“the wonderful cross”

I have two favorite traditional hymns.

This is one of them, called “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” The version below is modernized and known as “The Wonderful Cross.” The verses are the same as they were originally written in 1707 by Isaac Watts, but a chorus — which I love — has been added by Chris Tomlin. I’ve been listening to this non-stop since our “second Sunday” a few days ago.

Because when people are too much, too insensitive, too unaware, too blind ….. any kind of “too” that leaves you weeping and scared …… there’s always the wonderful cross.

I’d rather weep over that.

(Honestly, I do find this video a bit aesthetically annoying — but I don’t watch it; I just listen. Headphones make it so much better. The song could be a tiny bit faster, if you ask me, but you didn’t, so uhm, chill out, Tracey. Just listen.)

Lyrics below. I love the lyrics.

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

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

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

27 Replies to ““the wonderful cross””

  1. Absolutely beautiful… thanks for sharing that. I especially like how you added the lyrics as many people don’t actually take in the lyrics when they sing a hymn. One of the great things about the Reformation is that these churches translated hymns/chants into the language of the congregation so they weren’t some mystical words spoken in a dead language that only the priests could understand.

    A weird thought: can you imagine Roman patrician’s being told that millions of people’s favorite hymn would be contain the words “wondrous cross”, “wonderful cross” or “cherish that old rugged cross”? They’d think we were crazy or sick sadists.

  2. My first thought is that this absolutely marvelous. Then, because I’m kind of an idiot, my second thought is great frustration that when I go to Mass on Sunday I have to put up with a mealy-mouthed hippy-drippy 70’s blerg-o-rama, and we don’t sing any of these magnificent hymns.

    Really, we’re worshipping, right? And we have a God worth worshipping – worth our soul, our life, our all, worth all the torments and injustice or the world, worth suffering and pain and death itself – and we don’t sing this? Or How Great Thou Art, or A Mighty Fortress? People wonder why Catholics don’t sing in Church (at least in the northeast) – maybe we would if we had something worth singing.

    (/rant)

  3. (Ok, I’m trying to stop giggling at the thought of “A Mighty Fortress” being sung at a Catholic service. “Hey, y’all remember that guy who left us and started his own church and, ya know, basically changed the world as it was known then? ‘Member him? Let’s sing his most famous song!)(Sorry.)

    So. Can I say something? No offense AT ALL to Chris Tomlin, who I’m not familiar with, but the chorus is just jarring — TO ME — when laid next to Isaac Watts’ gorgeous words.

    I’m not knocking “praise songs” (ugh, I hate that name) — they certainly have their place — but, and I know I’m coming from a choral background here, they’re just. . .empty to me in most instances. Remember, in Col. 3:16, we’re told to “teach and admonish each other with all wisdom with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” I think we’ve gotten away from that in our rush to make worship “fun” and “entertaining” and “relevant.” Most modern-day hymn writers just. . .I don’t know. . .can’t find the words. . .DO IT for me, I guess.

    We have so many hymns in our songbooks that frankly don’t make sense. They SOUND good, they’re fun to sing, but if you look at the words, it’s just praise phrases strung together like gobbledly-gook. How does that teach? How does that impart wisdom? When you put them next to an “Old Rugged Cross” or a “The Spacious Firmament on High”? Well — TO ME — there’s no comparison.

    Again, sorry if I offend. This is a hot button issue with me. Don’t be mad.

  4. Lisa — You need to talk to my dad. This is his issue, too. Yeah, it’s totally a hot button issue and speaking from the perspective of someone who was on worship teams for about 10 years, yeah, I’ve sung some songs weren’t my favorites and that don’t have the glorious, soaring kind of lyrics of the more traditional hymns.

    On the other hand, some of the more modern worship songs — while not necessarily instructive — are very good at just focusing your heart on worship, on Jesus. And many are taken directly from Scripture, too. Ideally, I’d like to see a mix, the new sung along with the old; not one completely tossed aside for the other. I like this version above with the modern beat to it — my dad would NOT, songs with drumbeats basically frighten him — and so that’s kind of where I’m at on this. Update the old a little, for a modern audience, and keep the lyrics.

    Let’s face it. Sometimes the more traditional hymns can sound a little dirge-like. “A Mighty Fortress” is one that comes to mind for me. Even though I like it, it’s a little dirge-y.

    So yes, I’m advocating for the middle of the road here. Really daring stance, Trace, but there it is. Old and new together. Churches don’t really do that and SOME churches — one in our neighborhood that I know of — even have different services for different worship “types,” one called the contemporary service and one called the “heritage” service.

    No. I don’t like that. I don’t like that separation of the community. Churches need to worship together or what’s the point? Why does the modern church insist on catering to every possible consumer-type desire? Oh, your contemporary needs are met here and your traditional needs are met here.

    I think it breeds autonomy rather than community.

    Worship together.

  5. Worship TOGETHER – amen, amen!

    My friends in the evangelical community (such as my co-blogger) do have some fairly solid praise songs. The trouble us, we Catholics don’t even have that – and what we do have is slowly being taken away from us. (For example, editing out “a wretch like me” from “Amazing Grace.” Yes, I’ve heard it done. And don’t let’s start on the whole pronoun thing, especially in reference to God. Hot button, indeed!)

    I’m laughing with you on “A Mighty Fortress,” Lisa. But you know, I’d rather have Luther’s best than some gussied-up, tepid grab-bag of fortune-cookie platitudes.

  6. I agree about the contemporary/traditional services. It just seems so… unable to commit. Pick one, or have a mix, but don’t separate your people! At our congregation, we almost always sing a good mix of traditional and contemporary songs.

    And I agree with you, Lisa. Worship needs to be less focused (ok, not at all focused) on entertainment and more (100%) focused on worshiping God. It’s not for us. It’s for Him. It’s great if we are entertained (I know I am) but that shouldn’t be our focus.

    Nightfly, I think it’s hilarious you want to sing A Mighty Fortress. And I hope you don’t mind if I, not Catholic, agree that the songs at Mass leave much to be desired. I’ve been to Mass a lot (first with Frank when he was Catholic and now we go sometimes on Christmas Eve with his parents and siblings), and every time, even the choir seems bored by the music.

  7. There are some “old” songs that I hate too, btw. I don’t know y’all’s denominations, but there’s a whole book of songs written by a company called Stamps-Baxter that I cannot stand. They may be in some Baptist hymnals. “Paradise Valley” is one, “He Bore It All” is another. You’d know ’em if you heard ’em. All very Southern.

    And if I NEVER hear “Farther Along,” again it’ll be too soon, but that’s mainly because I can’t sing it without thinking of my brother singing “Farter Along” in my ear when we were kids.

  8. Lisa — I don’t know “Farther Along” but now if I ever hear it, I will never be able to take it seriously.

    “Farter Along” — hahahahahaha.

    Makes me think of one of my best friends from college. We were sitting around one night in the theater and people were talking about this very subject — hymns they’d sung as kids that they’d screwed up the words to or misunderstood the words to. And my friend said whenever he sang the song “Up From the Grave He Arose,” he thought it was “Up From the Gravy, A Rose.”

    He said, “I pictured this rose doused in gravy every single time. Made NO sense to me. Why are they singing about THAT??” Hahahahaha.

  9. sarahk – nah, you’re fine. Since Vatican II, liturgy and music in the church has been a huge kerfuffle. The liturgical debates are kind of “inside baseball” stuff, but everyone can relate to the music difficulties. I’ve written and then spiked a half-dozen posts on my blog about how frustrated I’ve gotten at times. (Ladybug keeps talking me off the soapbox, bless her.)

    Tracey – I’m actually embarrassed to type it. The first verse is sometimes rendered thus:

    Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
    That saved and set me free…

    Which is true… but makes it sound like we just went to the corner store and found some grace sitting on an end display, and gave a new brand a try, and hey, it’s amazing. Billy Mays here for Amazing Grace! The secret is in the love of God! Blessings flow one way and gently wash away unwanted sin!

    Not to make fun of Billy (who hopefully now enjoys the vision of God forever); nor to mock God, of course. The newer lyric just undersells what grace is all about. It’s mildly interesting grace. How do we expect that to hold our devotion? When we get together for worship we should be eager to talk about the awe of God, the holiness of God – and, to echo Sheila’s awesome banner, the wonderful gentleness of Christ.

    In Orthodoxy Chesterton talks about how the Christian Church keeps virtues in balance and thus full-strength, even “opposite” virtues like courage and prudence. That’s how you get saints like Francis of Assisi, who wouldn’t hurt a fly – indeed, who would probably adopt them as pets and be able to tell them apart – and Joan of Arc, who led armies; hidden saints like the contemplative Terese of Liseaux and firebrands like Teresa of Avila, who rebuked popes. The lion truly does lie down with the lamb. Nowadays we seem determined to make them into a single misbeggoten chimera, so you can only be kind of brave, kind of smart, kind of gentle. Bleh. “Because thou art lukewarm I shall spew thee from My mouth.”

    (Ironically, these are songs that I wish would never again spew from anyone’s mouth.)

    There’s a fellow named Jim Cowan who wrote some of the praise and worship songs we sang in my college YA group. Really strong stuff, so it’s a mystery to my why more Catholic Churches don’t use his stuff. He’s even on the team, so to speak. To this day I can recall entire songs from memory. It makes it even more frustrating in a way because I really miss it. That stuff spoiled me when I was a newly-returning believer.

  10. Oh, I missed Lisa’s when I was posting. “Some one like me” is even worse… Great googly moogly.

    Farter Along. Uh-huh-huhhuh-huh…. 😀

    Ah, holy mondegreens. “Up From the Gravy Rose” is hilarious!

  11. Lisa! Paradise Valley and He Bore It All are two of my faves. F’reals. But oh man. Farther Along. It’s like that song is required to be sung with intense twang and note-bendiness. I’m not a fan of it.

    Tracey, we used to giggle about Up From the Gravy, A Rose too! Also, “Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me. Andy tells me I am His own.” Like, um, WHO is ANDY?

  12. Tears, thinking about Jesus is Gentle making its way into the comments of this post.

    When I think of a rose rising up from the gravy, for some reason I see it on spindly ribbon-legs making its way up a random dark staircase.

  13. “Hail Mary full of grapes …”

    I have a confession to make. I taught my littlest sister that those were the words way back when.

    Then there was the terrible “Howard be thy name” incident of 1974.

    Hey, I was 12 years old. I would never do such a thing now.

  14. I grew up next door to a Catholic family with a bazillion kids (not really, just eleven) (11!!) and the second youngest daughter, Emily, was my age and my bestest friend in the whole wide world. We used to play Church in my front yard and I would teach her Church of Christ doctrine, and she would teach me her catechism.

    I used to walk around reciting the Hail Mary and the Our Father and she used to sing “Are You Washed In the Blood?” Hilarious.

    (I also learned the Act of Contrition and it always made me want to cry. The guilt! Of course, that very well may be the point.)

  15. Lisa — /Gladly, the cross-eyed Bear/ Hahahahahahaha!! I have tears running down my face!

    And let’s not forget “Round John Virgin” showing up in that silent night.

    I was always like, “Uhm, who’s he? What’s he doing there when Jesus was born? And why are they calling him fat?”

    Dave E. — “Howard be thy name.” Hahahahaha!!

  16. sheila — /When I think of a rose rising up from the gravy, for some reason I see it on spindly ribbon-legs making its way up a random dark staircase./

    Hahahaha. All that gravy would really weigh it down though. I mean, I was worried about the tulip before, but that gravy rose would never make it.

  17. And then of course there was Jesus who, as we all know, “suffered under a bunch of violets”.

    Or would that be “Pontius Pilate”??

    I was a bit confused.

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