thy blood was shed for me

Although I love the Lenten season, I often find it difficult to actually observe it. In the end, I think it reveals how much restructuring my whole life needs, not just for this one season a year, but for every day. Not enough space is made for prayer. My ears are not open and my heart is not as attentive as it should be. I live like a frantic, worried soul when I should be at peace.

Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline spoke deeply to me this week. Two of his chapters revealed to me what I lack (among many other things): simplicity and solitude. He refers to these as two of the outward disciplines, but stresses that the outward manifestation flows from an inward reality. "It is possible for a person to be developing an outward lifestyle of simplicity and to be filled with anxiety," he says. The inward must come first. This is what Lent should be about: a pursuit of the deeper inner realities of the Spirit-filled life; those realities that can only express themselves outwardly.

Strangely enough, all of that was simply an intro to what I am actually posting about. My point is that I am actively trying to observe Lent and go deeper, so here is something to that end.

I'll be teaching the song "Thy Blood Was Shed For Me" in church tomorrow. This is a somber and penitential hymn originally written by Charles Wesley and put to new music by Matthew Smith, one of my favorite modern hymn-writers. The melody is wonderful in its ability to capture the two sides of repentance the lyrics portray. First, we see our sin and grieve over it. But then, we leap in faith into Christ - casting our sins onto Him. So musically this works itself out beautifully. The start of each verse is low, quiet and sorrowful, a deep meditation on our poverty. But then the melody immediately soars like an insistent plea as the lyrics turn from sorrow over our sin to a surrender to Christ and his ability to cleanse us. My ability to describe it stops here - I can't begin to portray the arrangement in words. You can hear part of the song as Smith's website. Just scroll through the tunes on the main page.

It's a fitting melody, but ultimately it is the words that anchor a hymn in place. And these lyrics powerfully portray our situation both apart from Christ and in communion with him. Here they are in full:

Let the world their virtue boast and works of righteousness
I, a wretch, undone and lost, am freely saved by grace
Take me, Savior, as I am; let me lose my sins in Thee
Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb, Thy blood was shed for me
They blood was shed for me

Full of truth and grace Thou art and here is all my hope
False and foul as hell, my heart, to Thee I offer up
Thou wast given to redeem my soul from iniquity
Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb, Thy blood was shed for me
Thy blood was shed for me

Nothing have I, Lord, to pay nor can Thy grace procure
Empty, send me not away, for Thou knowest I am poor
Dust and ashes is my name, my all is sin and misery
Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb, Thy blood was shed for me
Thy blood was shed for me

That first verse is especially relevant to our Lenten journey. This is ultimately where we must go: seeing the depth of our lostness, we turn from self-boasting to see the breadth of Christ's fullness and we declare "Take me, Savior, as I am. Let me lose my sins in Thee!" In this season of the "Christian Passover" may we speak these words and know their truth: "Thy blood was shed for me."