, An innocent man branded and killed. Interrogated and persecuted, Flayed with spiked leathers, ‘Til frail skin opened, To reveal ivory bones. Kaleidescope of pain within without, When will this stop, When will this end? The story goes on, Hung on the cross, With steel of nails, Bare naked for all to see. Everyone jeered, Everyone laughed, If He is God, If He is the Christ, Let Him come down…
“Welcome Cross” from the Olney Hymns, written by William Cowper: ‘Tis my happiness below Not to live without the cross, But the Saviour’s power to know, Sanctifying every loss; Trials must and will befall; But with humble faith to see Love inscribed upon them all, This is happiness to me. God in Israel sows the seeds Of affliction, pain, and toil; These spring up and choke the weeds Which would else o’erspread the soil: Trials make the promise sweet, Trials…
Garden of Gethsemane A solemn occasion, Passover at Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples twelve, Partaking of annual repast. No one knew except the Christ, What must befall the Son of Man, Filled with bravado, pomp and show, Simon Peter and the rest. Jesus Christ predicted His death, Peter’s denials He also revealed, But none would believe Him, No, not one. Man of Sorrows brought His friends, Simon Peter, James and John, To the Garden of Gethsemane, Praying for God’s will…