Hi

after friday night's campus-wide dance party, i was incapable of developed thought. then i went to raleigh with a friend to visit her family. so i'm now resuming the hymn series. can't believe easter is so close! this is my favorite time of year.

oh, btw, check out psalm 112, particularly vs. 6-8.
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Beneath the Cross of Jesus
beneath the cross of Jesus i feign would take my stand,
the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land,
a Home within the wilderness, a Rest upon the way
from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day.

upon the cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
the very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders i confess:
the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

i take, o cross, thy shadow for my abiding place.
i ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face,
content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss.
my sinful self my only shame; my glory all the cross.
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isn't that just so beautiful? i love that we are confessing the "two wonders" together: that is so healthy! it's not "boy do i suck" or "yay i'm a child of the King, holy and dearly loved" - it's BOTH. at the same time. always. isn't that cool?
i also love the line "i ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face," because that kind of solidarity and joy in the Lord is what i want. so precious to be so deeply rooted in the "rich and free" love of Christ.
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Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
come, Thou Fount of every blessing - tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
praise the mount, i'm fixed upon it, mount of God's redeeming love.

here i raise my ebenezer; hither by Thy help i've come.
and i hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.

o, to grace how great a debtor daily i'm constrained to be!
let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
prone to wander, Lord i feel it; prone to leave the God i love.
here's my heart, o, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
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another gorgeous hymn and one my RUF minister is pretty much obsessed with, so we sing it alot. i love the cause and effect connections drawn in this song: the never-ceasing "streams of mercy" veritably shout out, "you need to praise God for this!"
and we (the Church) should totally be "fixed upon" the "mount of God's redeeming love," which is wayyyyy bigger than mount everest and wayyyyyyyyyy cooler than mount rushmore. reminds me of "Thy Mercy" - "Thy mercy, my God, is theme of my song, the joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue."
in case we don't all know what ebenezers are, they are monuments constructed in the old testament to memorialize a time God powerfully showed up and provided what was needed. i believe the first time that word appears in the bible is when the israelites cross the jordan into the land of canaan and God has them build an ebenezer to remind them for all time how far and through what He'd brought them. what's interesting is that this was intended to prompt children to ask their parents about the big heap of rocks... the story was meant to be told over and over again. no hiding what God has done under a bushel or anything like that...
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this last one is an andy peterson song (again, i know). it's a cool one: Jesus is the cowboy-gunslinger-hero and who gets kicked the heck outta dodge? the "wages of sin," of course! (added my notes in brackets cause with this song it's easier that way)
High Noon
high noon in the valley of the shadow, [battle/dueling time; psalm 23: '...of death']
when the deep of the valley was bright, [because of Who's there]
when the mouth of the tomb shouted, "Glory!
the Groom is alive!"
go on, you wages of sin;
go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed;
you've lost all your steam to the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley,
in the valley of the shadow.

now the demons, they danced in the darkness
when that last ragged breath left his lungs,
and they reveled and howled at the war that they thought they had won.
but then, in the dark of the grave, the stone rolled away,
in the still of the dawn on the greatest of days

it was high noon in the valley of the shadow,
when the shadows were shot through with light.
Jesus took in that breath and shattered all death with His life. [how cool is that!!!!]
go on, you wages of sin! go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed;
you've lost all your steam to the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley
in the valley of the shadow.

let the people rejoice.
let the heavens resound.
let the Name of Jesus, Who sought us
and freed us forever ring out.
all praise to the Fighter of the night
Who rides on the light
Whose gun is the grace of the God of the sky.

high noon in the valley of the shadow
when the shadows were shot through with light
when the mouth of the tomb shouted, 'glory!
the Groom is alive!"
go on, you wages of sin,
i said, go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed,
all praise to the King,
the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley,
in the valley of the shadow.

all hail the power of Jesus' Name...