Wondrous Love

Wondrous Love

Text attributed to Alexander Means

Sung to WONDROUS LOVE, Southern Harmony, 1835

Galations 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

V. 1 What wondrous love is this, 

O my soul, O my soul?

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul?

What wondrous love is this

That caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse  for my soul, for my soul;

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

Exodus 3:14, 15 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me

from generation to generation."

V. 2 To God and to the Lamb

I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb, 

I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb

Who is the great I am,

While millions join the theme,

I will sing, I will sing;

While millions join the theme, 

I will sing.

V. 3 And when from death I'm free,

I'll sing on, I'll sing on;

And when from death I'm free,

I'll sing on;

And when from death I'm free,

I'll sing and joyful be,

And through eternity 

I'll sing on, I'll sing on!

And through eternity,

I'll sing on.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

Text attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), transcribed in German in 1656 by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), and then transcribed in English in 1830 by James W. Alexander (1804-1859)

Sung to PASSION CHORALE, composed in 1601 by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612), arranged in 1729 by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Matthew 27:29 ...and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.

V. 1 O sacred head, now wounded,

With grief and shame weighed down,

Now scornfully surrounded

With thorns, Thine only crown:

O sacred head, what glory,

What bliss till now was Thine!

Yet, though despised and gory,

I joy to call Thee mine.

V. 2 What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered

Was all for sinner's gain;

Mine, mine was the transgression,

But Thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall, my savior!

'Tis I deserve Thy place;

Look on me with Thy favor,

Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

V. 3 What language shall I borrow 

To thank Thee, dearest friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow,

Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever;

And should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never

Outlive my love to Thee.

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Text written by Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915)

Tune composed by John R. Sweney (1873-1899)

Luke 2:13, 14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

V. 1 Tell me the story of Jesus,

Write on my heart every word,

Tell me the story most precious

Sweetest that ever was heard;

Tell how the angels, in chorus,

Sang as they welcomed His birth,

Glory to God in the highest,

Peace and good tidings to earth.

Refrain: Tell me the story of Jesus,

Write on my heart every word,

Tell me the story most precious,

Sweetest that ever was heard.

Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Luke 4:1, 2 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Luke 9:58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

V. 2 Fasting, alone in the desert,

Tell of the days that He passed,

How for our sins He was tempted,

Yet was triumphant at last;

Tell of the years of His labor,

Tell of the sorrow He bore,

He was despised and afflicted,

Homeless, rejected, and poor.

Refrain

Luke 23:33, 53 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left....Then he took it [Jesus' body] down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 

Luke 24:6, 7 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’  ” 

V. 3 Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,

Writhing in anguish and pain;

Tell of the grave where they laid Him,

Tell how He liveth again;

Love in that story so tender,

Clearer than ever I see;

Stay, let me weep while you whisper,

Love paid the ransom for me.

Refrain

Throned Upon the Awful Tree

Throned Upon the Awful Tree

Text written in 1875 by John Ellerton (1826-1893)

Sung to ARFON, a traditional melody from France & Wales, adapted c. 1906 by Hugh Davies (1844-1907)

Matthew 27:45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 

V. 1 Throned upon the awful tree,

Lamb of God, Your grief we see.

Darkness veils Your anguished face;

None its lines of woe can trace.

None can tell what pangs unknown

Hold You silent and alone.

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

V. 2 Silent through those three dread hours,

Wrestling with the evil powers,

Left alone with human sin,

Gloom around You and within,

Till th'appointed time is nigh,

Till the Lamb of God may die.

V. 3 Hark, that cry that peals aloud

Upward through the whelming cloud!

You, the Father's only Son,

You, His own anointed one,

You are asking--can it be?

"Why have you forsaken Me?"

V. 4 Lord, should fear and anguish roll

Darkly o'er our sinful soul,

You, who once were thus bereft

That Your own might ne'er be left,

Teach us by that bitter cry

In the gloom to know You nigh.