Sunday, August 07, 2011

Sunday Hymn

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me,
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

I particularly like the second verse as it reminds us that throughout troubles and trials, the cross is ever before us and when we look to it, it keeps us focusing on what Christ has done for us, not on our trials and ourselves.

A recording of this on guitar:


I must admit that the traditional tune isn't my favourite. It looks like Indelible Grace has redone this one - you can listen to a sample of it here and see the music here.

And while I'm talking about Indelible Grace, their online hymnal is a great resource. They have lead sheets, samples and chord sheets for all their music online. Many of the hymns have new music to old words but some keep the tunes and just update the settings. We really enjoy listening to and singing these hymns.

1 comment:

Peter Hurlbut said...

Part of your dissatisfaction with the tune as the guitar player played it is because he is not following the original tune. He plays the first and third lines exactly the same; in the original they are different (the first line being more simple, and the third slightly more complicated), thus lending more variety to the music.