Above:  The Crucifixion

Image in the Public Domain

Text (published in 1867), by Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1828-1876)

Hymn Source #1 = The Methodist Hymnal (1935), the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church

Hymn Source #2 = Robert Guy McCutchan, Our Hymnody:  A Manual of The Methodist Hymnal, 2nd. ed. (1937)

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Never further than Thy cross,

Never higher than Thy feet;

Here earth’s precious things seem dross,

Here earth’s bitter things grow sweet.

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Gazing thus our sin we see,

Learn Thy love while gazing thus;

Sin, which laid the cross on Thee,

Love, which bore the cross for us.

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Here we learn to serve and give,

And, rejoicing, self deny;

Here we gather love to live,

Here we gather faith to die.

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Symbols of our liberty

And our service here unite;

Captives, by Thy cross set free,

Soldiers of Thy cross, we fight.

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Pressing onward as we can,

Still to this our hearts must tend;

Where our earliest hopes began,

There our last aspirings end;

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Till amid the hosts of light,

We in Thee redeemed, complete,

Through Thy cross made pure and white,

Cast our crowns before Thy feet.

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Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1871) by Alexander Clark (1834-1879)

Hymn Source = The Methodist Hymnal (1935), the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church

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Heav’nly Father, bless me now;

At the cross of Christ I bow;

Take my guilt and grief away,

Hear and heal me now, I pray.

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Now, O Lord, this very hour,

Send Thy grace and show Thy power;

While I rest upon Thy word,

Come, and bless me now, O Lord!

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Mercy now, O Lord, I plead

In this hour of utter need;

Turn me not away unblest,

Calm my anguish into rest.

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O Thou loving, blessed One,

Rising o’er me like the sun,

Light and life art Thou within,

Saviour, Thou, from every sin.

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Above:  Icon of the Triumphal Entry

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1898) by William Henry Draper (1855-1933)

Hymn Source = Pilgrim Hymnal (1958), United Church of Christ

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Lord, through this holy week of our salvation

Which thou hast won for us who went astray,

In all the conflict of thy sore temptation

We would continue with thee day by day.

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We would not leave thee, though our week endurance

Make us unworthy here to take our part;

Yet give us strength to trust the sweet assurance

That thou, O Lord, art greater than our heart.

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Along that sacred way where thou art leading,

Which thou didst take to save our souls from loss,

Let us go also, till we see thee pleading

In all prevailing prayer upon thy cross.

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Until thou see thy bitter travail’s ending,

The world redeemed, the will of God complete,

And, to thy Father’s hands thy soul commending,

Thou lay the work he gave thee at his feet.

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Above:  One of My Crucifixes

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

Text (1875) by Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877)

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O perfect life of love!

All, all is finished now,

All that He left His throne above

To do for us below.

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No work is left undone

Of all the Father willed;

His toils and sorrows, one by one,

The Scripture have fulfilled.

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No pain that we can share

But He has felt its smart;

All forms of human grief and care

Have pierced that tender heart.

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And on His thorn-crowned head,

And on His sinless soul,

Our sins in all their guild were laid,

That He might make us whole.

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In perfect love He dies;

For me He dies, for me!

I all-atoning Sacrifice,

I cling by faith to Thee.

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In every time of need,

Before the judgment throne,

Thy work, O Lamb of God, I’ll plead,

Thy merits, not my own.

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Yet work, O Lord, in me,

As thou for me hast wrought;

And let my love the answer be

To grace Thy love has brought.

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Above:  Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Cartersville, Georgia, November 5, 2017

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Original Greek Text by St. Joseph the Hymnographer (d. 886)

English Translation (1862) by John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Hymn Source #1 = The Lutheran Hymnal (1941), The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America

Hymn Source #2 = William Gustave Polack, The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, 2d ed. (1942)

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And wilt Thou pardon, Lord

A sinner such as I,

Although Thy book his crimes record

Of such a crimson dye?

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So deep are they engraved,

So terrible their fear,

The righteous scarcely shall be saved,

And where shall I appear?

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My soul, make all things known

To Him who all things sees

That so the Lamb may yet atone

For thine iniquities.

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O Thou Physician blest,

Make clean my guilty soul

And me, by many a sin opprest,

Restore and keep me whole.

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I know not how to praise

Thy mercy and Thy love;

But deign my soul and earth to raise

And learn from Thee above.

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Above:  All Angels Episcopal Church, Eatonton, Georgia, January 22, 2017

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text (1562) by John Marckant; altered by Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1941), Evangelical and Reformed Church

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O Lord, turn not Thy face away

From them that lowly lie,

Lamenting sore their sinful life

With tears and bitter cry.

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Thy mercy gates are open wide

To them that mourn their sin;

O shout them not against us, Lord,

But let us enter in.

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And need we, then, O Lord, repeat

The blessing which we crave,

When Thou dost know, before we speak,

The thing that we would have?

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Mercy, O Lord, mercy we ask,

This is the total sum;

For mercy, Lord, is all our prayer,

O let Thy mercy come!

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This is post #1800 of GATHERED PRAYERS.

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Above:  The Crucifixion of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

Anonymous Latin Text, 13th-15th Centuries

English Translation by John Athelstan Laurie Riley (1858-1945)

Hymn Source = The English Hymnal (1906), The Church of England

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Dost thou truly seek renown

Christ his glory sharing?

Wouldst thou win the heavenly crown

Victor’s meed declaring?

Tread the path the Saviour trod,

Look upon the crown of God,

See what he is wearing.

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This the King of heaven bore

In that sore contending;

This his sacred temples wore,

Honour to it lending;

In this helm he faced the foe,

On the Rood he laid him low,

Satan’s kingdom ending.

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Christ upon the Tree of Scorn,

In salvation’s hour,

Turned to gold these pricks of thorn

By his Passion’s power;

So on sinners, who had earned

Endless death, from sin returned,

Endless blessings shower.

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When in death’s embrace we lie,

Then, good Lord, be near us;

With thy presence fortify,

And with victory cheer us;

Turn our erring hearts to thee,

That we crowned for ay may be:

O good Jesu, hear us!

Above:  Adoration of the Lamb, by Jan Van Eyck

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1805) by Lewis Renatus West (1753-1826)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

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Praise for every scene distressing,

Praise for all Thou didst endure,

Praise for every gift and blessing

Which Thy griefs for us procure;

In Thy ransomed congregation

Shall Thy death our theme remain,

Till Thou com’st with full salvation,

Lord of glory, Lamb once slain.

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Thou, to purchase our salvation,

Didst assume humanity;

Jesus, for Thy bitter passion

May we ever thankful be;

Filled with awe and humbly bowing,

At Thy feet we prostrate fall,

Gratefully this truth avowing,

That Thou art our All in awe.

Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1895), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Text (1838) by John Hampden Gurney (1802-1862)

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Lord, as to Thy dear cross we flee,

And plead to be forgiven,

So let Thy life our pattern be,

And from our souls for heaven.

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Help us, through good report and ill,

Our daily cross to bear;

Like Thee, to do our Father’s will,

Our brethren’s griefs to share.

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Let grace our selfishness expel,

Our earthliness refine;

And kindness in our bosoms dwell,

As free and true as Thine.

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If joy shall at Thy bidding fly,

And grief’s dark day come on,

We, in our turn, would meekly cry,

“Father, Thy will be done.”

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Should friends misjudge, or foes defame,

Or brethren faithless prove,

Then, like Thine own, be all our aim

To conquer them by love.

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Kept peaceful in the midst of strife,

Forgiving and forgiven,

O may we lead the pilgrim’s life,

And follow Thee to heaven.

Above:  A King’s Burden

Image in the Public Domain

Original German Text (1700) by Caspar Neumann (1648-1715)

English Translation (1863) by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878)

Hymn Source = Evangelical Lutheran Worship (1908), Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States (1818-1930)

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Lord, on earth I dwell sad-hearted,

Here I oft must mourn and sigh:

Wherefore hast Thou then departed,

Why didst Thou ascend on high?

Take me, take me hence with Thee,

Or abide, Lord, still with me;

Let Thy love and gifts be left,

That I be not all bereft.

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Leave Thy heart still inly near me,

Take mine hence where Thou art gone;

Open heav’n to me, and hear me,

When to Thee I cry alone;

When I cannot pray, O plead

With the Father in my stead;

Seated now at God’s right hand,

Help us here, Thy faithful hand.

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Worldly joys I cast behind me,

Let me choose the better part,

And though mortal chains yet bind me,

Heav’nward tend my thoughts and heart;

That my time through faith may be

Ordered for eternity;

Till we rise, all perils o’er,

Whither Thou hast gone before.

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Then return, the promise keeping,

That was made to us of old;

Raise the members that are sleeping,

Gnaw’d of death, beneath the mould;

Judge the evil world that deems

Thy sure words but empty dreams;

And for all our sorrows past

Let us know Thy joy at last.

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