A few of you who are following my blog emailed me your thoughts and shared excitement about the poetry contest. That gave me an idea. (Look out folks, Hope is thinking!)
This is a cross blog—a blog that hopefully keeps us ever aware of:
- The work of the cross as the central theme of our lives
- The central theme of our great commission to lift up the cross like headlights on a highway, showing people the way to God.
Easter Sunday is April 8th. I’d like EVERYONE to consider sending me (via email) a poem or a song on the cross and I’ll post it on the blog for all of us to enjoy. You may enjoy a poem or song that you wrote or perhaps one that Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts wrote. (And let’s not leave out Chris Tomlin who is at the top of the charts on cross songs today.) Pick out your favorites and send them in! Send me a line or two on why this poem or song sticks with you. It would be incredible to have a post a day or more than one post a day, as each of us contributes a favorite poem or song that honors the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus and is near to our hearts.
Send your poem or song to seehopeatcomcast.net as soon as possible! I’ll add pictures and You Tube links, etc. Just bring me the poem or song!
Please allow me to start us off. My favorite hymn of all time is “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, and I found the lyrics at Cyber Hymnal (with awful organ music, but the lyrics are there). I enjoy Chris Tomlin’s version of this song and so I’ll post both the words and a You Tube link for you to listen to it. (For more information on this song please scroll down.)
When I survey the wondrous cross 
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
This beautiful song was written by Isaac Watts in 1707.
According to Cyber Hymnal, Charles Wesley reported said he would give up all his other hymns to have written this one!
The music was written by Lowell Mason in 1824 and first appeared in
- Lowell Mason wrote the music to “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” in 1824. This song is still sung in churches of many denominations all over the world.
The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, third edition, 1825.
Perhaps you’d like to hear Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman’s version of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, from You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DNGMO35-64
Wow! to see all those folks worshipping the Lord, and then, to watch the men bring the Cross from the other end of the gigantic field! I’ve copied the link for my post on my blog for March 17th: “WHEN LIFE’S GOT YOU DOWN jean-oathout.blogspot.com
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I’m SO glad you watched the You Tube, Jean. It is fascinating. So, are you going to send me a poem or song? Smile.
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Loyalty the Rock of Gibraltar
Loyalty is more sold than the Rock of Gibraltar.
Loyalty cannot be deceived nor be concealed.
It cannot be purchased by any price and only
feigned by the skunks who in the end smoother
from their own odoriferous murderous stench.
The Good Lord Jesus, the Sweet of all Sweetness,
has shown His undying eternal loyalty to mankind
by coming at His/Our Father’s will to die for all of us
on the cross and to rise to life conquering sin and death.
All blessings and glory be to the Faithful, Loyal One, God.
Let us concede the truth of the human spirit garnered by
the Loyal Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son who guards
and confirms in all of us and in Holy Mother Church, TRUTH.
Truth descending from the heavens and waters above, truth
undeniable, attestable to, and historically confirmed in history.
Though books be banned, burned; a people mocked, tortured;
pogroms conceived and instituted by wee little material saviors;
the world will continue spinning in its orb and the seasons flavor
the seemingly monotony of life only to pass each generation as it
has been steady until the Last Day of Days. He stands Triumphant!
© March 18, 2014 by Giovanni Maria Tommaso
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Giovanni, these words are deep and beautiful. Thank you for sharing them with us. Did you truly write this just today?
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Strum this on guitar if you wish, soft & gentle. Hum the interlude. You can also view this song on YouTube or in my book Simply Said.
SWEET IS THE NAME OF JESUS
3/3 TIME, ORGAN OR PIANO, SAXAPHONE, DRUMS, & STRING BASE
INTERLUDE:
G G C
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LORD
SONG:
C C C
SWEET IS THE NAME OF JESUS
C C G
SWEET IS THE NAME OF MY LORD
G D7 G
HE IS MY STRENGTH AND SALVATION
G G C
HE IS MY HOPE AND JOY
C C C
YES, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THIS VALLEY
C C F
THIS VALLEY OF DARKNESS AND FEAR
F F C
HIS LOVE AND HIS TRUTH, COMFORT ME
G G C
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LORD
HOLY THE NAME OF JESUS
HOLY THE NAME OF MY LORD
IN HIM I FIND MY HOPE AND JOY
IN HIM MY HEART FINDS REST
YES, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THIS VALLEY
THIS VALLEY OF DARKNESS AND FEAR
HIS LOVE AND HIS TRUTH, COMFORT ME
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LORD
SWEET IS THE NAME OF JESUS
ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT 1984
JANUARY 14, 2003
WORDS AND MUSIC BY THOMAS L. POMELEO
POMELEO PUBLISHING & PRINTING
719-542-1463
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Yes, I did, and I post many of them on FanStory.com I’ve been a member for quite some time it took me all of 35 minutes to write “Loyalty the Rock of Gibraltar”. It took me three and a half hours to write this one: “Sirens at the Foot of the Cross”.
It depends upon how deep, personal, and giving, the sacrifice of the heart vs the spirit of mind is at the time of creation. It’s like the birth of a child, I can only assume, some pangs are not as difficult as others though they all have a tender, united feeling of connectedness to the mother and child in both tenderness and in pain, however, once the beautiful child has been delivered, the mother forgets her pain and can begin to love in the joy of the miracle of birth and her exalted position.
MARCH 20, 2014
Sirens at the Foot of the Cross
This type of screaming Siren my friend,
the overtly seductive kind
with secretive bent disposition to smash
upon the rocks her illusory, imagined, play things,
thinks herself, a toy to deceive
luring her captures
to their sudden and expected death.
The shame of it, is not that this ploy
is hidden from anyone. All see what
goes on. All hear, what transpires. All,
because of their own circumstances
would rather remain silent and numb.
For there is no retaliation or questioning
to all who are speechless, deaf, or blind.
Simply a word of truth could perhaps assuage
the seemingly innocent tyrant, though tiny,
packed with so much emotions of disgust and hate.
Anger needing an outlet to destroy wantonly,
without thought or care to person or persons.
Rationalized, justified, randomized, annihilation,
she thinks can only appease her feigned Eye Tooth.
The only true hope to hope in,
is the longsuffering kind,
unselfish sacrificial giving of self through Love.
The wood of the cross absorbs all blood, and
all evil and vileness intended to curse one to death.
Fear should never be contemplated, for after rising,
the existing extant of pure unadulterated vision, IS!
I purposely use (luring her captures) for she is constantly in the process of capturing; those she hunts never become captives in the sense that they are dumbfounded or ignorant of the process for they eventually see the truth and die to the lie arising to new life and vision.
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