Lyrics: Isaac Watts
Music: HAMBURG by Lowell Mason.
Mr. Eustache, the musician in the above video clip, is a committed Christian: “I believe –the same way the great J.S. Bach did– that I make music both for the glory of God & the ‘sublimation of the human soul’, affecting people positively in His name, & that by being a creative musician I am simply fulfilling the statement that ‘we have been created to His Image & similarity”‘ I also have the deep conviction that, as a creative-improvising musician, I am fulfilling God’s command to ‘Sing unto the Lord a new song’, that it is possible to be openly creative –with infinite capabilities ideas wise– because of His promise that states that ‘His blessings are new every morning’.”
Theme: But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8.
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.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.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.His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.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.
This hymn may be my favorite of all the hymns about the cross of Christ.
What if it were True? What if the God of the Universe really did become man, live among us, endure the pain of living and even the pain of death, an ignominious tortured death on a cross? What if He did it for the sake of love, love for His very torturers? Would it not demand your soul, your life, your music, your stories, your all?